DAGGAR: More than 50 militants have been killed in the ongoing military operation in Buner, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told a press conference on Wednesday.

One security official was also killed during the fighting, while 18 Frontier Corps personnel were recovered from the Taliban, Abbas said.

The army is facing stiff resistance in Ambela as militants have taken the area people hostage and are using them as human shields, he said, adding that security forces are trying to avoid collateral damage.

Militants are still occupying three police stations in Buner whereas security forces have destroyed two militant ammunition dumps, he said.

The District Coordination Officer (DCO) was airlifted to Daggar to take control of Buner’s administration.

Athar Abbas also said the media should not report anything which jeopardises operational security or the lives of soldiers.

Troops took Daggar, the main town in Buner (60 miles northwest of Islamabad), on Wednesday after being dropped by helicopters behind Taliban lines on the second day of the offensive.

A military spokesman said troops had secured Daggar and ‘airborne forces have linked up to police and Frontier Constabulary’ there. ‘A link up with ground forces is in progress.’

Taliban fighters held the entrances to the valley, but they risk being caught between security forces at their front and rear after the successful airdrop.

Residents saw troops rappel down ropes from helicopters outside Daggar while firing and explosions were also heard intermittently.

‘We saw a helicopter dropping troops on the hills early this morning. It came about seven or eight times,’ said Arshad Imran standing in the town’s central bazaar. ‘We hear sound of explosions off and on and we can see helicopters flying over the mountains.’

The military estimated some 500 militants were in the Buner valley of the North West Frontier Province and that it might take a week to clear them out.

Jet fighters and helicopters gunships provided air support for army and paramilitary troops leading the offensive on Tuesday.

Earlier, at least 60 personnel of police and the Frontier Constabulary were taken hostage by Taliban in Buner’s Pir Baba area as security forces launched the operation in the district on Tuesday and pounded suspected militant hideouts in some of its border areas.

A convoy of security personnel entered Buner from Mardan after imposition of curfew. Security forces set up a checkpoint on a road at Babajee Kandow, around six kilometres into Buner.

Militants earlier took control of the Pir Baba area, including a police station, and took hostage 43 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary and 17 policemen. The SHO of the police station, Bukht Raj, was among the hostages.

Two policemen who were out of the police station at the time of the attack told Dawn that militants had set up their headquarters at a mosque adjacent to the shrine of Pir Baba and the hostages were taken there.

Official sources said the operation had been launched to flush out Taliban who had entered Buner on April 4 from Swat. They took control of the district a week later.

Following negotiations led by Sufi Mohammad, chief of the banned TNSM, militants had agreed on April 24 that outsiders would pull out and only local Taliban would stay in Buner.

However, officials believed that the militants had backed out of their commitment and they were present in Buner in a large number.

Planes and helicopters attacked suspected hideouts of militants in Kalil Kandow, Rajgalai, Speerkee, Balookhan, Karakar, Naveedand, Sar Malang Baba, Baba Jee Kandow and Maskeepur Ambela. The attacks started at about 12:30 p.m.

Most of the areas are along Buner’s border with Mardan, Malakand and Swat. An official said the district headquarters hospital in Daggar had not received any body or injured person till late into the night.

According to witnesses, militants fired at helicopters with heavy machineguns. Soldiers of the Frontier Corps entered the district through Ambela Pass along with Frontier Constabulary personnel amid shelling and launched a search in the mountainous region of Baba Jee Kandow.

A large number of Taliban who had taken control of the bazaar at Pir Baba forced people to stay indoors. Witnesses saw Taliban load a pick-up truck with weapons outside the police station.

Amidst a tense situation, people prepared to leave areas where Taliban were present. District police chief Abdur Rashed Khan said curfew had been imposed in Buner for an indefinite period.

Security forces continued their operation in Maidan area of Lower Dir district. Militants snatched a vehicle of the National Logistics Cell and took eight employees hostage, sources said.

Despite heavy artillery shelling, they continued patrolling Gulabad area of Adenzai tehsil. A militant ‘commander’, Arshad, said the hostages would be freed only if the company handed two more vehicles to Taliban. He said Taliban would not stop their activities in Adenzai until the military operation was stopped.

A heavy exodus of people continued from villages of Maidan towards Odigaram and Sar Lara Samar Bagh on Tuesday. Hundreds of families crossed the Odigaram Bridge and Sar Lara hilltop.

The displaced people were facing problems because of lack of transport, food and shelter and they had no idea where to go.

However, a military officer claimed that security forces had gained complete control over Maidan tehsil. He said militants had been involved in kidnappings, target killings and other crimes.

Talking to journalists by phone, a militant commander, Hafeezullah, threatened to attack all leaders of the ruling Awami National Party and Pakistan People’s Party if the government did not end the operation by Wednesday.

He claimed that local Taliban leader Maulvi Shahid was alive and he would soon appear before the media. Refuting the government’s claims about Taliban casualties, he said only four of his colleagues had been killed.

He said security forces had again attacked Maulvi Shahid’s house on Tuesday, but he was not home.

Locals said two villagers killed by shelling on Monday, cab driver Fazal Malik of Kotkay and Manda Akbar Khan of Dokrai, were buried in the night. They alleged several schools were damaged when security forces shelled the area.

ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of people rallied for peace Sunday in the northwest Pakistani district recently infiltrated by Taliban fighters, while an explosion elsewhere in the volatile region was reported to kill at least four people.

The rally in Buner came amid growing doubt that a peace pact with the Taliban in the neighboring Swat Valley would hold, and pressure from the US on Pakistan to confront the militants.

Pakistan struck the deal in February, giving in to militants’ demands for imposing Islamic law in Swat, a one-time tourist haven, and surrounding districts that make up the Malakand Division. Some two years of clashes between Pakistani troops and Taliban in Swat had killed hundreds.

In recent days, the Swat Taliban moved into Buner, 100 kilometers from Islamabad. They began pulling out Friday amid talk that the army was preparing for action. But Buner’s police chief estimated at least 100 Taliban remained, and said local sympathizers had been emboldened as well.

Meanwhile, AP quoted army spokesmen as saying that the Pakistani army had launched a new offensive against militants in Lower Dir on Sunday.

DawnNews quoted sources as saying that helicopter gunships bombarded suspected hideouts in the Dokari area, killing commander Moulvi Shahid and five other militants.

Meanwhile, an attack on a convoy of security forces has killed one soldier and injured five others in Aqakhel Darra Maidan area of Lower Dir, as the operation continues.

Calling for an end to violence

Sunday’s rally attracted political and religious figures as well as other prominent citizens. Attendees interviewed said they wanted peace – and that included keeping the army out of Buner.

‘We don’t want the government to send the army here because the troops coming in will create a Swat-like situation,’ said Misbah Uddin, a leader of a local religious group. ‘We people of Buner are capable of solving our problems on our own.’

Shams Buneri, a local leader of Pakistan’s ruling party, said the Taliban should also remain peaceful.

‘We appeal to the Taliban to abide by the peace agreement and not display arms or go for armed patrolling, because this will be a cause of breach of peace,’ he said.

US officials and many Pakistani critics view the Swat pact as a capitulation before extremists, and are also worried that Swat could turn into an expanding haven for al-Qaida allies.

The deal’s supporters argue that the concession on Islamic law robs hard-liners of any justification for continuing to bear arms.

By Maheen A Rashdi

Very soon the uproar created by the promulgation of the Nizam-i-Adl will die down, to eventually become an accepted deviation. Because we are used to accepting injustice, corruption, bigotry, mediocrity and of course militancy with all its misplaced ideology, this too will be added to Pakistan’s many failures.

Injustice has a limitless horizon from where we are at. Take the absence of comment on the repulsive marriage legislation passed in Afghanistan recently. It is another proof of our collective apathy against barbarism. No religious scholar was heard making any intelligent comment on the almost obscene Afghan law that includes a provision making it illegal for a Shia Muslim woman to refuse her husband’s conjugal demands and legalizes marital rape. With the Taliban closing in on NWFP, how long before all these fanatical tremors filter into the justice system of what we like to believe is the democratic side of Pakistan? Who is there to protect the interest of the Pakistanis struggling to maintain a coherent existence in the midst of random bombings and economic collapse?

Already the fight is on with everyone inside the fray – the Mohajirs, the Sindhis, the Punjabis, the Afghans, the Pushtoons the Baluchis and needless to say, the Taliban and Jihadis. With such a domestic landscape and each actively pursuing its own agenda, will we ever be anything but a bunch of militant fiefdoms?

‘If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor’ says Bishop Desmond Tutu. By that rule the ‘silent majority’ may well be classified as the oppressor bent on tyrannizing and subjugating each other. It is so convenient at the moment to stay cocooned in our little shells of elitism and moral superiority embedded in every level of our social order – from the very decadent to the emancipated to the fundamentalist. Each cadre believes itself to be on the right path and immune from the horrifying repercussions outside its own little social order. May it be the deteriorating mind set that believes in purging the evils a la Reformist style or the extreme self indulgence of the morally far removed. But worst yet is the indifference of the moderate who for fear of upsetting its own apple cart does not object to the manipulations of either sect. How long before the voice of moderation too begins taking sides of one or the other extremist?

Already rational thought is threatened by obscurity. It either is dead or has changed sides to join the ranks of fanatics or the profligates. The sorry acquiescence of the Pakistan government to allow Nizam-i-Adl to become a legal order in major parts of NWFP is one case in point. With such precedence, how is it even remotely possible to build political trust? With no one to watch out for the average man there is more mayhem to come. And of course easier still for alien powers to plot our downfall.

All discussions whether in the media or in private drawing rooms is now centered on how much worse things will become. The hope, desire or the will to better the situation is absent. In the higher social circles it is primarily about protecting assets whereas the lower strata is worried about creating its asset base. And as for the middle order, well, it moves about like an ostrich, ruffling as few feathers as possible.

Following the passing of a resolution on Nizam-i-Adl in the NA, an Indian paper quoted ‘Pakistan’s government is in danger of being overrun by Islamic militants and the development of such a situation could be dangerous not only for the US but also for the entire region ‘ample reasons for any mighty warrior to invade us on the pretext of removing the nuclear trigger from our hands – Iraq style.

Which direction are we headed in? At first glance we appear to be directionless. But on scrutiny it is evident that it is a thought out process of self-destruction.

With impunity we promote lawlessness. If a lone conscientious idiot objects to someone littering the road, the comment comes, ‘Hamara mulk hai, jo marzi aai karein gein’ That is the extent of ownership. That it is ours to destroy, molest, exploit and in short, vilify to any extent we damn well please.

The handful of national institutions which once were our pride now lie abused beyond repair. The hockey federation which would win us the only Olympic gold, is in shambles; our mariners who were once given top dollar in every foreign liner are now all out of jobs because of the disintegration of the training set up which was once of top international repute. And if we go a bit further down memory lane even our film industry delivered masterpieces to an audience which spilled over across the border. And there are many more such areas that we did once excel in.

Now, being sub-standard is our only recognition. And a directionless media that is thriving on belligerent politics is not helping streamline public minds in any way either.

Change comes from the top it is said. But the top end of the ladder is the most rotten in our state. All ‘is rotten in the state of Denmark’ but ‘Heaven will direct it.’ only if the people so want it. No Manna from heaven will fall in our laps because we are now worse than the Israelites who drove Moses to tears.

Our actions are relegated to being only reactions. If we show the same amount of fervor to right the lawlessness as we show on issues like the abusive Denmark cartoons we might become a worthier nation.

It isn’t that we don’t possess any grit. We do. The sustained lawyers’ movement over two years proved that there is a will of steel which can come into action when needed – but the cause has to appeal to us. And unfortunately it seems that rising as an honest nation is not a worthy cause for the average Pakistani.

maheen.rashdi@yahoo.ca

ISLAMABAD, FEB 16 - Pakistan’s government agreed to enforce Islamic judicial system in Swat valley and neighbouring areas of the northwest on Monday in a bid to take the steam out of a Taliban uprising raging since late 2007.

The decision was reached after consultations between the government of North West Frontier Province and religious hardliners.

A provincial government spokesman said President Asif Ali Zardari has agreed in principle to the move, which is likely to draw criticism from the United States and other Western powers fearful that the Taliban and al Qaeda are gaining strength in Pakistan.

What is swat like?
With green meadows, high mountains and clear lakes, Swat is a favourite tourist destination, often called ‘the Switzerland of Pakistan’.

Like the rest of the northwest, Swat has historically been a conservative region but a large number of its population is educated thanks to schools set up by the former native rulers, the Waalis.

Swatis are ethnic Pashtuns.

What Is Swat’s History
Under British colonial rule, Swat was a princely state meaning it was not directly governed by the British but through a native ruler, the Waali. The Waali system continued after Pakistan won independence in 1947 but it was abolished in 1969 when Swat was absorbed into the Pakistani federation and made a district of NWFP.

Under the Wali system, an Islamic scholar, a Qazi, acted as judge and laws were based on local tradition, mostly drawn from the sharia, Islamic law.

What kind of islamic judicial system is swat getting?
Under Nizam-e-Adl or Islamic system of justice, all judicial laws contrary to Islamic teachings stand cancelled and the courts will decide the cases in line with Islamic injunctions.

These laws were largely in use before Swat was absorbed into Pakistan in 1969, and governments in the 1990s had promised to implement them to placate militants, but never fully did.

Unlike the Taliban courts, which have been summarily handing out severe punishments like chopping off hands of thieves and stoning to death adulterers and rapists, there will be a system of appeal on the decisions handed out by courts in Swat and neighbouring districts.

Ordinary judges, with a knowledge of Islam, will officiate rather than a Qazi. Analysts said the courts are unlikely to hand down Taliban-like sentences. WHERE DID ISLAMIST MILITANCY SPRING FROM IN SWAT?

Islamist militancy erupted in the 1990s when Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a radical cleric, took up arms to impose sharia law in Swat and neighbouring areas of Malakand, Dir as well as in the Bajaur tribal region on the Afghan border.

Mohammad set up a militant organisation, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), Movement for Enforcement of Sharia Law of the Prophet Mohammad, and led an armed uprising in 1994.

Once the government regained control it agreed that an Islamic judicial system would be introduced to head off future trouble, but never lived up to its promises, according to Swat’s Islamists.

Mohammad was arrested after he returned to Pakistan having led thousands of fighters to Afghanistan in 2001 in a vain attempt to help the Taliban resist U.S.-backed forces.

Some TNSM leaders are believed to have ties with al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.

How did the latest latest wave of militancy begin?
With Sufi Mohammad in jail, his firebrand son-in-law, Maulvi Fazlullah, emerged as the main militant leader in Swat. Fazlullah used illegal FM radio to propagate his message and became known as Mullah Radio. His followers have waged a violent campaign to enforce Taliban-style social values.

Fazlullah called his men to arms after a military assault on Red Mosque in Islamabad in mid-2007 to put down a armed movement that was seeking to impose Islamic law in the capital.

The army deployed troops in Swat in October 2007 and used artillery and gunship helicopters to reassert control, but insecurity mounted after a civilian government came to power a year ago and tried to reach a negotiated settlement.

A peace accord fell apart in May. Since then hundreds of people, including soldiers, militants and civilians have been killed in battles. Tens of thousands of people have fled the violence and the militants are in virtual control of the valley.

They unleashed a reign of terror, killing and beheading politicians, singers, soldiers and opponents. They have banned female education and destroyed nearly 200 girls’ schools.

How did peace efforts begin ?
The government released Sufi Mohammad from jail in April last year, saying that he had renounced violence and promised to continue his movement peacefully. The latest accord was reached with Mohammad, who has reportedly assured the government that he would persuade the militants to shun violence. Several analysts doubt whether the elderly and sick Mohammad can deliverr.. (Reuters)