US slams Pakistan pact with al-Qa'ida-linked rebels
Bruce Loudon. South Asia correspondent | May 23, 2008
THE first of Pakistan's proposed peace pacts with al-Qa'ida- and Taliban-linked militants was signed yesterday, only hours after the White House's top policy-maker on the region warned of dire consequences for the battle against global terrorism.
As government negotiators and militant representatives in North West Frontier Province signed the historic deal, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte warned of "an outcome that will give extremist elements the ability ... to carry out attacks on Pakistan, on Afghanistan, or the US or the rest of the world".
Referring to Pakistan's overall quest for peace with the militants, he told a congressional hearing in Washington: "There is a lot at stake here and we have made that point repeatedly."
Mr Negroponte appeared to seek to directly undermine the negotiations Pakistan's new, democratically elected rulers were holding with the militants.
Pakistan is in talks on a second peace accord with top jihadi commander Baitullah Mehsud, but Mr Negroponte yesterday advised the Pakistani Government to arrest the rebel leader.
He said "one of the metrics" by which any Pakistani success in the battle against extremism could be judged would be "if you saw the Government operating effectively against some of those militant extremists, like, for example, bringing Baitullah Mehsud ... capturing him and bringing him to justice, which is what should happen to him".
Mehsud, the pre-eminent militant leader in Pakistan, commands an army of more than 20,000 men in South Waziristan and has been blamed for most of the suicide bombings in the country, including Benazir Bhutto's assassination last December.
The Government in Islamabad, far from bowing to Washington's demands, is about to sign a peace deal with him that has already had Pakistan's army pulling out of South Waziristan.
The political parties that formed a federal coalition government seven weeks ago are offering peace to militants who renounce violence, in an attempt to end a wave of bombings that have killed hundreds of people and shaken Pakistan over the past year.
Yesterday's first formal agreement, covering the highly strategic Swat valley north of Islamabad, was seen as a significant victory for militants who have waged a violent campaign for the imposition of fundamentalist sharia law.
The 16-point deal, signed in Peshawar after 13 days of negotiations between NWFP provincial government ministers and militants, will lead to a withdrawal of government troops, the establishment of a parallel administration and the imposition of sharia law in line with militant demands.
In return, the militants will close down training camps, halt suicide bombing attacks on government targets and security forces, and hand over so-called "foreign fighters" - generally seen as a euphemism for al-Qa'ida insurgents.
They will also halt their campaign against polio vaccinations, stop their attacks on barbers who shave off men's beards, stop blowing up music and video stores, and cease attacks aimed at closing girls' schools.
The charismatic militant cleric who leads the jihadis in Swat, Maulana Qazi Fazlullah, will be allowed to resume the potent radio broadcasts that have led to his being known as "Maulana FM" and done much to stir up the anti-government uprising.
Despite misgivings from the US and the coalition forces fighting in Afghanistan, officials in Islamabad see the accord as a historic and groundbreaking development that signals real progress in their quest for a peaceful solution to militancy in the country.
Western officials have expressed concern that any deals would be poorly enforced and would simply allow Taliban and al-Qai'da militants to carry out more attacks in Afghanistan and plot terror strikes in the West.
US slams Pakistan pact with al-Qa'ida-linked rebels | The Australian
