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Swat Taliban, NWFP Govt ink peace accord
Tariq Saeed
Peshawar—The Local Taliban in Swat and the NWFP government have
eventually inked a peace accord whereby the two sides have agreed to
make practical efforts for the establishment of lasting peace in the
Swat district paving the way to normalcy in the region which has
been in the grip of violence, militancy and lawlessness for a long
time.
The announcement to this effect was made by the Provincial Senior
Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour while addressing newsmen after final
round of talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat here Wednesday. NWFP
Government and local Taliban signed historic fifteen point peace
agreement wherein the Taliban agreed to eliminate training camps of
the militants besides halting attacks on security forces and the
government installations in Swat District.
The NWFP government and the representatives of Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan have been holding talks for about a month in order to
hammer out permanent solution to the ongoing unrest in the Malakand
division and bring an end to the trend of militancy in the region
where the government writ had almost come to stand still.
The final round of talks on Wednesday were led by Tehrik-e-Taliban
spokesmen Ali Bakht and Haji Muslim Khan while Senior Minister NWFP
Bashir Bilour, Chairman of the cabinet committee on peace talks
headed the government team. Minister Rahim Dad Khan was also present
on the occasion. Both the parties inked a fifteen-point peace truce
to this effect with focus being on the implementation of ‘Shariat”
in Swat and Malakand division.
Minister for Forests Wajid Ali Khan, MPA Shamsher Ali Khan, and some
provincial leaders of ANP and government officials also represented
the Government side during the talks. Spokesman of Taliban Haji
Muslim Khan, Mehmud Khan, Ali Bakht, Maulana Shamsher Ali, Maulana
Abdul Ghafoor, Maulana Muhammad Ameen, and Muhammad Nisar
constituted the Taliban negotiating team during the talks.
The local Taliban have agreed to cooperate with the state machinery
in the maintenance of peace and harmony in the region besides
binding them to cooperate with the government in the maintenance of
peace. The senior minister while dilating upon others points of the
accord told the media-men that measures would be taken for swapping
the prisoners and there would be total ban on display of arms and
ammunition. Similarly the Taliban will cooperate with the government
health teams in campaigns against fatal diseases like polio etc. The
Taliban team head said as per the agreement the government would
release around 200 members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban detained on
different occasions, sooner.
Like wise Bashir Bilour said that Imam Dheri Madrassa, the
stronghold of Taliban from where the present uprising had started by
the rebellious cleric Maulana Fazlullah alias Mullah Radio, would be
converted into an Islamic University.
The accord also bound Taliban against raising private militia in
their respective areas. According to the peace truce, the Taliban
would hand over lethal and heavy weaponry to the government, will
not attack CDs, Barber and music shops, would neither resort to
suicide blasts and instead will condemn it and will allow the
working women to perform their duties at the work place without any
fear. Taliban would accept writ of the government and only licensed
FM radio stations would be allowed to operate in the area.
Similarly the government has agreed to the gradual withdrawal of
security forces from the district. It has been learnt that the
government and the Taliban have agreed to form a joint committee to
oversee implementation on various points of the accord with the
passage of each day.
Meanwhile spokesman of Taliban Ali Bakht who represented his side in
the talks expressed satisfaction over the accord with the hoped it
would be implemented in letter and spirit. He assured that Taliban
would make sincere endeavor to implement the accord in toto. The
Taliban spokesman said they agreed to the government contention of
gradual withdrawal of the troops from the region adding the two
sides agreed to number of conditions put forth by both the parties.
The Taliban spokesman to a query, however, declared in categorical
tone that certain internal and external forces wanted to sabotage
the peace initiatives and the Taliban Tehreek had nothing to do with
the ongoing sabotage activities and the suicide bombings in the
region or elsewhere.
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