Pakistan peace pact with militants scrapped as violence restarts

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The critics of the peace pact signed by the government in Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province (NWFP) with militants active in Swat region have won as the peace accord practically stands scrapped with the authorities Sunday evening imposing night-long curfew in the district and militants patrolling streets of Mingora, the district headquarter of Swat.

The reign of death and destruction has begun afresh in Swat as the Swat peace pact stands dissolved and the militants present in Swat, Matta, Kabal and Sangla as well as their commanders have asked their leadership to allow them fight everywhere, reliable sources said on Sunday. “Our peace agreement with the NWFP government practically stands dissolved,” confirmed Muslim Khan, spokesman for Swat chapter of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “Forces are attacking on us and our fighters are also retaliating to the attacks,” he said.

The TTP Swat spokesman vowed that now their fighters would attack the security forces and government figures everywhere. He said that the Pakistani rulers bow to every directive of US President Barack Obama. “If the Awami National Party supported us, we will not harm them. But if they sided with the government, they too will be our target. However, our main target will be security forces and the rulers of Pakistan. We will also act in other cities of Pakistan but will not target general public,” the TTP spokesman said.

Senator Zahid Khan, spokesman of the Awami National Party (ANP) which signed deal with the militants, said that they had signed pact with Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), and not with the Swat Taliban. He alleged that the Taliban have been violating the accord time and again. “We are already part of the federal government and are the part and parcel of the government’s police-making process,” the ANP spokesman said.

On the other hand, Ameer Izzat Khan, spokesman for the TNSM, said he did not know about the scrapping of the agreement but if the operation continued in the region, the situation would return to that prevailed before signing of the pact. He claimed that general public in Swat is now opposed to the government. About the onus of the peace accord’s scrapping, the TNSM spokesman said: “We do not know as to who is conducting operation -- the federal government or the security forces -- but we know that it is being conducted to please to the United States.”

The TNSM spokesman said that the two countries have nothing to do with the unrest in the region. He said it is only reaction to the government policies. He said that neither they have amassed arms nor are they getting financial help from abroad. He said the people of Swat have been demanding enforcement of the Islamic law in the area since 1989. “If the prevailing situation persists, the government will lose control over the area and reaction to the government actions will also be witnessed in other cities of the country. In that situation, even the TNSM will be unable to control the situation,” Ameer Izzat Khan said.