Pakistan peace deal depends on Sharia compliance: Taliban

PEACE DEAL: Pakistani Taliban militants said Thursday the success of a peace deal with the government in a northwestern area depends on the complete enforcement of Islamic law in the region.(AFP)

Pakistani Taliban militants said Thursday the success of a peace deal with the government in a northwestern area depends on the complete enforcement of Islamic law in the region.

The agreement in the scenic Swat Valley ends months of fighting between troops and rebels loyal to a pro-Taliban commander, Maulana Fazlullah, who was campaigning for the introduction of harsh Sharia law.

Under the terms of the deal signed on Wednesday the government agreed to gradually pull out troops and introduce an Islamic justice system, while the rebels said they would halt attacks and surrender arms.

"We have accepted to give up the armed struggle because the government has agreed to the complete enforcement of the Sharia laws," Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told newswire AFP.

"We are happy about the agreement but the success of it depends on the conduct of the government, especially in enforcing the Sharia laws," Khan said by telephone from an unknown location.

Dozens of people have been killed in suicide bombings in Swat, which began in July last year after troops raided the hardline Red Mosque in the capital Islamabad, leaving scores dead.

The Pakistan army launched a major offensive in October to clear Swat of militants loyal to Fazlullah after they drove police and paramilitary forces from their posts and effectively established their own law.

Residents said they were happy about the prospect of peace finally returning to the picturesque valley, whose mainstay is tourism.

"Thank God, we will be able to live peacefully and resume our normal lives," a shopkeeper in Mingora, the main town in Swat, told newswire AFP.

A senior government official in North West Frontier Province said secular courts will be assisted by an Islamic scholar to decide disputes according to Islamic laws, but a parallel mainstream judicial system will still function.

"It will be the choice of the complainant whether to go for settlement according to Sharia or the Pakistan penal code," the official said.

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