Pakistan agreed to impose strict Islamic law and suspend a military offensive across a large area of its country today in a bid to pacify the spreading Taliban insurgency, officials said.
Critics, including the US, have denounced such moves in the past because it allows terrorists operating near the Afghan border time to regroup. The agreement also contradicts American demands for authorities in Pakistan to fight harder and eradicate Islamic militants.
Pakistani officials said they would impose Islamic law in an area that includes the Swat Valley, a one-time tourist haven in the northwest part of the country where Taliban extremists have gained sway through brutal tactics including beheading residents, burning down all-girls schools and attacking Palistani forces.
Officials gave no timetable as to when the new laws — which will force women to cover their faces when they go out in public and allow for Muslim clerics to advise judges when hearing cases — would go into effect.
The Taliban said they would observe a 10-day cease-fire in support of the peace process and welcomed the new move.
“Our whole struggle is for the enforcement of Shariah [Islamic] law,” said Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan. “If this really brings us the implementation of Shariah, we will fully cooperate with it.”
Since last year, an estimated 12,000 soldiers have been fighting a military operation in Swat against a Taliban force of about 3,500 fighters.
Muslim scholars have different interpretations of what it means to be live under Shariah law.
For instance, many extremists in northwest Pakistan favor the exceptionally strict brand the Taliban imposed in Afghanistan before the US invasion in 2001, where female education and music was banned.