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SWAT: The chief of outlawed Tehreek e Nifaz e Shariat Mohammedi has withdrawn
from the peace deal with the government and has said all peace camps in the
region will be abolished, DawnNews has reported.
Mohammed, who brokered the peace deal between the Taliban and the government of
Pakistan has claimed that the authorities have used delaying tactics in imposing
the Nizam-i-Adal (Islamic courts) in the Swat region.
The announcement casts serious doubt on the durability of a cease-fire in the
Swat valley that U.S. officials worry will create another sanctuary for allies
of al-Qaida responsible for a rising tide of violence in the nuclear-armed
country.
Imposing Islamic law in Swat, a one-time tourist haven, was the key plank of an
accord worked out in February between the provincial government and Sufi
Muhammad, a cleric who once led thousands of volunteers to fight U.S. forces in
Afghanistan but has since renounced violence.
Thanks in part to Muhammad's mediation, the agreement ended 18 months of terror
and bloody clashes that had left hundreds dead and forced up to one-third of the
previously prosperous valley's 1.5 million residents to flee.
But the militants have retained their arms and this week pushed into a
neighboring area where they fought deadly gunbattles with villagers and police.
President Asif Ali Zardari has said he will only sign an order introducing
Islamic law in the region once peace has been restored _ without saying how that
would be determined.
Muhammad, who had been camped out in the valley's main town of Mingora with
hundreds of black-turbaned supporters, said they were leaving to protest
Zardari's 'negative attitude.'
'From now on, President Zardari will be responsible for any situation in Swat, ‘
the white-bearded cleric told reporters. 'The provincial government is sincere
and our agreement with the provincial government is intact, but we are ending
our peace camp.'
Television footage showed dozens of Muhammad's supporters crammed into a column
of cars and driving out of Mingora, some of them clutching black and white
flags.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the government of North West
Frontier Province, said he believed the federal government was 'sincere' in
supporting the peace effort, but said he couldn't say when the Islamic law bill
would be signed.
'We are committed to bringing about a durable peace and we will continue our
efforts in the changed situation,' Hussain said.
Zardari aides said officials were looking into the matter but gave no further
comment.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political and military analyst, said Zardari may have
delayed signing off on the agreement because of concerns within the year-old
civilian government over negotiating with militants.
'The opinion is divided,' Rizvi said. 'A good number of people in the government
think that this is not the right approach.'
Zardari's foot-dragging also lets him save face with Western critics of the
deal, he said.
Under former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan struck a series of peace
deals with militants along the Afghan border that U.S. officials say let the
Taliban and al-Qaida regroup and focus their energy on attacking American and
NATO troops in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama has made a sharp increase in financial aid to Pakistan
conditional on it demonstrating more commitment to rooting out al-Qaida and
other extremist groups.
U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said Tuesday after meeting Zardari in Islamabad
that the situation in Swat had helped persuade more of Pakistan's political
elite of the need to combat extremism at America's side.
Pakistan desperately needs economic aid to ease the fallout from an economic
crunch. It also faces an exodus of foreign investors in the face of rising
violence and political uncertainty.
On Thursday, one policeman died and five more were injured as protests erupted
across the southwestern province of Baluchistan after the discovery of the
mutilated bodies of three missing political activists.
The trio included the leader of one of an array of Baluch groups campaigning _
or fighting _ for more autonomy and control over natural resources in the
impoverished province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Activists immediately blamed Pakistan's spy agencies for the political
activists' deaths. Police said they were investigating.
Over the weekend, a previously unknown Baluch group freed an American U.N.
worker after holding him for two months to press the government to release
political prisoners. |
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