Pakistanis support military action against Taliban and back paramilitary forces

Al-Shorfa and wire services
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-05-07

Pakistanis take part in an anti-Taliban rally in Lahore May 3. (Reuters/Mohsin Raza)

PESHAWAR —The Taliban’s armed return to Mingora on May 3 signalled the final breakdown in the Pakistani government’s efforts to negotiate a peaceful solution to two years of fighting that has costs thousands of lives and damaged homes and livelihoods in Swat.

Pakistani public opinion has undergone an important shift against the Taliban since the deal, which has apparently given the military more confidence to move with full force against them.

A recent video showing the Taliban flogging a young woman as the militants imposed their version of Sharia law on Swat shocked the nation, while the Taliban’s beheading of two local government officials last week sparked outrage.

Finally, the Taliban incursion into Buner two weeks ago solidified a growing consensus that they have gone too far and that the military needed to stand up to them, which has provided the catalyst for the military to act.

The media, politicians and even religious leaders are now speaking out against the extremist positions of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the main negotiator of the Swat deal, and his son-in-law Mullah Fazlullah who has links to the Al-Qaeda-backed Taliban movement based in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The peace deal was briefly popular among the people of Swat, who were desperate for peace and angered by the heavy-handed military campaign in the valley. But over the last three months of efforts to make the deal work, the Taliban revealed that they have no intention of ending their insurgency. It has also become apparent that Maulana Muhammad is not able to control the militants, the politicians say.

On the ground there has been a significant change in the military and paramilitary forces ranged against the Taliban, however. Under the leadership of energetic and determined commander Maj.Gen.Tariq Khan, the Frontier Corps, a local Pashtun paramilitary force, has become better armed and equipped with U.S. assistance. Supported by army units, it has proved itself better able to push back the Taliban, first in the tribal areas in Bajaur last year, and now in Buner.

Anti-terrorist police units that are better suited to counterinsurgency operations have also been deployed in operations in outlying districts. Those from Peshawar killed 88 suspected militants in the last four months, cracking down on kidnappings and general lawlessness that had reached directly into the city, a senior police official said.

[NYT]

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