Pakistan Rejects Peace Talks With Taliban in Swat (Update1)
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By Khalid Qayum and Farhan Sharif
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan rejected an offer of peace talks to end fighting with Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat Valley as the conflict threatened a humanitarian crisis for more than 800,000 people forced to flee their homes.
Taliban guerrillas have repeatedly reneged on earlier peace accords in the region, Afrasiab Khattak, a senior minister in North West Frontier Province, said by phone from Peshawar today. “They never had the intention of laying down arms,” he said.
Pakistani security forces are battling an estimated 4,000 insurgents who reneged on a February accord and advanced closer to the capital, Islamabad, even after the government agreed to impose Islamic law in the region. More than 800 militants have been killed since the offensive began April 26, the army says.
U.S. officials have criticized Pakistan for signing peace agreements with the Taliban and urged the government to crack down on Islamic extremists. President Barack Obama has said a five-year aid package to Pakistan worth $1.5 billion a year would be conditional on the government tackling terrorism.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is trying to build cross-party support for the offensive and has called a meeting next week to develop a policy for combating Taliban insurgents. Nawaz Sharif, the country’s main opposition leader, plans to attend the May 18 meeting, a spokesman for his party said today.
“We want politicians to help the government in forming a comprehensive policy on tackling” the insurgency, Siddiq-ul- Farooq, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said by telephone from Islamabad.
Offer of Talks
The pro-Taliban Tehrik-e-Nifaaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi group, which negotiated the February accord, said today it was ready for talks with the government to end the fighting.
Khattak dismissed the offer, saying the group has “no authority” over Maulana Fazlullah, who commands local Taliban forces in Swat.
Many of the guerrillas fighting the government are ethnic Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group linked to al-Qaeda, said security analyst Mahmood Shah, a retired army brigadier. The TNSM can’t control or speak on behalf of the Uzbek forces, Shah said by telephone from Peshawar.
The fighting in Swat and neighboring districts has forced about 835,000 people from their homes, according to the United Nations, and Gilani said yesterday authorities must ensure displaced villagers are well cared for.
The displaced people are “our brothers, sisters and children and we should win their minds and hearts,” the prime minister told lawmakers. “Militarily we will win the war, but it will be unfortunate if we lose it publicly.”
Army Chief
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief of staff, will brief lawmakers on the operation today.
Express News, a Pakistani television channel, broadcast images today of men, women and children fleeing Mingora, the main city in Swat, on the back of trucks and in cars as the government relaxed a daytime curfew to allow people to leave.
Antonio Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency, yesterday called for a surge in international aid to help those forced from their homes by the conflict.
“This is not a moment for small gestures,” he said, while visiting a refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan.
“There will be over one million refugees,” the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said in Germany late yesterday. “The consequences are just staggering.”
The exodus of refugees is the biggest since Pakistan gained independence in 1947, Gilani said.
Islamic Courts
The military first deployed in Swat, once a popular tourist destination 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Islamabad, in 2007 in an effort to crush militants who set up Islamic courts. The fighters beheaded local officials, burned schools and banned education for girls.
The military campaign in 2007 showed the army’s lack of counterinsurgency training, according to Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and author of books including “Taliban” and “Jihad.”
Instead of securing towns and villages one by one and patrolling the mountains to keep militants on the run, the army “hunkered down” in camps and “used excessive firepower that killed hundreds of civilians,” Rashid wrote in a March report for CTC Sentinel, published by the Combating Terrorism Center of the U.S. military academy at West Point.
Authorities agreed to appoint Islamic judges to Swat and neighboring districts under the February peace accord. The Taliban reneged on the agreement and advanced last month to within 100 kilometers of Islamabad.
To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at [email protected]; Farhan Sharif in Karachi at [email protected]
Last Updated: May 15, 2009 03:29 EDT
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Khalid Qayum and Farhan Sharif
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan rejected an offer of peace talks to end fighting with Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat Valley as the conflict threatened a humanitarian crisis for more than 800,000 people forced to flee their homes.
Taliban guerrillas have repeatedly reneged on earlier peace accords in the region, Afrasiab Khattak, a senior minister in North West Frontier Province, said by phone from Peshawar today. “They never had the intention of laying down arms,” he said.
Pakistani security forces are battling an estimated 4,000 insurgents who reneged on a February accord and advanced closer to the capital, Islamabad, even after the government agreed to impose Islamic law in the region. More than 800 militants have been killed since the offensive began April 26, the army says.
U.S. officials have criticized Pakistan for signing peace agreements with the Taliban and urged the government to crack down on Islamic extremists. President Barack Obama has said a five-year aid package to Pakistan worth $1.5 billion a year would be conditional on the government tackling terrorism.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is trying to build cross-party support for the offensive and has called a meeting next week to develop a policy for combating Taliban insurgents. Nawaz Sharif, the country’s main opposition leader, plans to attend the May 18 meeting, a spokesman for his party said today.
“We want politicians to help the government in forming a comprehensive policy on tackling” the insurgency, Siddiq-ul- Farooq, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said by telephone from Islamabad.
Offer of Talks
The pro-Taliban Tehrik-e-Nifaaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi group, which negotiated the February accord, said today it was ready for talks with the government to end the fighting.
Khattak dismissed the offer, saying the group has “no authority” over Maulana Fazlullah, who commands local Taliban forces in Swat.
Many of the guerrillas fighting the government are ethnic Uzbeks from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group linked to al-Qaeda, said security analyst Mahmood Shah, a retired army brigadier. The TNSM can’t control or speak on behalf of the Uzbek forces, Shah said by telephone from Peshawar.
The fighting in Swat and neighboring districts has forced about 835,000 people from their homes, according to the United Nations, and Gilani said yesterday authorities must ensure displaced villagers are well cared for.
The displaced people are “our brothers, sisters and children and we should win their minds and hearts,” the prime minister told lawmakers. “Militarily we will win the war, but it will be unfortunate if we lose it publicly.”
Army Chief
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the army chief of staff, will brief lawmakers on the operation today.
Express News, a Pakistani television channel, broadcast images today of men, women and children fleeing Mingora, the main city in Swat, on the back of trucks and in cars as the government relaxed a daytime curfew to allow people to leave.
Antonio Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency, yesterday called for a surge in international aid to help those forced from their homes by the conflict.
“This is not a moment for small gestures,” he said, while visiting a refugee camp in northwestern Pakistan.
“There will be over one million refugees,” the U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said in Germany late yesterday. “The consequences are just staggering.”
The exodus of refugees is the biggest since Pakistan gained independence in 1947, Gilani said.
Islamic Courts
The military first deployed in Swat, once a popular tourist destination 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Islamabad, in 2007 in an effort to crush militants who set up Islamic courts. The fighters beheaded local officials, burned schools and banned education for girls.
The military campaign in 2007 showed the army’s lack of counterinsurgency training, according to Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and author of books including “Taliban” and “Jihad.”
Instead of securing towns and villages one by one and patrolling the mountains to keep militants on the run, the army “hunkered down” in camps and “used excessive firepower that killed hundreds of civilians,” Rashid wrote in a March report for CTC Sentinel, published by the Combating Terrorism Center of the U.S. military academy at West Point.
Authorities agreed to appoint Islamic judges to Swat and neighboring districts under the February peace accord. The Taliban reneged on the agreement and advanced last month to within 100 kilometers of Islamabad.
To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at [email protected]; Farhan Sharif in Karachi at [email protected]
Last Updated: May 15, 2009 03:29 EDT
