Why isn't Pakistan doing anything about this?

Can they do something about it? And no, I'm not saying we should be bombing there.

What a nightmare.

Amid Barack Obama's inauguration as US president, the war on Gaza and the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's media had until recently all but ignored the descent into hell of the Swat Valley in the North-West Frontier Province.

The valley has been transformed from a tourism magnet because of its alpine scenery into a valley stained with blood in recent months.

From banning female education and blowing up schools to the hanging of decapitated bodies in Mingora, the valley's main town, the reign of terror spearheaded by Maulana Fazalullah, a radical cleric, defies description.

Until recently, the 11-month old government in Islamabad was virtually oblivious to the chain of events that question the very territorial integrity of the country.

Even the hyper-active local media was busy elsewhere: angling for the latest in the India-Pakistan stalemate, decoding what the incoming Obama administration held for Islamabad and the usual soap opera that passes for national politics.

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That all changed, however, after radicals delivered on their promise of blowing up schools if they were not shut down by a January 15 deadline.

Their actions have made a mockery of the government's commitment a day earlier that the schools would reopen with its patronage and protection.

<snip>

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/01/200912512351598892.html

I don't think there's much the Pakistani govt. can do, because within the ISI and military there are strong elements that don't want to do anything about it. It's an extremely unstable situation, and the nukes element scares the shit out of me.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warbriefing/view/4.html

chapters 4 & 5 are very alarming imo.

Pakistan extends curfew as army battles Taliban
9 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistani authorities on Tuesday extended a curfew in the troubled northwestern Swat valley to the area's main city Mingora, as troops fought militants on its outskirts, officials said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i_QIrieLFeTu86nBFleVXdo9CbjA

Pakistan Deploys Soldiers to Guard Schools Against Taliban
By VOA News
25 January 2009

Pakistani officials say soldiers have been deployed to guard some educational buildings in the northwest, as Taliban militants wage a campaign to prevent girls from attending school in restive Swat valley.

The military says the troops were dispatched during the past few days to protect schools in the city of Mingora, amid a wave of bombings.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-25-voa19.cfm

And in Bejaur:

Pakistan pledges fight to the death
"No permission is required - just open fire on anything that moves," came the order from Maj Gen Tarik Khan, commander of Pakistan's Frontier Corps.

We were sheltering in a traditional mud-walled compound in in the tribal area of Bajaur on the border with Afghanistan.

His men had seized it from militants the day before, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting.

Bursts of fire still rang out and shell cases smoked underfoot as I explored the network of tunnels connecting these compounds, some stretching for several kilometres underground.

The Taleban and al-Qaeda had dug in here over the years, threatening the local tribes and becoming the effective power in the land.

The Pakistani government in the past has been accused of not being committed to the US-led "war on terror" because offensives turned into truces before the job was finished.

But now the new civilian government led by President Asif Ali Zardari - whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was killed by extremists a year ago - has declared that this time it is a fight to the death.

"If they do not lay down their arms, we will kill them," declared Gen Khan. "There is no other way to bring this to a close."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7778388.stm