Taliban pledges to avoid combat in Swat Valley

THE Taliban urged civilians yesterday to return to the main town in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, promising that they won’t attack security forces battling insurgents there but it stopping short of calling the move a ceasefire.

The army has ruled out halting its operation in the valley, saying such an announcement was a sign the outnumbered insurgents were “staring defeat in the face”. Pakistan began the month-old offensive against militants in Swat after they ignored the terms of a peace deal. US and other Western allies have hailed the operation amid worries the country was not doing enough to root out militants who use its soil to stage attacks across the border in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan framed the militants’ decision to stop attacking troops in Mingora town as due to concern for the safety of civilians. “I would like to appeal to the people of Mingora to get back to their homes and start their routine life as we will not fire even a single shot,” Khan said. Asked if that meant a ceasefire, he added: “No... Our aides will remain there in Mingora, but we will not attack.”

The army says it secured several key intersections in Mingora, an urban centre that under normal circumstances has at least 375,000 residents. Many of the extremists were fleeing Mingora for Kabal, a town to the west, but security forces are trying to secure that locality as well, the army said. Close to 1.9 million civilians have fled the valley, but up to 20,000 remain in Mingora.