Sufi Mohammed calls off Swat peace deal
SWAT: The chief of outlawed Tehreek e Nifaz e Shariat Mohammedi has withdrawn from the peace deal with the government and has said all peace camps in the region will be abolished, DawnNews has reported.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.
DAWN.COM | + Pakistan | Sufi Mohammed calls off Swat peace deal
i HOPE PEACE CONTINUE IN SWAT
