Swat is Burning

The News, Sunday, September 13, 2009

Following the arrest of five senior Taliban commanders by the military, the TTP’s Maulana Fazlullah has said the organization no longer trusts the Pakistan Army and will not hold talks with it. The Taliban have alleged the commanders were held when they went for talks with the government. The ISPR has denied this. The breakdown in relations between the two sides may however be the best news to have come in for a very long time, from the perspective of the ordinary people in Pakistan.

Follow up:

The dangerous nexus between agencies and militants has been commented on many times. Deals struck with the Taliban have been instrumental in allowing them to grow stronger and survive. The end of this courtship could then signal the start of a new era when there is no ambiguity about the need to defeat the militants and to act against them with all the force the state can muster.

The arrests are also important for several other reasons. They will help to persuade people in Swat that the long hold of the Taliban is now truly at an end. Scepticism had continued to be voiced about this even after the Taliban defeat was announced. There are also suggestions of more and more divisions within the Taliban, including a disagreement between Muslim Khan and Maulana Fazlullah, the two men at the top of the hierarchy in Swat. Fazlullah, through a spokesman, has already said the organization is ‘ill’ but that it will recover. The latest arrests may help to ensure this does not happen. The capture of key leaders may also take authorities further along the track to Fazlullah – whose arrest would mark a symbolic victory and signal the dawn of a brand new era in Swat.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=198117