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Sharia law enforced in Swat valley

Pakistan signs deal with Islamists; US missile strike kills 30

AFP, AP, Peshawar
The Pakistan government yesterday signed a deal with Islamic hardliners to enforce Sharia law in a northwestern region, hailing the agreement as a precursor for peace in the troubled area.
Earlier a suspected US missile strike on Monday destroyed an Afghan Taliban camp and killed 30 in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Kurram, a security official said
The deal, seen by analysts as a government concession, followed talks between ministers in the troubled North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and a local militant leader, Soofi Mohammad, on formalising the implementation of Islamic law.
The deal will cover Pakistan's Malakand area, one of the districts of NWFP, which
includes the Swat valley, and home to around three million of the estimated 20 million people who live in the northwest province.
Until two years ago, Swat was a jewel in the crown of Pakistani tourism, frequented by foreign and local holidaymakers escaping to the mountains for skiing in winter or cooler climes in the punishing heat of summer.
But the region descended into chaos after radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah embarked on a terrifying campaign to enforce Taliban-sryle Sharia law, prompting tens of thousands to flee and suffocating day-to-day life.
"Today an agreement has been signed between the government of NWFP and Maulana Soofi Mohammad," provincial infor-motinn minictpr Mian Iftikhar Hussain tnld reporters in the regional capital Peshawar.
"AU laws against Sharia will be abolished and Sharia will be enforced under this justice system.” he added.
Mohammad, a pro-Taliban cleric, is considered more moderate than his son-in-law Fazlullah.
"The implementation of this agreement will be done with the establishment of peace in the region when the writ of the government is restored," said a copy of the deal, signed by ministers and Maulana Mohammad Alam, Soofi's deputy.
The Islamists vowed to disarm once Islamic justice came into practice.
"We are satisfied. When Sharia is implemented practically, people will lay down their arms." said Mohammad Iqbal Khan, a senior follower of Mohammad.
"We will soon convene a meeting of our Shura (consultative council) after which Soofi Mohammad will visit Swat and convince the Taliban there todisarm," Khan added.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said Sunday that a 10-day ceasefire, announced as a "goodwill gesture" could become permanent if a deal was signed on Monday.
Pakistan, under massive Western pressure to clamp down on extremists, has deployed its poorly equipped military to try to flush out the militants and wrest back control of Swat, which locals say has fallen to the insurgents.
The government has held that negotiations are the best hope of restoring peace, although past deals have collapsed rapidly.
A peace deal signed between Pakistan's government and pro-Thliban militants in Swat last May quickly unravelled after radicals attacked security forces.
US, Nato and Afghan officials have criticised previous peace deals in Pakistan, saying that they have led to an increase in suicide attacks on international and Afghan forces across the border in Afghanistan.
"It is my hope that the armed people will disarm themselves, give up the path of violence and work for restoration of peace in Swat," chief minister of NWFR Amir Haider Hoti, told reporters Monday.