PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The government agreed to apply the Shariah and suspend a military offensive across much of northwest Pakistan yesterday in concessions aimed at pacifying the Taleban insurgency spreading from the border region to the country’s interior.
The announcement came as three missiles believed fired from a US drone aircraft destroyed a house used by a local Taleban commander elsewhere in the northwest, killing 30 people, witnesses said.
The cease-fire, in Pakistan’s Swat Valley hundreds of miles from the missile strike in Kurram, will likely concern the United States, which has warned Pakistan that such peace agreements allow Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters operating near the Afghan border time to rearm and regroup. The truce announcement came after talks with local leaders, including Sufi Muhammad who led 10,000 people on jihad to Afghanistan in 2001.
Speaking in India, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said the unrest in Swat was a reminder that the United States, Pakistan and India face “an enemy which poses direct threats to our leadership, our capitals and our people.”
Amir Haider Khan Hoti, the chief minister of the North West Frontier Province, said authorities would apply Islamic law in the Malakand region, which includes the Swat Valley. Swat is a one-time tourist haven in the northwest where extremists have gained sway through brutal tactics including beheading residents, burning girls’ schools and attacking security forces. Hoti said the laws would only be implemented when the valley was peaceful.
The Taleban said Sunday they would observe a 10-day cease-fire in support of the peace process. They welcomed yesterday’s announcement, which did not mention any need for the militants to give up arms. “Our whole struggle is for the enforcement of the Shariah,” Taleban spokesman Muslim Khan said. “If this really brings us the implementation of the Shariah, we will fully cooperate with it.”
Hoti gave few details, but said the main changes were included in existing laws stipulating Islamic justice that have never been enforced. They allow for Muslim religious leaders to advise judges when hearing cases, but do not ban girls’ education.
“This was the people’s demand ... for speedy justice,” he said. “There was a (legal) vacuum and we will be filling that vacuum in the near future,” he told a news conference.
Hoti also said troops in Swat, which had been conducting an offensive there against the militants, would now go on “reactive mode”, retaliating only if attacked.
The missile attack was the first known such strike in Kurram. Most of the strikes have occurred in South and North Waziristan, other tribal regions considered major Taleban and Al-Qaeda strongholds.
Rehmanullah, a resident of the targeted village of Baggan, said drones were seen in the sky before the attack and that he saw 30 bodies dug up. An intelligence official said field informants reported that militants showed up at the village bazaar and ordered 30 caskets.
The US has stepped up missile strikes in the border region since August, killing some suspected top militants. Pakistan routinely protests the strikes, saying it undercuts its fight against terror.
Unlike the semiautonomous tribal regions where Al-Qaeda and Taleban have long thrived, Swat Valley is under full government control and lies less than 160 km from the capital Islamabad.
