The FINANCIAL — The Pakistani police on July 26 arrested a pro-Taliban cleric; Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who had brokered a failed peace deal in northern Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, that put three million people under sharia law but was shattered by renewed Taliban fighting.
According to AFP, Mohammad, father-in-law of the Taliban cleric who masterminded a two-year uprising that ravaged the once idyllic northwest Swat valley beloved by Western tourists, was arrested on July 26 on the outskirts of Peshawar.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, provincial information minister, told AFP that Mohammad was arrested with three of his sons after chairing meetings of his banned group, having previously kept a low profile.
Iftikhar said Muhammad had been arrested for encouraging violence and terrorism, as The New York Times reported, “Instead of keeping his promises by taking steps for the sake of peace, and speaking out against terrorism, he did not utter a single word against terrorists,” Iftikhar said at a news conference in Peshawar, adding that the cleric’s stance “encouraged terrorism. It encouraged violence.”
Mohammed negotiated a peace deal with the government in February that called for Fazlullah's fighters to lay down their arms in exchange for the imposition of Sharia, or Islamic law, in the region, according to Los Angeles Times.
The AP gives information that the deal collapsed in April when the Taliban advanced south out of Swat, triggering a military offensive and a spree of retaliatory attacks by militants in the northwest and beyond. Some 2 million people fled the region, and although hundreds of thousands have returned in the past two weeks as the military operation winds down, sporadic fighting continues.
The arrest came two days after the Taliban denied government claims that Fazlullah was wounded, and threatened to unleash renewed holy war, Los Angeles Times reported. Pakistan slapped down a 615,000-dollar reward for Fazlullah, captured dead or alive, and 15 of his top lieutenants, but so far none of them has been confirmed arrested or killed since the latest offensive was launched in April.
Fazlullah led thousands of supporters, a mixture of hardcore ideologues and disenfranchised young men, in a brutal campaign that beheaded opponents, burned scores of schools and fought against government troops since November 2007, as informs the same source.
Muhammad’s arrest could be an indication that the government will no longer negotiate with the Taliban, according to The New York Times. That position would be likely to please Washington, which is looking for signs that Pakistan is serious about cracking down on militants.
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