Pakistan Signs Deal With Taliban Militants

The Pakistani government has agreed to withdraw troops and introduce Sharia law in the conflict-ravaged Swat valley in exchange for a halt to Taliban suicide bombings and attacks on government buildings.

The peace deal was signed this afternoon by the newly elected government of North-West Frontier province (NWFP) and representatives of extremist cleric Maulvi Fazlullah, whose fighters engaged in full-blooded warfare against the army last year.

The breakthrough is a coup for the government, which is eager to end militant violence, but will be warily regarded by the US, which advocates a strong hand against the Taliban.

The US deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte, told senators in Washington yesterday that any agreement was "something we're going to have to watch very carefully".

The Swat valley, an idyllic area of sweeping mountains and lush fields, became a battle zone last year after the army tried to tame Fazlullah's increasingly bold militants. Today's deal concedes several of their main demands.

Under the 15-point pact, Islamic law will be introduced in Malakand division, Taliban prisoners will be released from jail and their headquarters, a sprawling riverside madrasa, will be converted into an Islamic University.

After signing the pact militant representative Ali Bakht Khan called on the government to release 202 comrades within two weeks. "We will follow this agreement and cooperate to bring peace to Swat," he said.

In return the Taliban will halt their campaign of suicide bombing, shut militant training centres and hand over foreign militants operating in their area. During last year's fighting they were joined by militants from Waziristan, at the other end of Frontier province, and other countries such as Uzbekistan.

The deal will stand or fall on implementation. Previous peace deals with militants in NWFP have collapsed within months. This one contains no provision for disarming the fighters, who will be allowed to keep their guns at home but not display them in public.

Government officials said this was normal in tribal society. "I don't think there is one home in the area that doesn't have a weapon," said Afrasiab Khattak of the Awami National Party, which rules NWFP, and one of 10 signatories to the deal.

The militants have also undertaken to allow polio vaccinations take place - Fazlullah previously claimed they were part of a global conspiracy to sterilize Muslims - and to register FM radio stations that have been instrumental in spreading hate propaganda. They will also stop attacking barbers who shave beards, and girls who attend school.

The central point of the agreement - the withdrawal of the army from the Swat valley - will be overseen by a 10-man committee from both sides. The deal has not been signed by Fazlullah, believed to be hiding in a remote mountain valley, but negotiators were confident it had his approval, said Khattak, one of the signatories of the deal.

Khattak said that the form of Sharia law being introduced was simply a pre-existing law dating from 1999 that had not been implemented in Swat. The civil laws of Pakistan would remain in force but there would be some "procedural amendments", he said.

The demand for Sharia enjoyed some public support in Swat due to a widespread perception that the civil system was slow, inefficient and riddled with corruption.