[Swat Valley, Pakistan] Taliban militants have responded to a unanimous resolution passed this month by the Pakistan parliament to fight terror with renewed zeal and to protect women’s rights and educational institutions in the violence-hit Swat Valley, by destroying some more schools and summoning 40 politicians to appear before Taliban court or face retribution.
The announcement summoning the politicians made by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric turned militant commander, live on his illegal FM Radio, sent shockwaves throughout the district. The names he mentioned are senior members of different political parties, mainly the Pashtun Nationalist Awami National Party that currently rules the volatile North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
The warning came immediately after Ayub Ashari, a provincial minister from Swat, along with two members of the Provincial Assembly, visited Swat last week to boost the morale of the security forces and the people.
Addressing a press conference, the provincial minister pledged that all steps would be taken to establish government control in the region.
Locals say the visit of the provincial officials was a serious blow to Taliban's reign of terror, as after the visit people in Swat, particularly the youth, gained enough courage to openly criticize Taliban for their actions.
"We feel really encouraged to see some senior officials of the provincial government in Swat after a break of seven months,” said Ahmad Ali Khan, a resident of Mingora Swat. “Such moves must continue to bolster people’s morale and to put the militants on the defensive."
Taliban militants under the command of Fazlullah dominate 90 percent of the Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan, where they publicly administer "Islamic punishments" to government sympathizers, female dancers, school teachers and local influentials.
The approximately 40,000 Pakistan security forces, who have been fighting Fazlullah’s militants since October 2007, have been confronted with a renewed and intensified insurgency that is now spreading to the neighboring districts of Buner, Malakand Agency, Dir and Shangla.
The conflict has displaced half million people from the idyllic valley and resulted in the destruction of more than 180 educational institutions.
Analysts believe the Taliban are a major threat to the integrity of Pakistan and it is the responsibility of all the stakeholders to come together and to devise a comprehensive and pragmatic strategy against terror. Neither the military nor the civilian administration can work in isolation, and there must be more coordination and cooperation between the two to eliminate militancy, they say.
Commenting on the current situation, Khadim Hussain Amir, an Islamabad-based political analyst, says that the Taliban want to perpetuate fear by such actions and it is high time for the political and military leadership to break the chain of terror created, encouraged and perpetuated by the Taliban by killing people and issuing warnings to the local social and political leadership.
“I am viewing this issue in its historical perspective. In 2006, Talibanization in Swat was a localized process. Taliban had no networking with other militant groups in Pakistan tribal areas and they did not have a fully trained and equipped militia,” Amir said.
“In 2007, they not only established contacts with other groups, but they also brought local criminal gangs under the umbrella of the Taliban movement, set up parallel courts and started targeted killings. This created enormous fear among the people. Now they want to silence all voices against them by utilizing this fear factor," Amir added.
After targeted killings and suicide attacks on government buildings and public gatherings that have killed hundreds of people over the last two years, the Taliban in Swat have been confronted with the issue of how to consolidate their control of the area.
At the beginning, to win support from the unprivileged and downtrodden classes of the society, they occupied the fertile lands of local landlords and distributed them among the poor.
In their courts they resolve feuds on an equal basis, and a number of court decisions have gone against the local elite. This process strengthens their position and many unemployed and unskilled youth have joined the Taliban fold.
Once they settled into their bases in different parts of the upper Swat Valley, the Taliban embarked on collecting funds and demanding weapons from the locals and punishing people in public at the slightest suspicion of supporting the government or criticizing their actions.
Meanwhile, security forces have pounded villages and civilian populations, which has resulted in the killing of more than 1,200 civilians.
Recently, ministers in the NWFP government blasted the military for inaction and lack of vision in Swat.
NWFP minister for information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, told the media in Peshawar that the military had been in charge of all the affairs in Swat since the launch of military operations in 2007 and if the military had failed to eradicate militancy, then the people had no option but to pray to God.
The military has its own take on what is happening in Swat. Military officers say it is the responsibility of the government to place efficient civilian administration in the district and provide relief to the people affected by the conflict.
They believe that peace agreements between the provincial government and Fazlullah have only helped the Taliban to regroup and strengthen their position.
When the military operation was launched, it was claimed by the military commanders that the area would be cleared of all militants within three weeks. The fact is that now the militants are knocking on the doors of Mingora, the administrative capital and main urban center of the Swat district.
Maj.-Gen. Athar Abbas, Pakistan's military spokesman, says that the army was following a new strategy to clear major urban areas and villages of militants.
"The military will not be static, it will not be reactive. It will be reaching out to people to get their support," he told the Pakistan Daily Dawn.
However, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan is standing firm and says that the military should leave the area immediately and the government should enforce the Islamic legal system in the region to avoid more violence and bloodshed.
"If there is no Shari’a, there will be no peace," he told The Media Line.
Whatever the result of the ongoing conflict in Swat, the reality is that the Swat Valley will never be the same as when thousands of tourists from all over the world would flood the area every summer to enjoy its fascinating natural scenery, snow-capped mountains and centuries-old cultural heritage in the shape of hundreds of Buddhist archeological sites spreading over every part of the valley.
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