Sharia to be law 80km from Islamabad

17 Feb 2009,

PESHAWAR/NEW DELHI: The Taliban just got entrenched closer to India. Barely 48 hours after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned that Taliban was "trying to take over Pakistan'', his government appeased the ultra Islamic extremist group by signing an agreement on Monday with pro-Taliban leader Sufi Mohammad to impose Islamic law, sharia, in Swat in return for a 10-day ceasefire by the Taliban.

Zardari's critics described the pact as capitulation before the Taliban, which calls the shots in large swathes of the country. The US frowned at it, warning that such moves allowed the Taliban to regroup and rearm. US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said on reaching Delhi that Swat was a reminder that "US, Pakistan and India face an enemy that poses direct threats to our leadership, our capitals and our people.''

Swat is just 80 miles northwest of Islamabad. Over the past few years, Tehrik-i-Taliban, the local Taliban outfit there led by Mullah Fazlullah - better known as Mullah Radio because of his illegal FM channel - has gained virtual control over the area. More than 200 girls' schools have been destroyed in a campaign against female education, music shops have been burned, tens of thousands have fled their homes, government offices been ransacked, while the security forces have grudgingly conceded that the government is fighting a losing battle.

The 10-day pause in hostilities, during which Mullah Radio would monitor the rollout of Islamic law in Swat, is not expected to lead to a longer peace. Experts say that as the Taliban has dictated terms in this pact, it is only a matter of time before it raises the pitch of its demands. Although the agreement has been signed by Sufi Mohammad, who is Radio Mullah's father-in-law, reports say that Radio Mullah's embrace of extreme Islam is more fierce than his father-in-law's.

The agreement for imposing sharia will cover Pakistan's northwest Malakand area under which Swat valley comes. Malakand is a regular part of Pakistan, not the wild tribal area that runs along the Afghan border. Critics fear that the concession to hardliners here would spur demands elsewhere in the country for sharia. Sharia is reputed to deliver rough and ready justice that includes public stoning and flogging as well as amputation of body parts.