Is Pakistan trading Syariah for peace?
by Ziad Haider PAKISTAN is locked in an existential struggle with Islamic militant groups in its frontier. While global attention has focused on military operations in the radicalised federally administered tribal areas, 10,000 troops in the Northwest Frontier Province’s Swat Valley have failed to subdue 3,000 local and foreign fighters (primarily Arabs and Uzbeks) led by a 34-year-old Taliban commander named Fazlullah. Two years of beheadings, floggings, and the burning of nearly two hundred girls schools have terrorised and displaced thousands. From checkpoints to illegal radio broadcasts, “Maulana FM”, as he is known, reigns over 70% of the territory – a mere hundred miles from the capital, Islamabad. To re-establish its writ, on Feb 16, the provincial government announced a controversial deal with a banned militant group, Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM). Despite its leader Sufi Muhammad’s armed struggle against the Pakistani state in the nineties for the reintroduction o
