ISLAMABAD: Witnesses and officials say hundreds of people have fled the northwestern Pakistani region of Swat amid fighting between Taleban militants and troops that signaled the end of a peace deal widely criticized as a surrender to the extremists.
A witness in the town of Mingora said yesterday militants patrolled most streets, while government security forces were barricaded in their bases. Taleban spokesman Muslim Khan said the militants are now in control of “90 percent” of the valley.
Fighting between Taleban militants and troops in a northwestern valley triggered an exodus the government said yesterday could see 500,000 people flee and signaled the end of a peace deal in the area widely criticized as a surrender to the extremists.
Hundreds have already fled the Swat Valley, adding to the hundreds of thousands of existing refugees driven from other regions in the northwest over the last year by fighting between soldiers and insurgents, witnesses said.
Panicked residents streamed out of the Swat district where gunfire rocked the main town yesterday and a botched army evacuation order sparked fears that a peace deal could collapse.
Spiraling insecurity jeopardized a three-month cease-fire on the eve of President Asif Ali Zardari’s first meeting with US counterpart Barack Obama, amid Washington’s concerns that militants are threatening Pakistan’s existence.
Bedraggled men, women in burqas and children piled on to pickup trucks, and led animals through streets in their haste to flee Mingora, devastated by a two-year Taleban insurgency. The military said armed militants marched into Mingora and other areas “threatening lives” and accused them of a “gross violation” of the peace accord by firing at security force checkpoints and wounding four personnel.
The military ordered neighborhoods on the edge of Mingora to evacuate and announced a break in an indefinite curfew for the displaced to flee — sparking fears of an imminent new offensive — as bullets rattled through parts of town.
Authorities clamped indefinite curfew in Swat district of Malakand division after Sufi Muhammad of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi backtracked from peace deal. With situation deteriorating Pakistan military moved its armor and artillery formations in hilly Swat to mop up militants.
Last week, the insurgents moved from the valley into Buner, a district just 100 kilometers from the capital, triggering alarm at home and abroad. The army responded with an offensive that it says has killed more than 100 militants, but has yet to evict them.
Khushal Khan, the top administrator in Swat yesterday said Taleban were roaming the area and laying mines. A witness in Mingora said black-turbaned militants were deployed on most streets and on high buildings, and security forces were barricaded in their bases. Another reported heavy gunfire for much of the day.
Muslim Khan said the militants were in control of “90 percent” of the valley and said their actions were in response to army violations of the peace deal such as attacking insurgents and boosting troop numbers in the region. He accused the government of acting under pressure from the US.
