Taliban tightens grip in key valley

ISLAMABAD | The Pakistani government has lost control of 80 percent of Swat, a scenic valley in the northwest, where Taliban militants are implementing their own harsh system of justice and spreading fear through the use of FM radio.

Local officials, including a minister, Bashir Bilour, say a few thousand militants rule the former tourist region, which was once considered to be the most developed and educated town in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.

Taliban forces control Mingora and Saidu Sharif, the region’s two major towns, as well as three of four subdivisions in the valley, local officials say. Government forces in Mata, Kabal and Khwazakhela are restricted to their bases.

The spreading Taliban presence threatens nearby cities and towns such as Peshawar, Buner, Dir and Mardan, but has not yet reached Islamabad, some 155 miles away.

More than half a million residents have fled their homes owing to violence, and nearly 400,000 have moved to Islamabad and other Pakistani cities, including Peshawar, Karachi and Rawalpindi.

The Taliban have established their own courts and are implementing harsh rulings, including executions, lashes and fines. Militants are forbidding women and girls to go to school and are barring women from shopping in markets and men from shaving their beards.

The militants are led by Mullah Fazlullah, a hard-line cleric, and are associated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of Pakistani militants headed by Baitullah Mehsud.

Mullah Fazlullah and his men appear to be more successful than the Taliban in the tribal areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, benefiting from the effective use of FM radio and a relative lack of international attention.

The United States has been more focused on militants’ activities in the tribal regions, seeking to hinder their cross-border movement and attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.

Rehman Malik, an adviser to the Pakistani government on interior affairs, said Jan. 23 that a decisive step by the government against Swat militants was imminent.

However, a military operation launched in Swat in November 2007 failed to establish government control or to restore peace in the region, despite the increasing unpopularity of militants owing to their attacks on civilians and the ban on girls’ education.

Rahimullah Yousafzai, a specialist on the Taliban, said the people of Swat do not like the militants, but have no confidence in the government’s ability to defeat them.

“People in Swat are frightened. They will obey the orders of those who are in control, and militants are controlling Swat,” he said. “People will support the government against militants only when the government proves its ability and authority to safeguard them.”

Mr. Yousafzai said the lack of counterinsurgency training for the government forces battling militants was a major reason for the government’s ineffectiveness.

“Pakistani forces are trained only for conventional wars. Besides, there is lack of commitment and morale among the soldiers in this fight,” he said. “People think this is not our war, this is the U.S.’s war.”

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