International

Pakistan, Taliban ink peace accord

ISLAMABAD: The Awami National Party-led government of the North-West Frontier Province has signed a peace accord with Taliban militants in the Swat Valley.

As per the accord, the Army would withdraw from the region and Sharia law imposed. In return, the Taliban would accept the government’s authority and halt attacks. The government was negotiating a separate peace accord with militants headed by Beithullah Mehsud — accused of masterminding Benazir Bhutto’s assassination — in South Waziristan.

The government and militants have exchanged dozens of prisoners as part of these negotiations. Last week, the South Waziristan Taliban freed Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul — who was kidnapped three months ago — after security forces released more than 50 militants.

On Thursday, a day after the NWFP government and the Swat Taliban signed their accord, Mehsud’s Tehreek-e-Taliban said the accord’s workability would depend on the successful completion of its own negotiations with the government.

Dawn News TV reported Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar as saying the deal could not be seen in isolation from the ongoing negotiations in South Waziristan agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The U.S. has already expressed its uneasiness over the negotiations. Earlier this week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said the capture of Mehsud was a “metric” of effective action in the tribal areas.

He was concerned that Pakistan was seeking settlements with the Taliban. In Swat, where the military engaged in major battles last November to dislodge militants led by Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah, the NWFP government had agreed to review cases against Taliban prisoners.

The 15-point agreement does not make reference to Fazlullah, who is also known as Radio Mullah for his illegal FM station, which he uses to advocate an extreme form of Islam.

Fazlullah, who had established a parallel government in Swat with the help of his massive private army, has been on the run since last year’s military operations.

The News quoted Taliban sources saying the government had agreed to grant him and his comrades a general amnesty.

But Bashir Bilour, a minister in the NWFP government and member of the negotiating team, said under the terms of the agreement, the cases against Fazullah would be also be reviewed.

Ali Bakht, who was in the team that represented the Taliban, said the government must immediately release 200 Taliban prisoners.

Under the agreement, the Taliban have agreed not to oppose immunisation programmes against polio, measles, smallpox and TB, and not to attack music and video shops and women’s schools.

The Taliban have also agreed to turn Imam Dheri, where Fazlullah had set up a sprawling headquarters, into an Islamic university that will be jointly administered by the Taliban and the government. They have given the government the assurance that they will not attack law enforcement agencies, government officials and buildings, roads, bridges and other installations.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu