Ahsan Waheed
Notwithstanding US reservations, the recently initiated truce deal
with the Taliban is beginning to pay dividends. A re****t filed in
Pakistan=92s dailies suggest that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan have
seen the error of their ways and are effectively suing for peace in
Swat.
Here, at least, the local Taliban leader, Maulana Fazlullah, has asked
his followers to honour the terms of the peace accord signed with the
government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) at a
=91Shura=92 (public gathering) where more than 1500 militants had
descended to attend from their hideouts in the hills.
Fazlullah, re****tedly advised his followers to remain calm,
notwithstanding the failure of the NWFP government to honour the peace
deal which encompassed the release all of the Taliban imprisoned
within 15 days. The maulana urged the restive tribesmen to be patient,
even his they threatened to break the treaty.
The maulana nevertheless took up issue with the government for not
compelling the Pakistan military to withdraw from the field to their
barracks, but at the same time brought to the Shura=92s notice that the
reason for this could be that there were others about who had been
attacking girls=92 schools in violation of the agreement.
An im****tant part the truce with the Taliban has to do with NWFP
government=92s agreeing to establish an Islamic University in Imamdehri,
the cleric=92s headquarters where the mediums of instruction are to be
both Arabic and English, and where an attitude change is presaged,
with Vice-Chancellor designate, Dr Mohammad Farooq, having announced
that the university would induct both male and female students.
Meanwhile, a Dubai based study group, the Gulf Research Centre, is
focusing its energies on the Gulf States involvement to bring about
other peace agreements in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA). The organization has recommended these affluent Muslim states
take it upon them to provide job op****tunities for the tribal youth in
Gulf States as well as look to making investments in FATA.
Noted correspondent Khalid Hassan quotes spokesperson Faryal Leghari
contending that the =93much criticized peace agreements with the tribes
were made in keeping with tribal traditions=85to re-establish the writ
of the state=94, and that instead of =93aggravating an already volatile
situation by staging ground operations=85the US should place the onus on
the Pakistan military and beef up the regional security forces with
technical training and intelligence sup****t=94 (Daily Times-Page A4 -
June 23).
This may indeed be the best way out of the quagmire the West finds
itself in, for there is little indication that the war against terror
in Afghanistan and its environs can be won without =93winning the hearts
and minds=94 of the entire region.
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