Swat Peace Deal - The Aftermath

[S-2]

"I am the pragmatic future of Pakistan - what Pakistan needs to be saved from is nutjobs like you whose conflict resolution skills start and end with 'Kill, kill, kill, bomb, bomb, bomb'."

This is an over-reaction and is unwarranted. Solomon2 is no "nutjob" and his views are lucidly expressed and are not at all fringe. His questions to you are on the lips of every reasonable policy maker out there now.

To this point, you're not ready to fight. Why? You're not ready to extend services and re-construction in it's aftermath. Why? Who knows? Maybe those resources have been identified and sit awaiting the money to move. Maybe you've a bureaucratic stranglehold that chokes the delivery of services.

I'm not sure where the dis-connect lies but I know that this isn't easy. Both Afghanistan and Iraq continue to reveal huge lessons in establishing governance where institutions don't exist or have broken down.

In any case, Loe Sam's continuing complete destruction indicates the disarray here. As such, any successful military operation could not be followed by the re-establishment of local society on any planned scale. Until that can be assured as an immediate follow-up to combat operations, there's little point. Sadly, with each passing day, the captive population becomes more a part of the new fabric and less of the old. Too, the enemy entrenches and prepares daily for your eventual arrival. So doing raises the ante of the battle and it's aftermath yet again.

"Your 'discernment of intent' is quite clearly limited to the PA bombing and blasting its way through Swat, never mind the thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced."

You don't know this. Your own examples so far fall to the far sides of the COIN spectrum-near open mid-intensity combat and a protracted unnegotiated standoff that resulted in ceding ground. No in-between and this is another reason for your army avoiding combat.

Like it or not-for all the accusations of "employment of overwhelming firepower" both in Iraq and Afghanistan, we know something about entering neighborhoods, fighting bad guys, and leaving most of the buildings standing. Even a full-blown urban battle at Fallujah unlike anything we've fought since Hue-excepting Somalia- resulted in markedly little unrepairable damage. The city of 300,000 is fully occupied and functioning today. Loe Sam had 8,000 inhabitants. That wasn't a little village but a large community. It's utterly gone now and the cost to replace it is stupendous.

My point is this-there are ways to close with and destroy the enemy without bulldozing an entire mid-sized city and it is often necessary to do exactly that.

So how to fight a battle that's worth fighting? How about identifying those villages and towns that you can occupy and establish the state's security presence now without coming into conflict with your enemies? How about preparing those communities not yet affected with the means to immediately repel the virus themselves? How about training your community leaders and police to identify the signs of an emerging threat?

Those would be proactive actions which I'd take on the peripheries of current threats radiating outward to areas as yet utterly unaffected. That begins securing those areas not yet afflicted. Your army could occupy the unaffected towns and villages on the immediate periphery of threat areas while allowing your training programs to prepare the villages and cities further away.

You copy the COP model of Iraq. It works in high-density population areas. Relative to Afghanistan this is the case on your side of the border I believe. Far more small towns and villages up to good sized cities like TANK. This model allows you to inkblot your platoons throughout communities. They should be able to run to the assistance of another in larger communities. Reaction forces should be identified and so too primary and alternate re-inforcement routes.

You CONVINCE these men that they'll never be abandoned in these COPs. Then you turn them loose to live, work, and patrol among their citizens. Please try to find a few local language guys for each platoon. Hopefully, your men would pick the local tongue up quickly.

All this could be done now without approaching one militant checkpoint and it could be happening everywhere in your nation. I wouldn't wait to see that A.M. is wrong and S-2 correct about Punjab. I'd put your communities on double-secret alert right now. Your army and ISI should be leading this effort and providing the training. None of that requires any redeployments. It alters training schedules and introduces new skill requirements but that's a good thing.

Oh! Combat engineers all over the nation need, NOW, to be assigned every civil engineering task that is within their scope of work, presents a current need, and can be budgeted from existing or alternative resources. In any high threat areas, they should be able to provide for their own security if necessary and other forces are unavailable.

ADA, artillery, armor, M.P.s, signal, and others should be trained and organized as provisional infantry security platoons. They should be able to secure their own facilities and units while taking on local patrol/civic security duties AND fire their cannons when necessary. This is a different war and everybody has to chip in to lighten the infantry's load.

Have we fired a shot yet?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This is an over-reaction and is unwarranted. Solomon2 is no "nutjob" and his views are lucidly expressed and are not at all fringe. His questions to you are on the lips of every reasonable policy maker out there now.

Hogwash- his snide commentary on the motivations of the PA and GoP validate his nutjob, right-wing Islam bashing credentials quite well.

You don't know this.

In his complete opposition to he 'peace deals' without articulating any alternative I have no choice but to 'know this'. If he truly meant to engage in constructive discourse, the nonsensical drivel he has spouted so far would not be on view.

You and I have engaged in a parallel discussion on the same issue, and seen common ground, without having to seek refuge in conspiracy theories and diatribes against the GoP and PA.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

In any case - I'm off for another week or so.

Maybe the peace deal will have collapsed by then.

Cheers.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Swat and saving Pakistan

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Zafar Hilaly

More information regarding the Swat deal between the government and the Taliban has come to light. It now appears that the Taliban were bought off by the government for a sum ranging between $6 and $10 million. What was essentially a bribe was labelled as compensation for losses and damage suffered during the fighting. On the other hand the destruction, executions, rape and pillage wrought by the insurgents have been condoned; so too the continuing abductions of district officials and military personnel. It seems that if the insurgents wish to talk to an official, the latter has no option but to either present himself or be abducted. Even military patrols have to obtain the prior clearance of the Taliban before setting out. No where else in the world does a national army have to obtain the permission of outlaws to patrol their own territory.

Similarly the mores of the inhabitants of Swat will now be vetted by the Taliban. Those, especially women, who do not conform to the Taliban's obscurantist version of Islam will be punished and, if they survive, banished. No doubt soon, if not already, we will learn that as in Kabul under Taliban rule women will be banned from washing clothes on the river banks; or have their clothes tailored by men; or use make up or nail varnish; or laugh or speak loudly lest they "excite" men. All of which goes to show that in the search for peace and quiet the government has sacrificed justice and the rights of half the population of Pakistan contained in the Constitution.

Liberals have been criticised for trashing an agreement that has brought peace to Swat and is welcomed by the locals. Actually, locals who fought heroically against the Taliban in the expectation that they would be backed by the government were dumb founded when the military for all its vaunted claims was unable to prevail mostly because they were unwilling to sustain losses; and having lost the will to fight preferred to let the government take the rap for their failure and cobble a deal which amounted to surrender. How do I know? Because there was not a single Swati, of the dozen or so that I have met and talked to, who thinks otherwise. Moreover their loathing for the Taliban is now only matched by their contempt for the military. When I asked one of my interlocutors the reason for the universal acclamation of the agreement by their folk in Swat, shown ad nauseam on TV channels, they shuffled about uneasily till, that is, one of them confessed, "Because they know that if they say anything else they will be slaughtered by the Taliban". The peace that Mr Hoti has bought in Swat is one that has set a lethal precedent; besides it will also prove a bad bargain when it collapses.

But Mr Hoti alone is not to blame. The pusillanimous stance of the centre is no less culpable. Saving Pakistan, a project on which our politicians are seemingly launched and which, we are often reminded is "work in progress" is nothing of the sort. There is little work and no progress. And as if we need to be reminded the events at Liberty Chowk provided further evidence. It is not merely that the terrorists should want to kill Sri Lankan cricketers but that they should nearly succeed in a city that is virtually in a lock down because of the terrorist threat and, having attempted to do so, saunter away casually without a hair on their bodies being ruffled. When it comes to deciding which of the two is less efficient, the military or the agencies, or India or Pakistan, the choice is a toss up.

There are many who share the blame for the sad pass in which we find ourselves including, let it be said, the masses whose penchant for electing errant politicians and patiently tolerating dictators seems endless. To hope that matters will improve is unrealistic unless the state structure is righted. For instance, a successful democracy requires government to be local, accountable and elected which they are not in Pakistan. Provincial governments operate, or cease to, depending on the whims of the centre as we are so dramatically witnessing in the Punjab; nor are they accountable (accountability is a dirty word in our political milieu) or truly elected because rigging in elections is endemic. To expect a system so flawed to succeed, let alone "rebuild" is fanciful. Saving Pakistan therefore requires a new governmental structure to replace the current dysfunctional entity.

While I have no idea what, unless it is the present functioning anarchy, most suits our peculiar genius and will concede immediately that the best of structures in the hands of the worst of men will similarly fail, I do recall that the Lahore Resolution of 1940, also known as the Pakistan Resolution, envisaged NOT a unitary state for Muslim India but a number of "independent sovereign states" a proposition which, if heeded, would have ensured in 1971 the survival of the perforce loosely aligned Islamic Republic(s) of Pakistan and may still prevent a meltdown of what remains.

The writer is a former ambassador

 

[RabzonKhan]

400,000 kids in Swat to miss anti-polio drive

Saturday, March 14, 2009
By Shahina Maqbool

Islamabad. In a shocking development, the district administration of Swat has suggested to the government to call off the upcoming national door-to-door anti- polio drive beginning in Swat and all districts of the country from next week. Credible sources working for the polio control programme informed ‘The News’ here on Friday that the step would deprive over 400,000 children of the area of the vital Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).

Experts believe that cancellation or postponement of the campaign would inflict a serious blow to the initiative. The much-trumpeted Swat peace accord between the Maulana Sufi Mohammad-led TNSM and the government of NWFP had put the health authorities in a state of jubilation; the accord was welcomed by local and international and health experts alike as they thought it would help create an enabling environment for accessing the hitherto un-reached 400,000 children in the troubled Swat region.

“This is shocking. When all schools including girls’ schools and hot targets such as the police and other departments are working with a degree of normalcy, why on earth can’t the polio round be conducted,” asked an official working for Unicef.

According to him, Unicef, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and other international agencies are planning to take strongest of actions against the district administration of Swat. “We are planning to write to the prime minister to appoint some committed and efficient officers in Swat,” he added.

It may be mentioned that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, on the request of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon had lately announced an action plan for polio eradication in the country and had assured all-out help to the international agencies in this regard. More.



Militants kidnap, release 20 cops in Swat

Friday, March 13, 2009
By by Our correspondent

MINGORA: Militants Thursday took hostage 20 cops escorting the procession of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, representatives of government, Taliban and Qaumi Amn Jirga that was taking the newly appointed Qazis to different areas of the district.

The police officials, riding two mobile vehicles, were providing security to the procession, which was being carried out to safely take the newly appointed Qazis to their offices.

Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) Chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad was leading the march while Malakand Commissioner Syed Muhammad Javed, Mahmood Khan and Inamur Rahman-representatives of government, Taliban and Qaumi Amn Jirga respectively were also taking part in it.

The militants kidnapped all the 20 police officials at Qamber, a town located three kilometres short of Mingora. Of late, Qamber has become a stronghold of the militants who have been picking up government officials on one pretext or the other.

However, the cops were later freed on the intervention of Sufi Muhammad, Mahmood Khan and Inamur Rahman. It could not be ascertained as to what led the militants to take them hostage.

Seven Qazis, who were appointed by NWFP government under the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, took charge of their offices.

Maulana Pir Zada Noor and Maulana Ihsanullah in Babozai, Maulana Muhammad Riaz in Matta, Maulana Omar Ali in Bahrain, Maulana Sajjad Ali in Kabal, Maulana Muhammad Rahman in Khwazakhela and Maulana Muhammad Rasool Shah in Barikot were appointed. Interestingly, all the installed Qazis are “Maulvis” as Maulana preceded the names of all Qazis.

The marches were led to Barikot, Matta, Kabal and Khwazakhela. Most of the areas where Qazis were appointed were the strongholds of the militants and the government had no writ there. Their appointment would re-establish the writ of the government.

Addressing people in different areas, Sufi Muhammad asked Ulema, Taliban and people to make Shariah a success. He urged them to bring their cases to the Qazis’ courts. He said it was the system for which people had offered sacrifices, reminding the people that it was their responsibility to work for its success.

Meanwhile, students blocked Mingora-Peshawar road at Balogram in protest against the closure of schools and demanded their early re-opening. They said their precious time was going waste. They were not ready to end their protest. However, Sufi Muhammad turned up there and assured them of resumption of their schools. In Kabal, students of Government Degree College also staged a protest demonstration outside the press club. They were demanding re-opening of the college.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Flawed strategy on the militants

Saturday, March 14, 2009
By Zafar Hilaly

President Barak Obama's remarks on March 7 on the possibility of reconciliation with the "good Taliban" opposed to Al Qaeda coincided with his administration's criticism of the Pakistani government's own reconciliation deal with the Taliban in Swat. This happened despite Pakistani officials' assurance to the US that the was not surrender but an attempt to drive a wedge between hardcore Taliban and local Islamists.

The ANP has handed over the Swat valley to the Taliban while boasting that the deal was meant in fact meant to drive a wedge between the two groups of militants. But the leader of the Taliban (Fazlullah) is the son-in-law of the leader of the local Islamists (Sufi Mohammad). Such chicanery is a recipe for disaster. Hopefully, Mr Obama will heed the advice of the Taliban spokesman who, in so many words, told him to stop daydreaming.

There is still time for Washington and Islamabad to get it right. Al Qaeda is the only terror organisation that has a global reach and a global agenda. It is the only terror group that can realistically aspire to the possession of nuclear weapons which, as it happens, are located where it is headquartered--Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan is the country where it feels it is most likely to prevail against its foreign and local enemies. And why not? The Pakistani military is ill equipped, and lacks a coherent strategy to take on the Taliban in difficult terrain, the civil leadership is incompetent, unpopular and divided, the economy is teetering and, to cap it all, America is hated to an extent that is irrational.

To make matters worse the middle classes of the country, to which the civil and military structure mostly belong, believe that the US will be driven out of Afghanistan by the irresistible combination of the Taliban, a high body count and America's economic woes; or when the already overstretched US is distracted by Iran much as the Americans were by Iraq. And instead of preparing for the day when Pakistan may need to confront the Taliban on its own, a daunting challenge considering how badly Pakistan is faring in the war despite liberal access to US coffers, they think that a few Swat-like deals with the "good" Taliban will suffice. "All will be well between Pakistan and the Taliban once the US withdraws from Afghanistan" is a common refrain.

Asked about the Taliban/Al Qaeda agenda of wresting Kashmir from India and despatching Israel to oblivion and the possible disaster that it may wreak on an Al Qaeda headquartered Pakistan, people prefer to dismiss it as American propaganda and instead allude to Pakistan's nuclear weapons as the cure-all for foreign threats. (Hardly a "cure-all" more likely an "end-all" as the nuclear explosion will need to occur in Pakistan if Al Qaeda is the target.)

In fact, a policy of appeasing the Taliban already seems underway, as the Swat agreement, the FATA agreements of the past, and the military's not-so-secret dialoguing with the Taliban suggest. The desire to keep open the doors of reconciliation with the Taliban, and the nod and a wink policy towards the Taliban have earned mistrust among friends abroad. But at home it resonates with the public. They, and certainly the military, see India as the main enemy and a the prospect of a two-front war is to be avoided at all costs. Thus if the choice is between the Taliban, the erstwhile friend, and India, the eternal, implacable foe, it is a no-brainer. India foolishly has reinforced the India phobia by lining up virtually its entire army on Pakistan's borders. The US too did itself no favour by treating Pakistan, and particularly the military, as an object to be used and then discarded when no longer required. This rankles with Pakistanis; being made a fool of is more hurtful for people than being abandoned.

Our present policy of appeasement of the Taliban brought on by a visceral antipathy for India and, to a lesser extent, the US, suggests that many Pakistanis would be willing to hitch their shalwars up to their ankles, lock up their wives and daughters and accept Taliban-like rule, if that were to become a reality. That kind of passivity and collaboration enabled a relatively paltry number of British to hang on to the subcontinent for as long as 200 years. Other people, reared in state schools and on madrasas with curricula designed by openly fundamentalist regimes or closet-fundamentalists, would not only welcome the Taliban but probably rush to augment their numbers. And while a tiny few with visas, and a portion of the $80-130 billion held abroad by Pakistanis, will flee to whichever country will have them. The rest, the vast majority that is, will perforce remain at home sullen, cringing and fearful, putting up with the antics of the Vice and Virtue Departments of the Taliban lest they be taken for slaughter to the scores of Qurbani Chowks that will blossom in every city.

To many the picture painted above may sound alarmist and, hopefully, matters will never reach such a pass. But that, alas, is similar to what happened in Afghanistan once the Taliban seized power and made gladiatorial spectacles of whippings, amputations and executions. Of course, some will say that "Pakistan is not Afghanistan," and dismiss the possibility of a Taliban takeover. It is true that Pakistan is not Afghanistan; it is actually an even more alluring prize for the Taliban and Al Qaeda than Afghanistan. Once harnessed to their cause, Pakistan would greatly help Al Qaeda in realising its declared goal, that of creation of a World Islamic Caliphate.

Nor is such a scenario unrealistic, considering how poorly we are faring in the war against the Taliban, who have shown that they can strike at will, and as easily, next to the Presidency in Islamabad, as the remotest border post. Indeed, such is their reach that normal life is becoming difficult for the citizenry and for government to function smoothly. Mr Zardari is hunkered down in what must be the largest war bunker in the world, the Presidency. Mr Gilani, is being braver, though he has less to worry about because, for the moment at least and till he starts acting like a prime minister, he is too inconsequential a target. Meanwhile, vast sums that would have been better utilised for the benefit of the populace in the form of socio-economic development and to alleviate poverty which, like starvation, is now endemic is being spent on fighting the insurgents. Soon the war will prove prohibitively expensive.

Notwithstanding the dire threat posed by the ongoing insurgency; the military sticks to its unfathomable logic that India will momentarily attack Pakistan and risk a nuclear holocaust. Hence, all 600,000 of the Pakistani Army (minus the 100,000 in FATA), replete with tanks, APCs, anti-tank guns, artillery batteries, surface-to-surface missiles, helicopters, with the air force on call and a plethora of nuclear-tipped missiles to boot, guards the fenced border with India unless it is to prevent a spy or more vault the fence. A strategy somewhat akin to that of the British garrison in Singapore during World War II, which had its heavy guns pointing out to sea while the conquering Japanese came overland across Malaya. It is said, and rightly so, that "those whom the gods want to destroy, they first make mad."

The only bright spot in this otherwise gloomy picture is the fact that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are still beatable. In the words of Bruce Reidel, currently responsible for devising Washington's strategy for the war, "a wise and smart policy" can defeat them. To fashion such a policy for Pakistan must surely also be our foremost priority.

The writer is a former ambassador.

 

[Anwar2]

Our dear friend S-2 is comfortably perched in his command post and yelling orders at PA to turn Swat into Fallujah, “without bulldozing an entire mid-sized city and it is often necessary to do exactly that”.

Our dear friend Rabzon is deeply distressed at the handover of Swat valley to the bad guys; “bribes” of $ 65 m to keep Taliban in good humor.

That is exactly why the Taliban uprising commands such an awesome popular support. It is a rebellion against the Master-Slave relationship between the US and PA.

Pakistan has gradually woken up to the fact that the US has taken us for a ride on the cheap for too long. If they want us to fight and kill, maim displace our people they have to pay the right price. If the US still remains tight fisted then the going will grow tougher in Afghanistan by the day no matter how many troops or UAV’s it deploys.

The only “wise and smart policy” for the US is to pump in more money into Pakistan, and FATA, to the tune of $15-20 b / year.

 

[Solomon2]

...why the Taliban uprising commands such an awesome popular support. It is a rebellion against the Master-Slave relationship between the US and PA...The only “wise and smart policy” for the US is to pump in more money into Pakistan, and FATA, to the tune of $15-20 b / year.

I don't understand. If Pakistanis want the perceived "Master-Slave relationship" to end, shouldn't they be happy if the U.S. cuts off all monetary and material support?

 

[All-Green]

I don't understand. If Pakistanis want the perceived "Master-Slave relationship" to end, shouldn't they be happy if the U.S. cuts off all monetary and material support?

you do realize that with the advent of US troops in Afghanistan a strong anti US movement has gained popularity and is adding to Pakistan's difficulty in its own operations since they are perceived as a consequence of US presence in Afghanistan and not just housecleaning.
The terrorists are few in numbers but are quite clever, organized and manipulative.
Strong anti US sentiments, fiercely independent locals, martial traditions and many veteran fighters of Afghan Jihad (something carried out with Uncle Sam's covert/overt support) all come together in a most complicated War which is destabilizing Pakistan as well.

If it was not in US interest there would have been no such support, that should be clear to everyone.
Plus also keep in mind that logistical support etc was the reason this aid was given and not just a commission to PA for becoming US Army's sidekick which it is certainly not.

Just for the record, Pakistan has been cut off in the past so it is not something new for us. This time however i feel it will be the end of Pak US relationship; simply put.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

The only “wise and smart policy” for the US is to pump in more money into Pakistan, and FATA, to the tune of $15-20 b / year

oh come on $15-20b is nothin we should go for $100 or 200b for wat we did or will do for our american friends...

Sawat : Its a beauitiful valley and i am gona visit it next month.

I don't understand. If Pakistanis want the perceived "Master-Slave relationship" to end, shouldn't they be happy if the U.S. cuts off all monetary and material support?

wat ur talkin abt is a nightmare for the people in afghanistan.
Frankly speakin we do want that americans to stay in afghanistan forever coz they are loaded with billions$ which will obviously come into our hands .
Only Money is the single motivating factor for PAKARMY and without that gameover

 

[RabzonKhan]

Female shoppers still elusive in Swat

March 17, 2009
By Iqbal Khattak

MINGORA: It has been more than a month since the government and the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) signed a peace deal in Swat but the shopkeepers at Cheena Market, once the busiest in Mingora city, are still waiting for female shoppers.

The Swat-based Taliban had banned females from going to markets and schools for education. However, girls are back in schools after Taliban leader Fazlullah agreed to a peace bid by his father-in-law, TNSM’s chief Sufi Muhammad but women are still avoiding going to bazaars.

“Business has still not returned to normal despite a marked change in the situation,” a shopkeeper, Ikramullah Khan, told Daily Times.

The reason for women staying away from the once popular place is obvious – threats from the Taliban.

On March 8, a bearded man, who the shopkeepers believed to be a Taliban, pulled out a dagger in a shop and said, “Who wants to be beheaded first?”

The incident was enough to frighten the women and prevent them from going to the markets.

“I used to make a good profit when the Taliban had not banned women from going to markets,” a shopkeeper said.

Bakht Rawan, who has spent 15 years in Saudi Arabia as a salesman at a cosmetic shop, said he could not believe that the Taliban had disallowed women from going to the bazaars.

“If shopping by women was forbidden in Islam, Saudi men would not have allowed their women to go to bazaars. I wonder why these (Taliban) people are offering a new brand of Islam to the people of Swat,” Rawan told Daily Times.

Earlier in January, Taliban had banned women from markets in Mingora. The Taliban have ordered the killing of women seen in market areas.

“Women are not allowed in this market,” banners displayed in a city’s market, once called ‘Women’s Market’, had read. Following the ban, shopkeepers dealing in women’s garments and cosmetics had complained about plummeting sales and disappearance of women customers. They had said that they could not even earn enough to pay the rent and electricity charges of their.

There have been reports of Taliban “compensating” shopkeepers for the loss they have suffered because of the ban on women shoppers. “The rent of each shop has been reduced by Rs 400 after the Taliban forced the market owners to slash the rent to help us make up for the loss because of the slump in business due to the ban on shopping by women,” Bakht said.

Despite being a remote area, Mingora city was once known for offering best medical facilities. However, many of them, especially female doctors opted to go to other cities following threats from the Taliban.

 

[RabzonKhan]

Taliban courts?

Wednesday, 18 Mar, 2009

HOW many times do we need to be reminded of the folly of striking deals from a position of weakness and with people who cannot be held to their word? Time and again, governments both past and present have opted to negotiate with militants who flout the writ of the state at will. Such are our limitations that purveyors of barbarity are rewarded for killing civilians, ‘American spies’, security personnel and people — usually women — summarily deemed to be immoral. When the state lost total control of Swat, it chose to enter into a plea bargain with Sufi Mohammad of the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Mohammadi. He convinced the Taliban to hold fire because the state had capitulated and Sharia was to be introduced in Malakand Division, of which Swat is a part. The ceasefire may still be in effect but it is obvious that the Taliban call the shots in almost all of Swat. They patrol the roads and man their own checkpoints — and kidnap or kill anyone they please. The state, having agreed not to launch any fresh offensive and to enforce Sharia in the region at the earliest, simply looks on.

The bargain was that qazi courts would be set up in Malakand Division to dispense speedy justice in accordance with the Sharia, a long-standing demand of the TNSM. Under the agreement, flawed as it was, existing judicial officers were to preside over these qazi courts. But on Monday, Sufi Mohammad announced that judges must stop coming to court because the qazi system would come into effect on Tuesday. How can he unilaterally come to this decision? Confusion prevails as we speak and the government has some explaining to do. Islamabad claims that judges and magistrates will head the qazi courts in Swat. Sufi Mohammad says that they must stop attending office. So who will preside over these ‘courts’? The Taliban? Representatives of Sufi Mohammad and his son-in-law Fazlullah? What sort of justice will they dole out? Will these ‘judges’ abide by the laws of jurisprudence, of whatever ilk, or pass judgment in accordance with their personal likes and dislikes or individual view of morality? Will petty thieves have their hands chopped off? Will women be taken to these ‘courts’ if they dare to venture out of their homes? The state has some answering to do. The people of Pakistan need to know if the government is upholding the rule of law or sanctioning a descent into the medieval age.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

The ANP does indeed need to clarify the Judges/Qazi issue - they had clearly stated that existing judges (from the existing Shariah courts, and possibly regular courts) would run the Qazi courts.

In addition, Sufi's statement seems to indicate that he is going to be running the Qazi appointments and removals, something this was certainly not mentioned by the ANP government.

I understand that the Peshawar High Court has said that their judges cannot be stopped form performing their duties unless the ANP government orders them to, and since such an order has not been issued, they will continue to function and are demanding protection in the face of Sufi's statements.

 

[SurvivoR]

The ANP does indeed need to clarify the Judges/Qazi issue - they had clearly stated that existing judges (from the existing Shariah courts, and possibly regular courts) would run the Qazi courts.

In addition, Sufi's statement seems to indicate that he is going to be running the Qazi appointments and removals, something this was certainly not mentioned by the ANP government.

I understand that the Peshawar High Court has said that their judges cannot be stopped form performing their duties unless the ANP government orders them to, and since such an order has not been issued, they will continue to function and are demanding protection in the face of Sufi's statements.

No AG Peshawar High Court can do nothing and NO the judges can not continue functioning in the face of life threats.

16 Civilian judges already left Swat. The deal is clealry going to collapse in coming two weeks.


TNSM flexing muscles: Sufi Muhammad warns Swat judges to stay away from courts
Wed, 2009-03-18 06:24
By Farzana Shah-Asian Tribune correspondent in Pakistan

16 judges left Swat, fear for life

Peshawar, 18 March, (Asiantribune.com): Atleast sixteen judges including District Sessions Judge, four additional sessions judges and eleven civil judges have quit Swat Valley on Tuesday after warning hurled by the chief of Tehreek-i-Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammad (TNSM), Sufi Muhammad at them.
According to official sources the judges left the valley as a result of Sufi Muhammad’s warning asking the lawyers to stay away from courts claiming that there is no role for lawyers in the Qazi courts (sharia courts).Earlier Chief of religious organisation, TNSM, Sufi Muhammad has warned judges of the Swat lower judiciary to cease their hearings, as sharia courts would start operation in the district from Tuesday (today).

Addressing a press conference he warned that if the judicial officers continued to attend their offices, it would be considered a violation of the peace accord signed between him and the NWFP Government.

Sufi said all decisions rendered by lower courts in Swat after February 16 are void, and only the qazi courts are qualified to decide the cases in the district under sharia law after the agreement reached between government and the militants on February 16th.

Sufi Muhammad also said that qazi courts (sharia courts) would now be established in Lower and Upper Dir districts, Buner, Malakand Agency, Shangla, Kohistan and Chitral districts of North West Frontier Province.

He warned that if the appointed qazis (judges) did not deliver their verdicts in light of sharia laws they would be replaced by other qazis, adding that qazi courts’ decisions would be challenged in Darul Qaza (higher court), for which two qazis had already been appointed and a third one would be appointed soon.View of Sufi’s supporters gathering for peace deal on Feb 16th, 2009

He asked the public to monitor the working of qazi courts and inform him of any weaknesses and delays.

Peshawar High Court (PHC) has expressed concern over Sufi’s threats to judges in Swat and directed the NWFP Government to ensure safety of Swat judges and courts.

On Monday Sufi Muhammad warned all the civil judges to vacate their offices for the new Qazis (judges under sharia courts).

Challenging the writ of the government, Sufi claimed there was no need for President Asif Ali Zardari’s approval on the Nizam-e-Adl (Shari) Regulations, 2009 as such regulations had already been implemented in the region without presidential consent.

Earlier in consultation with Sufi Muhammad the Malakand Commissioner has appointed seven Qazis in the District. Two of those Qazis have been appointed to Mingora District Court and one each for Barikot, Khwazakhela, Matta, Kabal and Behrain areas of the Malakand respectively.

President District Bar Association Swat Aftab Alam said only one judge was able to go to the court.

Aftab said "We are suffering. And there is no security. We have been asked not to attend offices. We have appealed to provincial government to solve the issue otherwise there will be no peace."

He added that lawyers are going to call an emergency meeting of the Malakand Direction Committee to solve the issue as they are still in confusion that whose writ is applicable in the valley.

The government had singed a peace deal with the militants on February 16th accepting the demands of Sufi Muhammad for enforcement of Islamic judicial system in Swat Valley and Malakand division of North West Frontier Province.

- Asian Tribune -

TNSM flexing muscles: Sufi Muhammad warns Swat judges to stay away from courts | Asian Tribune

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Qazi courts start functioning in Swat
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009
First case decided under Nizam-e-Adl Regulation

By our correspondent

MINGORA: Though the proposed Nizam-e-Adl Regulation has not been formally promulgated in Malakand division, the newly appointed Qazis have started hearing cases in accordance with it.

The first case of civil nature was decided under the proposed law in Khwazakhela on Tuesday. The details of the case showed that a resident of the area owed Rs37,000 to his fellow villager.

The Qazi Court took Rs21,000 from the borrower in cash and paid it to the lender and asked him to pay the rest of the amount in instalments. The Malakand division Commissioner Syed Muhammad Jeved also visited the court to overview the proceedings.

The commissioner also met veteran leader of the Awami National Party Afzal Khan Lala at his residence in Durushkhela, Matta, and discussed the prevailing situation in the valley. Meanwhile, the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief Sufi Muhammad went back to his native village Maidan on Tuesday.

Exams started: The Intermediate examinations started in the valley on Tuesday. Syed Muhammad Javed visited several examination centres in Charbagh, Khwazakhela and other areas. Alternative arrangements were made for the students of those schools, which had been destroyed, in the military operation.

In the Dherai area of Kabal tehsil, people staged a protest and blocked Matta-Mingora Road for all kinds of traffic. They demanded dismantling of checkpoints set up in the educational institutions and private properties.

Qazi courts start functioning in Swat
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The Malakand DC inspected the Qazi courts?

Are these courts are being run by the Qazis appointed/approved by Sufi as the earlier articles suggested, or were the Qazis nominated by the ANP and 'approved' by Sufi?

The presence of the Malakand DC would seem to indicate that whatever the case, the Qazis and courts are acceptable to the NWFP government.