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| India-Pakistan |
| Taliban recruiting anew in Swat |
| 2009-04-14 |
| The Swat Taliban have renewed efforts to recruit fighters and supporters following delays in the implementation of their peace agreement with the government. "As long as we were there enforcing peace, they were not recruiting," Rizwanullah Farooq, son of Sufi Muhammad, told Bloomberg on Monday. "Now recruitment is going on even in Buner because they don't see a chance for peace. The government must understand this." The drive into Buner brings the Taliban closest to Islamabad in the five years since they began fighting the government for territorial control. The Tehreek Nifaaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi, which signed the two-month-old peace accord with the government on behalf of the Taliban, abandoned the vigil last week by leaving Swat in protest and has threatened to pull out of the peace accord to protest delay by President Asif Ali Zardari in approving the system of Sufi's sharia courts in the area. In Islamabad on Monday the federal government presented the peace accord to lawmakers for approval. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had said the deal would be presented in the National Assembly to reach a consensus on the subject. |
| Posted by:Fred |