Taliban 'Peace Deal' in Tatters in NW Pakistan

Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani meets US president Bush. Photo by CNS News.com

By Shaheen Buneri
Peshawar, Pakistan (CNSNews.com) – A two-month-old peace agreement between a provincial government in northwest Pakistan and Taliban radicals has brought no respite from violence, yet authorities appear reluctant to stop negotiating and crack down.

In the North West Frontier Province's Swat valley, militants on Tuesday turned up the pressure by abducting some 30 paramilitary troops and policemen from a security post.

A day earlier, three Pakistan intelligence officers were killed in an ambush.
With no show of remorse, Taliban representative Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for killing the three, and demanded that the government withdraw forces from the area without delay and release all militants now in custody.

Khan is a spokesman for Islamic cleric Maulana Fazlullah, head of the Pakistan Taliban Movement (TTP)'s Swat chapter. Last week, Fazlullah told journalists at his headquarters in the upper Swat valley that the peace agreement his group reached with the NWFP government in May would not materialize until Pakistan stops following Washington's bidding.

"We know that U.S. forces are planning for an attack on us but it cannot deter us from promoting the cause of jihad against U.S. and its allies both in Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.

The U.S. and Afghan governments and NATO officials in Kabul have objected to the negotiating of peace agreements with militants in Pakistan's border areas, blaming them for increased violence in Afghanistan.

Despite the evident failure of the Swat agreement, the provincial government appears reluctant to approve new military action in the valley.

NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti told journalists after a cabinet meeting Monday that his government was pursuing peace talks. If the Taliban was not ready to negotiate, he said, the last option would be the use of military power.

Locals are tiring of the government's approach, and some are pressing for a comprehensive strategy to curb militancy once for all.

Usman Shah, a local civil society worker, said the government was playing a double game.

"On the one hand it promises to fight against terrorism and on the other it signs peace agreement with militant groups," he said. "[With] more than 56 girls' schools torched by Taliban in the valley, a famous ski resort destroyed and hundreds of civilians killed, what is the government waiting for?"

Political observers believe that the May 21 peace agreement has badly backfired, helping the militants to regroup, strengthen their network and rebuild confidence.

"The peace agreement has further complicated the issue," said Khadim Husain Amir, an Islamabad-based political analyst. "It has recognized [the] Taliban as a power. It failed to draw a line between the government and Taliban and now time has come that Taliban groups warn government to either accept their demand or [be] ready for suicide attacks. It will deliver nothing but chaos."

After the agreement was signed, the government did not deploy police or security forces outside of Mingora, the district's largest city. Their absence gave the Taliban the opportunity to take local administration into their own hands, establishing courts and a shura (council) of religious scholars to resolve disputes in line with their understanding of Islam.

Shah Dauran, a resident of the town of Matta, said its residents no longer consult government officials for the resolution of their problems. Instead, they consult Fazlullah spokesman Muslim Khan.

Under the TTP umbrella, different Taliban factions in the NWFP and the neighboring Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are coordinating their activities and extending their influence, analysts say.

"Now Maulana Fazlullah is not alone in Swat, he has become part of a larger organization and now the authorities have to take the central leadership of Taliban movement [into account] before implementing a peace agreement in Swat," said Amir.

A suspected U.S. missile strike in the south of the FATA Monday may have killed a top al-Qaeda terrorist, an Egyptian explosive expert known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, according to Pakistani military sources.

President Bush on Monday met with new Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at the White House, and urged him to ensure that the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is made as secure as possible.

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