The Pakistani government signed a peace deal a few days ago with the “Radio Mullah,” Maulana Fazlullah, whose forces have been fighting the military in the Swat Valley. According to an AP story, the militants agreed to stop attacking government forces, turn over foreign militants, surrender their weapons, and promised to close down training camps. They also agreed to stop attacking schools for girls, as well as barbers, who had been targeted for cutting beards, and they also said they would allow polio vaccinations. In exchange, the government will pull out its troops, enforce Sharia law in the region, allow the Pakistani Taliban to help the government enforce law and order, and may also grant amnesty to Fazlullah and his followers. The deal was negotiated by representatives of the Awami National Party, which just won control of the government in the NWFP province, which will apparently soon be renamed Pukhtunkhwa, in the recent elections after campaigning on a platform of encouraging dialogue in order to restore peace in the region.
Meanwhile, in South Waziristan, the government is on the verge of an agreement with Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and the guy the CIA and Pakistani agencies think was behind Benazir Bhutto’s murder. Mehsud is usually very secretive, but Ray pointed me to a little press conference he held with several journalists, including one from the BBC.
The Pakistani government also recently released several hundred militants, including senior Taliban commanders Mullah Obaidullah Akhund and Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, in exchange for 35 Army officials and the Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, who were being held captive by the Taliban.
Prior “peace deals” with the militants only allowed them to regroup and launch cross-border attacks against NATO forces in Afghanistan. Needless to say, NATO is not pleased, and they have pretty good reason to worry, because the Taliban says they will continue to attack NATO forces.
So much for hoping that the new Pakistani government would actually achieve something. So far, it’s been a pretty big flop, from these supposed “peace deals,” to no plans to to tackle raging food inflation and a weakening economy, to the PML (N) quitting the cabinet when talks regarding the restoration of the deposed judges collapsed. Pakistan is always such a tease.
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May 29th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Is that Rachel Ray on the right upper picture? I can never tell if it’s a AK or a spatula!