PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani government, desperate to restore peace to a Taliban-infested valley once known as the “Switzerland of Pakistan,” agreed Monday to enforce strict Islamic law in the surrounding district near the Afghan border, accepting a long-standing demand by local Islamist leaders who, in turn, pledged to ask the fighters to lay down their arms.
In announcing the agreement, Pakistani officials asserted that the adoption of sharia law would bring swift and fair justice to the Swat Valley, where people have long complained of legal corruption and delays. They said the new system would have “nothing in common” with the draconian rule of the Taliban militia that ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, during which thieves’ hands were amputated and adulterers were stoned to death.
“There was a vacuum . . . in the legal system. The people demanded this, and they deserve it,” said Amir Haider Khan Hoti, chief minister of the Northwest Frontier Province.
The new system will include an appeals process, something the Afghan Taliban justice system did not allow for.
Militant leaders in the scenic Swat Valley, in a gesture of good faith, said they would observe a 10-day cease-fire while the new system is implemented. The Pakistani army said it would suspend operations in the area, and there were anecdotal reports of celebratory gunfire and crowds returning to once-deserted streets.
But Pakistani critics blasted the deal as a dangerous concession to extremist militants who have terrified inhabitants of the valley for months, sending thousands into flight to safer areas. They have bombed girls’ schools, beheaded policemen, whipped criminals in public squares and assassinated activists from the secular Awami National Party, which governs the Northwest Frontier Province.
The critics expressed fear that this victory might spur the militants to push harder for the imposition of Islamic law in other areas, taking advantage of a promise by the Pakistani army to pull back from the surrounding area if peace is restored.
The new special U.S. envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, underscored American concerns Monday when he said the militant takeover of Swat, once a popular tourist destination, had shown that “India, the U.S. and Pakistan all have a common threat now.”
Speaking in New Delhi, Holbrooke said he had talked to people from Swat during his recent visit to Pakistan and found them “frankly quite terrified.”
Pakistan’s federal information minister, Sherry Rehman, rejected suggestions that the Malakand accord was a concession to the militants, saying it is “in no way a sign of the state’s weakness.” In a statement issued Monday night from Islamabad, she said President Asif Ali Zardari will implement sharia law “after the restoration of peace in the region.”
Leaders of the Awami National Party here said they also supported the agreement even though their own views are more secular and they have been targeted by militant attacks.
