Fragile ceasefire in Pakistan’s Swat valley

Taliban extremists in the troubled Swat valley of Pakistan have announced an indefinite ceasefire. It comes eight days after the government signed a controversial deal that brings the hard-line Islamic Sharia law in return for an end to the fighting. Locals hugged each other while the government said the truce was a step toward permanent peace as the army vowed to continue to hold fire in the valley, where thousands of people have fled the violence.

Militants have destroyed 191 schools in the valley, including 122 for girls, local education official Sher Azfal told The Telegraph newspaper. Militant leader Maulana Fazlullah agreed to extend a 10-day ceasefire, which had been scheduled to end tomorrow (Wednesday), and to release prisoners, according to his spokesman Muslim Khan."Today the shura [consultative council] met under Maulana Fazlullah and decided to hold a ceasefire for an indefinite period," Taliban spokesman in Swat, Muslim Khan, was quoted by the news agency Agence France-Presse as saying. "We are releasing all prisoners unconditionally. Today we released four paramilitary soldiers and we will release all security personnel in our custody as a goodwill gesture," he said.

Thousands of Fazlullah's supporters have spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce Sharia law, beheading opponents, bombing girls' schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces.No date has been announced for Sharia law to take effect. It is not clear, either, how the system, which supporters say will be faster than the courts, will be introduced nor who will be responsible for justice.

More than 1,000 people have died in shelling by the army or from beheadings sanctioned by the Taliban. Thousands more have been displaced. An earlier peace agreement broke down in mid-2008. So there is concern that this peace deal will not last either. Some analysts believe the Taliban want to control territory, not just amend the legal system. "They have their own checkpoints and they are still kidnapping people, so the signs are that things are not OK," political analyst Shafqat Mahmood told the newspaper. The ceasefire announcement applies to Swat but not to vast areas elsewhere in northwest Pakistan where Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists are holed up.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children