Key talks on Pakistan Sharia deal

[Coventina]

Source: BBC

Officials in North West Frontier Province in Pakistan are meeting to discuss a peace deal with the Taleban that has sparked deep US concern.

The peace deal was intended to introduce Sharia law in some north-west districts in return for an end to the Taleban insurgency.

However, the Taleban have not laid down their arms and are expanding influence.

The US has accused officials in Pakistan of abdicating control to the Taleban in the north-west.

The peace deal covers the six divisions of Malakand, including the troubled Swat region.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8015846.stm

[msongs]

1. ha ha like religious crackpot terrorists are gonna comply with any terms they negotiate nt

[xchrom]

2. do pakistani officials think that sharia law is the

only goal the taliban have?

no.

do they care that it's alarming either to the us or their own people that the brutal version of religious extremism is expanding and that expansion equals power for the taliban? no.

pakistani 'officials' aren't that much in disagreement with the taliban.

[ohio2007]

3. Few responses to this thread make it obvous that people are torn on where to finger point

ISI created the monster that will consume the ISI and of course, the sectarian 'democracy' that tried to fill the vacuum whem Musharraf left.

I don't even think the Pak military can save themselves from this humpty dumpty fall underway.

[bemildred]

4. Pakistan official: All Taliban have left Buner

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Taliban militants have completed their pullback from a district just 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Pakistani capital and troops have fanned out in their wake, a senior official said Saturday.

The Taliban's retreat to their stronghold in the Swat Valley brings some relief for Pakistani officials trying to salvage a controversial peace deal that halted nearly two years of bloody fighting in the northwestern region.

---

Militants from Swat seized Buner, a jumble of mountains and farmsteads on the west bank of the Indus River, after President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this month signed the peace pact, which provides for the introduction of Islamic Shariah law in the region.

They began pulling out on Friday as officials issued increasingly loud threats of military action and a hard-line cleric who mediated the peace deal intervened to defuse the tension.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD97PCF700

[bemildred]

5. Pakistani Taliban stop troops from entering Swat valley

ISLAMABAD, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Taliban militants Saturday did not allow a convoy of security forces to enter their stronghold in Swat valley, the News Network International (NNI) news agency reported on Saturday.

A convoy of seven army trucks were stopped by armed Taliban at Qamabr, a small town of Mingora, the main city in Swat valley of North West Frontier Province, the news agency quoted Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan as saying.

They feared that the security forces might launch fresh offensive, Muslim Khan said.

Khan said the deployment of troops in Swat was against a deal signed in February to introduce Islamic laws in Swat and other areas in the northwest.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/25/content_11255767.htm

[bemildred]

6. Successful talks end Taliban advances in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Taliban have started to pull out of the Buner district in northwestern Pakistan in the light of successful talks among all stakeholders, local newspaper The News reported on Saturday.

The administration of North West Frontier Province, Taliban and an outlawed group Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) Friday held successful talks in Batkhela to stave off a looming military operation, said the report.

The Taliban holding Buner district eventually agreed to vacate the area along with their arms. Soon after the talks, the administration and Taliban representatives accompanied Maulana Sufi Muhammad, founding chief of TNSM to evict the militants from Buner in their presence.

Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman, confirmed that Taliban had started to leave the area. The News quoted him as saying that Taliban wanted the enforcement of Shariah and had no intention to capture other areas of the country.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/25/content_11254786.htm

[bemildred]

7. Nuclear fears prompt Pakistan to prepare attack on Taleban

Thousands of Pakistani troops were massing for an assault on Taleban positions 65 miles from the country’s capital last night after giving the insurgents 24 hours to withdraw from their advanced positions or face attack.

The threat of force follows a stern warning from American policymakers that Islamabad was doing too little to stem a growing militant insurgency.

Richard Holbrooke, the special US envoy for the region, called Pakistan’s President Zardari on Thursday to convey Washington’s concern. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, accused Pakistan this week of “abdicating to the Taleban”, which “poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world”.

The US considers rooting out militant sanctuaries in Pakistan critical to success in the Afghan war. Washington is also worried about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6164687.ece

[bemildred]

8. Militants attack Peshawar airport

Militants fire rockets on Peshawar airport from an unknown location, while the government has deployed paramilitary troops to the region.

According to local police officials, at least two rockets landed at Peshawar airport late on Friday night but no human loss was reported in the attack.

Police, who have cordoned off the entire area, said the rockets landed on the fields near the airport and caused no damages to the airport.

Pakistan's northwestern regions have been the scene of some of the worst fighting between Islamabad forces and Taliban-linked militants in recent months.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=92489§ionid=351020401

[bemildred]

9. Consequences of Swat

On Monday, April 13, 2009, Asif Ali Zardari, our president, finally signed the Nizam-e Adl Regulation, handing Swat over to the Taliban and thus leaving an indelible mark on our history. President Zardari has found his legacy. If General Zia-ul Haq’s legacy was the initiation of religious extremism in Pakistan and Musharraf’s its flowering into the terrorism that we are plagued with today, Zardari will go down in history as the one who succumbed to terrorist threats. Though that ignominy is not his alone and has to be shared by the parliament that approved the Nizam-e Adl, legitimised the Taliban’s activities and handed over a part of our country to them.

Responding to a question, Sufi Muhammad, who brokered the deal, categorically stated that none of the previous acts of the Taliban could be tried under the Islamic laws being imposed in Swat. In one sentence, the Taliban have been granted amnesty for the murder, rape, pillage and other crimes they have committed against the people of Swat. Sufi Muhammad also called upon the Taliban to lay down their arms. Fazlullah, his son-in-law, responded by telling him that arms will be laid down only after the Nizam-e Adl is implemented.

Since then, the Sufi has adopted the sharia route to garner support. Addressing a massive rally in Malakand, he declared all other courts ‘un-Islamic’ and issued a deadline for the commencement of lower qazi courts and senior qazi courts. Fazlullah responded by informing us that the peace deal was brokered with the TNSM and was not binding on his followers.

Meanwhile, Fazlullah is attempting to increase his support base by encouraging a revolt by the peasants of Swat against the families with large land holdings — most of whom have fled the area — and has distributed the land among the peasants. The expected infighting and power struggle between the two has begun.

Daily Times (PK)

[ohio2007]

10. Pakistani Taliban Say They Killed 28 Men From Peace Group

June 26, 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The bodies of 28 members of a government-sponsored peace committee were found dumped on a road near the tribal area of South Waziristan on Wednesday, Pakistan officials said. The Pakistani Taliban said the men were killed because they supported the government, according to a Taliban statement made to a local journalist.

The peace committee was attacked by forces of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, near the town of Jandola on Monday, not far from the Afghan border, said the district coordinating officer, Berkatullah Marwat.

The attack on the peace committee sent a particularly chilling message because it was a brutal tactic by Mr. Mehsud’s forces to quash pro-government groups in the region, tribal elders said. The killings appeared to be a direct challenge to the policy of the new Pakistani government to negotiate with militants rather than use military force. Some of the men had been shot; others had their throats slit.


snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/world/asia/26pstan.html?_r=1

ooops right month, wrong year.......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3366273#3368458


good thing history never repeats.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4214926.ece
it just - marches on - restlessly

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/April/international_April2016.xml§ion=international&col=

[ohio2007]

11. Pakistan Fires Key Architect of Swat Peace Deal

Pakistan's government fired an official who played a key role in crafting a peace deal that has given the Taliban control of the Swat Valley as militants partially pulled backed from a neighboring area they occupied this past week.
snip

Officials said Mr. Javed was instrumental in negotiating what now appears to be a very one-sided peace deal in Swat, a one-time Alpine vacation getaway where the army has pulled back and the Taliban have been allowed to impose a harsh brand of Islamic law, prohibiting men from shaving their beards and banning women from leaving their homes without male relatives.

At the same time, the militants have kept their weapons and begun pressing into other districts,
snip


Apart from Buner, the Taliban also made inroads this week into the Shangla district.

Mr. Javed, a career civil servant who keeps a long a beard and is known for his strict religious views, was appointed last year as the commissioner of Malakand, a region that includes Swat and Buner.
snip


Pakistani soldiers, meanwhile, moved into the Dir district, north of Swat, on Saturday and imposed a curfew after reports the Taliban were kidnapping prominent residents for ransom, security officials said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124063972462355891.html



oh Yeah

LMAO