Mortal threat, says United States, as Pak troops rush to stop Taliban

Tightening their grip on Pakistan’s restive northwest, Taliban militants today attacked the Frontier Constabulary sent to stop their advance in Buner, just 100 km from Islamabad, and swept into Shangla, another district near the Swat Valley. One policeman was killed and another wounded in the attack in Buner while tension gripped Shangla after more than 30 Taliban fighters moved in and began patrolling a market in the area.

As US mounted pressure on Pakistan to act against the Taliban — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers in Washington “I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists” while Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that failure to confront the threat could affect US-Pakistani relations —Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said his government would consider “other options” to check the “Talibanisation”.

Swat’s militants have entered Buner in large numbers, establishing checkpoints, patrolling roads and spreading fear.

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Pak’s truce with Taliban rings alarm bells in New Delhi Creeping Taliban

The Pakistan government’s purchase of peace by acceding to the enforcement of Shariah in the Malakand division of NWFP — this includes the Swat Valley — has raised serious concerns in New Delhi on several counts — particularly the Pakistan Army’s apparent inability to squarely check the influence of Pakistani Taliban that is now beginning to reverberate even in the Punjab province.

Sources said it is tempting to conclude that the agreement marks nothing less than a “military surrender” even though some assessments from Pakistan suggest it could be a tactical retreat. Either way, the broad view in New Delhi is that the Pak Army has accepted its inability to go after Baitullah Mehsud’s Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Waziristan without con ceding ground in Malakand.

The truce is based on the assumption that Sufi Mohammed, founder of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-eMuhammadi (TNSM), with whom the agreement has been reached, will deliver on his word that violence will end.

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