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| India-Pakistan |
| Taliban remove checkpoints in Swat |
| 2009-02-26 |
| Taliban on Wednesday disbanded checkpoints and stopped carrying weapons in public a day after announcing an indefinite ceasefire in the Swat valley, witnesses said. Taliban commander Mullah Fazlullah ordered his followers to disband checkpoints in a speech on his illegal FM radio station late on Tuesday and asked them not to carry weapons in public. "The Taliban have removed their checkpoints in and around Mingora," Irfan Ahmad, a resident of what is the main town in Swat, said. He said he did not see armed Taliban on patrol in the town. The Taliban announced an indefinite ceasefire on Tuesday, a week after the government signed a deal with hardliner Sufi Muhammad to accept Islamic law as the system of justice in Swat. Another Swat resident, Mushtaq Khan, said checkpoints have been removed from the areas of Matta, Charbagh and Kabal, all Taliban strongholds. "I saw a few Taliban alongside the road but they were unarmed," he said. Khan said people celebrated the ceasefire after two years of uncertainty and insecurity, and that schools have reopened. However, the sharia deal has triggered alarm in the United States, Europe, Afghanistan and India, amid concerns it will embolden Taliban in the North West Frontier province. Thousands of Taliban have spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce sharia law, beheading opponents, bombing girls' schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Just mind your Islamic manners, folks. Just cuz they ain't carrying their guns around don't mean they can't get ahold of them in a hurry... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-02-26 10:08 |
| #1 Mmmm, I read this as their last sanctuary, don't screw it up and piss off the natives, there's nowhere else to go. (And stay alive) |
| Posted by: Rednek Jim 2009-02-26 01:20 |