Delegation members of Pakistani Islamist leader Soofi Mohammad from the Swat valley arrive to attend a meeting with government officials, political and religious leaders in Peshawar February 16, 2009. (Ali Imam/Reuters)
Posted on 02/16/2009 11:40:19 AM PST by NormsRevenge
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan agreed on Monday to restore strict Islamist law in the Swat valley to pacify a revolt by Taliban militants, and a suspected U.S. drone fired missiles in the region killing at least 26 people.
The decision on Islamic law is likely to draw criticism from the United States and other Western powers fearful that Pakistan is playing into the hands of religious conservatives who sympathize with the Taliban and al Qaeda.
The agreement was reached at talks between Islamists and officials of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government in Peshawar on Monday.
"After successful negotiations ... all un-Islamic laws related to the judicial system, those against the Koran and Sunnah, would be subject to cancellation and considered null and void," said NWFP's Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, referring to the holy book of Islam and the saying and teachings of the Prophet Mohammad.
Taliban militants in Swat, once a tourist paradise, called a 10-day ceasefire the night before the talks, and on Saturday released a Chinese engineer kidnapped five months earlier as a gesture of goodwill.
An uprising erupted in late 2007 in Swat, an alpine beauty spot favored by honeymooners and trekkers alike, and militants now control the valley just 130 km (80 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad.
They have destroyed more than 200 girls schools in a campaign against female education, and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape the violence.
By striking a deal on Islamic law, the government hopes that it will be able to drive a wedge between conservative hardliners and those militants who have fallen under the thrall of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Religious conservatives in Swat have long fought for sharia to replace Pakistan's secular laws,...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Delegation members of Pakistani Islamist leader Soofi Mohammad from the Swat valley arrive to attend a meeting with government officials, political and religious leaders in Peshawar February 16, 2009. (Ali Imam/Reuters)
A US Predator drone at a forward operating base near Kandahar in Afghanistan in January. A suspected US missile strike destroyed an Afghan Taliban camp, killing 26 people in the Pakistani tribal area of Kurram, security officials said. (AFP/File/Joel Saget)
A typical "drive by media report". Once it is blown up who knows who made it other than the propaganda machine...
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