Richard Tafoya
Apr 23rd, 2009, 11:17 PM
LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-fighting24-2009apr24,0,923343.story
Emboldened Taliban fighters imposed control over towns and villages ever closer to Islamabad on Thursday, raising alarm among many Pakistanis and foreign governments that authorities are ceding swaths of the country's heart to Islamic hard-liners.
Authorities dispatched a small paramilitary force from the North-West Frontier Constabulary to the district of Buner, just 60 miles from the capital, where Taliban forces took control over much of the area this week. But Pakistani news media said the Taliban repulsed the deployment, with unconfirmed reports saying at least one policeman had been killed.
Taliban fighters from the nearby Swat Valley have infiltrated the area, emboldened by a government-sanctioned peace deal allowing them to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in the onetime tourist paradise. Since entering Buner, the Taliban has reportedly set up checkpoints, begun patrolling roads and ordered barbershops to stop shaving beards.
In a meeting with tribal elders, Taliban militants agreed to lower their armed presence and not seek vengeance against residents who had resisted their arrival. But the Taliban said they would not withdraw from Buner.
"We will not leave the area," a Taliban commander, Mufti Bashir, told local journalists.
The moves have prompted some of the roughly 1 million Buner residents to flee, and unsettled observers in Pakistan and abroad who fear that the government lacks the will to impose its authority.
The government has tried to downplay the threat to its sovereignty. Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani told reporters in Islamabad that the government would see to it that the peace agreement isn't violated. "The government will not allow anyone to challenge the government," he said in a statement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-fighting24-2009apr24,0,923343.story
Emboldened Taliban fighters imposed control over towns and villages ever closer to Islamabad on Thursday, raising alarm among many Pakistanis and foreign governments that authorities are ceding swaths of the country's heart to Islamic hard-liners.
Authorities dispatched a small paramilitary force from the North-West Frontier Constabulary to the district of Buner, just 60 miles from the capital, where Taliban forces took control over much of the area this week. But Pakistani news media said the Taliban repulsed the deployment, with unconfirmed reports saying at least one policeman had been killed.
Taliban fighters from the nearby Swat Valley have infiltrated the area, emboldened by a government-sanctioned peace deal allowing them to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in the onetime tourist paradise. Since entering Buner, the Taliban has reportedly set up checkpoints, begun patrolling roads and ordered barbershops to stop shaving beards.
In a meeting with tribal elders, Taliban militants agreed to lower their armed presence and not seek vengeance against residents who had resisted their arrival. But the Taliban said they would not withdraw from Buner.
"We will not leave the area," a Taliban commander, Mufti Bashir, told local journalists.
The moves have prompted some of the roughly 1 million Buner residents to flee, and unsettled observers in Pakistan and abroad who fear that the government lacks the will to impose its authority.
The government has tried to downplay the threat to its sovereignty. Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani told reporters in Islamabad that the government would see to it that the peace agreement isn't violated. "The government will not allow anyone to challenge the government," he said in a statement.