Pakistan

Islamist leader pulls out of Swat Valley peace talks

Article published on the 2009-04-09 Latest update 2009-04-09 14:15 TU

A Pakistani policeman removes burning tyres set alight by protesters in Karachi on Thursday.
(Photo: Reuters)

The Islamis leader who brokered peace talks in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley has pulled out of the process and called off his so-called "peace camps". Soofi Muhammad, who heads the banned Tehreek e Nifaz e Shariat Mohammedi, on Thursday accused President Asif Ali Zardari of delaying tactics in establishing Islamic sharia law as the area's only legal system.

Earlier this year Mohammad persuaded local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah, who is his son-in-law, to end 18 months of hostilities against government troops in exchange for a promise to set up Islamic courts.

But on Thursday he accused the President of refusing to sign a deal, backed by the provincial govnernment. Zardari refused to sign because Taliban, who have kept their arms, fought gun battles with police and villagers in neighbouring areas.

"I am ending my peace camp in Swat and, if any bloodshed occurs, President Zardari and the federal government will be responsible," Mohammad told a news conference in the area's main town, Mingora.

The move is a blow to the agreement, which was greeted with scepticism by France and other countries, amid US worries about the parts of Pakistan being a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters.

In southwest Pakistan on Thuresday riots left one police officer dead. The violence broke out after the murder of three Baluch nationalist politicians, whose bodies were discovered on the outskirts of Turbat. The three politicians were Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and Lala Munir of the Baluchistan National Party and Sher Mohammad of the Baluchistan Republican Party.