Pakistani president approves sharia in Swat valley

Bangulzai SG

Pakistani president approves sharia in Swat valley

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has signed a regulation imposing Islamic sharia law in the Swat valley in the northwest of the country, as part of a deal to end Taliban violence, state media reported.

Zardari signed the regulation late on Monday after the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution recommending he approve it, the APP news agency reported.

"Reportedly, as a result of the said peace agreement, the law and order situation is improving in Swat," the assembly said in recommending that Zardari sign the regulation.

Surging militant violence across Pakistan and the spread of Taliban influence through the northwest are reviving concerns about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important U.S. ally vital to efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

Authorities accepted an Islamist demand for sharia law in Swat in February to end more than a year of fighting but critics said appeasement would only embolden the militants.

Swat was one of Pakistan's main tourist destinations until 2007 when militants infiltrated into the North West Frontier Province valley from strongholds on the Afghan border to support a radical cleric.

Zardari, who has vowed to stand up to the spread of militancy, had faced pressure from conservatives and the main political party in the northwest, who said sharia law was the only way to bring peace to Swat.

The United States and other Pakistanis say deals with the Taliban create safe havens for them and their al Qaeda allies.

Some Pakistani Taliban fighters last week moved out of Swat, unopposed by the authorities, and into Buner district to the southeast.

Buner residents formed a militia to try to resist the militants and 13 people, including eight Taliban, three policemen and two villagers, were killed in clashes.

But the militants have prevailed and have begun imposing their rule in the mountain valley only 100 km (60 miles) from the capital, police and residents said.

(Reporting by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Bangulzai SG

Rights group alarmed over Islamic law in Swat

An international human rights group urged Pakistan to reverse its decision to enforce Islamic law in a northwestern valley in a peace pact with the Taliban, saying the deal threatens women and takes the region back to the "Dark Ages."

Human Rights Watch said the government's move amounted to granting the Taliban "de-facto administrative control of the Swat Valley" and "presents a grave threat to the rights of women and other basic rights in the troubled region."

The Taliban are "taking Swat back to the Dark Ages and the Pakistani government is now complicit in their horrific abuses," Ali Dayan Hasan, a senior South Asia researcher for the New York-based group, said Wednesday.

The Swat Valley is less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Islamabad and once attracted hordes of tourists.

Eighteen months of fighting between security forces and militants in Swat prompted the provincial government in February to agree to impose Islamic law there and in surrounding areas as part of peace efforts. The Taliban agreed to a cease-fire.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari approved the agreement late Monday after lawmakers urged him to sign it.

There still remain many questions about the exact nature of the pact, including who will have final authority over the appointment of judges trained in Islamic law.

Defenders say the deal will drain public support for extremists who have hijacked long-standing calls in Swat for reform of Pakistan's snail-paced justice system. But critics worry it rewards hard-liners who have beheaded political opponents and burned scores of schools for girls in the name of Islam.

The White House criticized the Pakistani move, saying it undermines democracy and human rights. Western officials also worry the valley will turn into a sanctuary for militants who may be involved in attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint in Charsadda, a town elsewhere in the northwest, killing nine police officers and seven civilians, said Riaz Khan, a senior police officer.

Bomb expert Hukam Khan estimated 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of explosives were used in the attack, leaving a huge crater.

The vehicle used in the attack came from Swat, said a senior intelligence official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media on the record.

"We also found a video of a 14- or 15-year-old boy in a car not far away from the scene of the attack," the official said Thursday. "In that video, a boy was seen reading the Quran, and we are investigating whether he was the attacker."

Critics of the Swat deal doubt that the militants' ambitions end at the valley's borders. In recent days, the Swat Taliban staged a foray into the neighboring Buner district, clashing with residents there.

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Associated Press writer Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.