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A convoy of seven army trucks was stopped by armed Taliban militants at Qambar, a small town near Mingora, the main city in Swat valley, witnesses and Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said.
Witnesses said the convoy withdrew from Qambar after the Taliban forced the troops to go back, averting any clash. There was no official reaction to the Taliban preventing the convoy from entering Swat. Sources said local authorities were consulting Taliban leaders to convince them to allow the convoy to move into the area.
The Taliban action could lead to a worsening in the situation as army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani announced on Friday that his force is "determined to root out the menace of terrorism" and "would not allow the militants to dictate terms to the government or impose their way of life on the civil society".
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told reporters that the deployment of additional troops in Swat is against a peace deal signed in February to introduce Islamic laws in Malakand division, which includes Swat.
Khan said the militants could not allow the troops to be deployed in Swat after the peace agreement. Official sources, however, said the agreement allowed the free movement of security forces.
The Taliban and security forces declared separate ceasefires after the peace deal but militants continue to occupy many parts of Swat, local residents said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday that his government could review the peace deal in Swat if the Taliban did not stop interfering in the administration’s affairs.
Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik has also warned the Taliban to vacate all villages in Swat.
However, local residents said the Taliban now control over 80 per cent of Swat, which was a popular tourist destination till about two years ago, and patrolling all the key roads in the valley.
They said the Taliban had also set up their own courts despite the agreement that envisages the constitution of Qazi or Islamic courts in Swat.
Hundreds of Taliban from Swat who entered Buner district, some 100 km from Islamabad, have withdrawn from the area in the wake of threats of action by the security forces.
TECHNICALLY SWAT IS HAVING DIFFERENT JUDICIAL SYSTEM DIFFERENT SECURITY BODIES
The solution to fighting the Taliban is for America,the western nations and their lackey Japan to pour at least a 1000 billion of dollars into Pakistan else the Paki govt threatens them that it will go down to the dreaded Taliban! Really, India must learn public relations from the Pakis to establish a fundamentalist terror state and to wangle billions of money for their efforts!
Is that all that the Paki army is worth - that they can be stopped by a force of ragged militant tribals? What a shame on an army that boasts of being an elite force. Of cours, no one in Pak can be trusted. The halting of the army may be a sham.
I cannot believe Pakistan is still worried about India when internally they have a much larger problem. Just suppose the Taliban say OK we will withdraw from this district and then come back in say three years and actually invade. I cannot believe this country is so stupid. It is a state within a state. Is this countries armed forces really bigger than the US. Why not send it 200K in troops and take back YOUR OWN COUNTRY. This is a disgrace to the people of Pakistan and their current government should be ashamed of themselves.
Pakistani governemnt can not maintain any semblance of law and order within its borders. It is therefore not surprising that it likes to export lawlessness through it brainwashed groups and inflict pain and misery on innocent world. It is time Pakistan is consigned to history if any hope of sanity and social progress is to take place.
Well done Pakkey government. PPP had a nice scheme from Americans to fool the Talibhans; got them in one place in Swat, and now will eliminate the fully with their army and US drones since Taliban are all surrounded in Swat. Great idea for getting billions of US$$$, nice manouvre by Pakistanie-US coalition in war against Islamic forces.
