Taliban calls 10-day truce after freeing hostage

THE Taliban announced a 10-day ceasefire in Pakistan’s Swat Valley yesterday after freeing a Chinese hostage during peace talks with the government, while an abducted American threatened with imminent death by his kidnappers remained missing.

Past peace deals with militants, including in Swat, have failed. Any agreement could spark renewed US criticism that peace talks merely give militants time to regroup and rearm.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan called the release of Chinese engineer Long Xiaowei a goodwill gesture as government officials and Taliban sympathisers said they had come to terms on introducing elements of an Islamic judicial system in Swat and surrounding areas.

“In view of these developments, we announce a unilateral ceasefire for 10 days, but we reserve the right to retaliate if we are fired upon,” Khan said.

The Swat Valley was once a tourist haven and is now believed to be mostly under control of the militants, who have long demanded imposition of Islamic, or Shariah, law.

A string of recent attacks on foreigners, including the apparent beheading of a Polish geologist, have underscored the deteriorating security conditions.

On Friday, the kidnappers of American UN official John Solecki threatened to kill him within 72 hours and issued a 20-second video of the blindfolded captive saying he was “sick and in trouble.”

UN officials said yesterday they were still trying to establish contact with the gunmen who seized Solecki on February 2 in Quetta, a southwestern city.