Swat peace deal negotiator's son killed as Pak continues offensive
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN: Pakistani attack helicopters and war planes blasted suspected Taliban hideouts on Thursday, stepping up a campaign to crush
militants as aid workers warned against a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Security forces targeted the Taliban stronghold of Swat at Malam Jabba, Matta and Khawaza Khela, a military official said, one day after the deadliest fighting to rock the district since a peace deal was reached in February.
"We have orders to target militants' hideouts and the writ of the government is to be established at any cost," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
In a further blow to the deal, the eldest son of the Islamist cleric who signed the agreement with the government was killed when fighter jets bombarded an area near the town of Lal Qila in Lower Dir, a spokesman for the cleric said.
Maulana Kifayatullah, 50, the eldest of Sufi Mohammad's 12 sons, was killed and his brother-in-law suffered leg wounds, Ameer Izzat Khan said.
The spokesman said the February deal still stood, but when asked about the accord, one military official replied: "No comment".
The official confirmed that jets raided suspected hideouts in Lower Dir, a district adjacent to Swat where the military announced last month that its offensive had been won.
Gunfire echoed across Mingora, the main town in the one-time ski resort, which has been ripped apart by a two-year Taliban uprising to impose Sharia law and where analysts said the peace deal was over.
Pakistan is under US pressure to crush militants, who Washington has called the biggest terror threat to the West, and US President Barack Obama has put the nuclear-armed country at the heart of the fight against al-Qaida.
Obama hosted a summit with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Washington on Wednesday to cement a sweeping new US strategy to crush Taliban, al-Qaida and other Islamist militants in the region.
"I'm pleased that these two men, elected leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, fully appreciate the seriousness of the threat that we face, and have reaffirmed their commitment to confronting it," Obama said.
Analysts said Pakistan's decision to put three million people in northwest Pakistan under sharia law in a bid to end the Swat-based Taliban insurgency would still stand, but that the peace aspect of the February deal was over.
"Of course it's over. The militants are occupying government buildings and security forces are taking action against them, so where is the peace deal?" political analyst Shafqat Mahmood said.
"The agreement is valid as far as the Islamic justice system is concerned for the people of Swat. The (provincial) government feels this was the genuine desire of the people of the area.
"It seems the fighting will continue now and there is no chance of further negotiations," Mahmood said.
Pakistan said Wednesday more than 80 militants were killed across the northwest, where troops went on the offensive in Lower Dir and the neighbouring district of Buner after armed Taliban advanced further south towards Islamabad.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned Thursday that a humanitarian crisis was escalating in the northwest, where the government has said up to half a million could flee Swat.
"The humanitarian crisis in NWFP (North West Frontier Province) is intensifying," the ICRC said, adding it no longer had access to the areas most affected by the conflict and that statistics were so far unverifiable.
"The ICRC and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society are currently marshalling their resources to be able to provide 120,000 internally displaced people, affected by the fighting, with food and essential relief items," it said.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said he was deeply concerned for displaced Pakistanis and some 20,000 registered Afghan refugees affected by the conflict, and that the agency was stepping up relief.
Bedraggled men, exhausted women in burkas and anxious children poured off pick-up trucks and buses with tales of horror about their treatment at the hands of the Taliban, who have bombed girls schools and beheaded officials.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan has claimed that his fighters control "more than 90 percent" of Swat
Swat peace deal negotiator's son killed as Pak continues offensive - Pakistan - World - The Times of India