Provincial lawmakers talk about proposed peace deal to finish battle in Swat valley

(16 Feb 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Huge exterior of Chief Minister’s home
2. Queue of autos arriving for assembly
3. Mid of members of pro-Taliban group sitting inside car
4. Numerous of pro-Taliban group members strolling in the direction of assembly room
5. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Badshah Sardar, chief nazim for the Dir District:
“Within the Malakand area Sharia legislation shall be applied and after this peace shall be restored.”
6. Mid of Sardar
7. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Badshah Sardar, chief nazim for the Dir District:
“The settlement has already been signed by either side.”
8. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Sikandar Khan, Taliban member
“There shall be peace in Malakand and Bajur and we will even go to Waziristan and different areas”.
9. Huge of assembly
10. Mid of Maulana Sami Ul Haq of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (on left), Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Chief Minister of the North West Frontier Province (in centre), Najim Uddin, member of the Provincial Meeting (on proper)
11. Mid of Hoti
12. Huge of viewers
13. Mid of Khan
14. Numerous of assembly
STORYLINE:
The federal government agreed to implement Islamic legislation throughout a big swathe of northwest Pakistan on Monday in a concession geared toward pacifying a spreading Taliban insurgency.
The choice was introduced after talks with a pro-Taliban group from the Swat Valley, a one-time vacationer haven within the northwest the place extremists have gained sway by way of brutal ways together with beheadings and burning ladies colleges.
Officers gave few particulars on the what sort of Islamic or Shariah legislation they have been planning to implement in Malakand area, which incorporates Swat, however mentioned legal guidelines that don’t adjust to Islamic texts had been suspended efficient from Monday.
A number of previous offers with militants in northwest Pakistan have failed, together with one in Swat final 12 months.
The U.S. has warned such pacts merely give insurgents time to regroup, however the nation’s civilian authorities insists power alone can’t defeat the extremists wreaking havoc in Pakistan and attacking U.S. troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Regaining the Swat Valley from militants is a serious take a look at for the Pakistani authorities. Not like the semi-autonomous tribal areas the place al-Qaida and Taliban have lengthy thrived, the previous vacationer haven is meant to be underneath full authorities management and lies lower than 100 miles (160 kilometres) from Peshawar, the provincial capital of North-West Frontier Province.
A 30-member delegation from a banned pro-Taliban group in Swat took half within the discussions on Monday in Peshawar.
The group, the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi or the Motion for the Enforcement of Islamic Legislation, has an extended historical past of agitating for the imposition of Islamic or Shariah legislation within the staunchly conservative area of the Muslim nation. It’s led by Sufi Muhammad, who Pakistan freed final 12 months after he agreed to resign violence.
Muhammad is father-in-law to Maulana Fazlullah, chief of the Taliban in Swat. Muhammad has pledged to go to Swat and persuade his son-in-law to cease the violence there.
Authorities officers have indicated they might give attention to adjusting the realm’s judicial system to incorporate provisions
equivalent to letting non secular students advise judges or having speedier courts.
Many civilians within the area assist an Islamic justice system, and a few of the laws underneath dialogue have been on the books however by no means applied.
Muslim students themselves have completely different interpretations of what it means to be underneath Shariah.
Many extremists in northwest Pakistan apparently favour the exceptionally strict model the Taliban imposed in
Afghanistan earlier than the U.S. invasion in 2001, the place feminine training and music was banned.
The Swat Taliban have declared a ban on ladies’ training.

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