Pakistani authorities ordered inquiries into a video showing the public flogging of a screaming woman in a north-western valley where officials have yielded to Taliban demands for Islamic law.

A militant spokesman defended the punishment in comments on Friday, fuelling a furore that cast more doubt on a creaking peace deal in the Swat valley that US officials fear has created another haven for allies of al-Qaeda.

Officials vowed to impose Islamic law, or Shariah, in Swat in February to halt 18 months of terror and bloody fighting between militants and security forces that killed hundreds of people.

Shariah has not yet formally been introduced and provincial officials say that, in any case, they would not condone such whippings or the harsh brand of Islamic law practiced under Afghanistan's former Taliban rule. But the video provided a reminder of how hardliners in control of much of valley interpret Islamic strictures.

Though it was unclear when and where the video was shot, it was believed to have been taken with a mobile phone in the Swat valley. It was broadcast widely on Friday on Dunya TV and other Pakistani television stations.

The embattled government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province struck the deal with a hard-line cleric who helped secure a ceasefire. However, President Asif Ali Zardari's office says he won't sign the bill introducing Islamic law there unless he is satisfied that peace has been restored — a prospect that seemed to recede on Friday after a sharp outcry by rights groups.

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