Cleric's exit imperils Pakistan peace deal (with Taliban)

Source: Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A hard-line cleric who negotiated a peace accord that halted fighting between the Taliban and security forces in part of northwest Pakistan said Thursday he is leaving the region to protest the government's failure to impose Islamic law.

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.

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But the militants have retained their arms and this week pushed into a neighboring area just 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Islamabad, where they fought deadly gunbattles with villagers and police.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD97F00QO0

Source: Al Jazeera English

A religious leader who negotiated an agreement that ended fighting between the Taliban and security forces in Pakistan's Swat valley says he is pulling out of peace talks.

Sufi Muhammad said on Thursday that the reason for his withdrawal was that the government had been too slow to introduce sharia (Islamic law) in the region. He has left the Swat valley to set up a protest camp at his old headquarters in Malakand province. His statement calls into question the durability of a controversial peace effort in the valley, where fighting has forced thousands of residents to flee.

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, has said he will sign an order introducing sharia in the region only once peace has been fully restored.

Government blamed

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said: "Sufi Mohammed, who was the key factor in brokering a peace deal in the Swat valley ... has blamed the central government directly for dragging their feet on the accord. "All this is happening at a time when the Swat Taliban has moved into an adjoining district and are saying that they cannot be stopped from going into other areas. That is going to be a very serious development and, if that peace accord does break down, it will have serious repercussions for the adjoining districts as well."

Also on Thursday, Mullah Nezaar, a Pakistani Taliban leader, released an audio message on the internet, claiming that his group is just days away from marching on the capital. "Pakistan Taliban factions have united ... The day is not far when Islamabad will be in the hands of the mujahidin." He also accused the Pakistan army of using spies to help the US carry out unmanned drone attacks on rural areas of Pakistan.

From: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/200949101746198466.html

Is Pakistan a failed state yet?

...to Talibanisation will answer that.

I'm happy this deal is ending. Giving into the mullahs through legal means is a terrible thing.

Yes, it means a potentially long war with no end in sight. And most Pakistanis would like to avoid that. But there are a couple of recent factors that may change that attitude:

- First, the historic people's involvement is restoring the Chief Justice of Pakistan shows that Pakistanis are not apathetic. They can get involved if needed.

- Second, the backlash against Talibanization is beginning. When people started realizing what Nizam-e-Adl (the sharia styled laws that were to implemented in Swat) would do to basic human rights, lots of conservative Muslims were appalled (please note: conservative does not equal fundamentalist). The images of the girl being flogged had a huge effect on people. It's a very tiny backlash right now, and most people may not even realize it's happening, but it's there.

Pakistan can give in, or continue to fight. The US chose to fight to save the Union, rather than let slavery and secessionism succeed. Sri Lanka has chosen to fight Tamil rebels rather than given in to demands of a separate homeland.

Giving in to the mullahs, even on one inch of land, will cement Pakistan's status as a failed state. Fighting it, and winning it (militarily and psychologically) will change that status.

a free Baluchistan and Sindhudesh will not allow talibanization that Pakistan's punjabi controlled military and ISI desire.

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.

snip

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.

snip

Zardari's foot-dragging also lets him save face with Western critics of the deal, he said.

snip
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.


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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.


Activists immediately blamed Pakistan's spy agencies for the political activists' deaths. Police said they were investigating.
.
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http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/sufi+mohammed+calls+off+swat+peace+deal