Taliban suspend peace talks as Pak kills 50 millitants

Taliban has decided to suspend peace talks with Pakistan after 50 millitants were killed in the NWFP in an offensive by the army.

Helicopter gunships on Monday pounded Taliban hideouts,as Pakistani security forces in intensified operations killed over 50 militants in NWFP,putting the recent peace deal reached between the government and radicals in jeopardy.

The paramilitary Frontier Corp continued their operations for the second day today hitting militant hideouts in the province as Taliban suspended talks with government on the peace deal to protest operations in Dir,adjoining Swat.

“Twenty militants were killed in operations in Maidan area of lower Dir on Monday,” a military statement said. Earlier,briefing newsmen Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said security forces had killed at least 30 militants overnight.

Malik said the operations were launched in retaliation to efforts by Taliban to extend their influence outside Swat.

As Pakistani forces intensified the offensive,Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi spokesman Izzat Khan told reporters that no peace talks would be held with the government unless the security forces halted the operations.

Izzat Khan said their peace deal with the government was now “worthless”.

The pressure on the deal built up when authorities sent troops backed by artillery,tanks and helicopter gunships to attack militants in lower Dir,part of the area which is covered by the Swat peace accord.

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Islamabad has been under severe pressure from the US and other countries to back out from deals with radical militant outfits which they say pose a danger of destabilising the entire region.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan denounced the operations as a violation of the pact and vowed his militants will not lay down their arms at any cost. The Swat peace deal stipulated that the militants would lay down arms once the demand for enforcing Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan’s once famous tourist resort was implemented.

The Taliban said they were waiting to get in touch with the Swat deal mediator,hardline cleric Sufi Muhammad,before apparently declaring the pact dead. The cleric has been trapped in his home in lower Dir due to ongoing heavy fighting.

Muslim Khan said “the agreements with the Pakistani government were worthless as Pakistani rulers are acting to please the Americans”.

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Taliban confirmed that commander Maulvi Shahid was among the militants killed on Sunday. Gunship helicopters targeted militant hideouts,killing and injuring a number of them. Two personnel of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were also killed and a Major was among five personnel injured in an ambush in Maidan,the hometown of TNSM chief Sufi Muhammad.

An indefinite curfew was imposed in Lal Qila,Islampura,Kal Kot and several other areas in Dir considered to be Taliban strongholds. Security forces yesterday took control of Lal Qila after clearing the area of militants.