Pakistan and terrorism in sawat valley

Pakistan and terrorism in sawat valley

[Photo]Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the North-West Frontier Province NWFP of Pakistan located 160 km/100 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora It was a princely s the NWFP until it was dissolved in 1969. With high mountains green meadows, and clear lakes, it is a place of great natural beauty that used to be popular with tourists as the Switzerland of Pakistan. By January 2003, there was a notable increase in violence as militant groups in the [Photo]Swat valley led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah began attacking and killing civilians as well as police checkposts in Swat. In 59 villages the militants set up a parallel government with Islamic courts imposing sharia law. The region was largely under effective militant control as of January 2009 despite the presence of 20,000 Pakistani troop[Photo]s.Local opponents of the militants have been harshly critical of Pakistani civil society for its lack of concern for their plight as well as critical of the military and provincial government for their ineffective measures for controlling the tide of militancy. There was a popular ski resort in Swat at Malam Jabba, 40 km north east of Saidu Sharif closed in 2007 due to the decreasing ability of the Pakistani government to maintain security in the region. In June 2008 the ski resort was burned down by militants. In December 2008 most of the area was captured by the Taliban insurgency and it is now too dangerous for tourism. The Islamist militant leader Maulana Fazlullah and his group Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi have banned education for girls a[Photo]nd have bombed or torched "more than 170 schools ... along with other government-owned buildings. The Pakistani government in late May of 2009 began a military offensive to regain control of the region. Late 2007 After a four-month truce ended in late September 2007, fighting resumed. The paramilitary Frontier Constabulary was deployed to the area, but initially were reported to be ineffective. On November 16, 2007 Militants were reported to have captured alpuri district headquarters in neighbouring Shangla The local police fled without resisting the advancing militant force which, in addition to local militants, also included uzbek&tajik and Chechen volunteers In late November 2007, Pakistani reg[Photo]ular forces threw out Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi militants from its stronghold in the Kabal District of north-western Swat. About 250 militants died in two weeks of fighting according to Pakistani authorities and the militants retreated into the mountains. By December 2007, the militants were on the run, with the valley largely cleared Pakistani officials stated at that time that it would take four months to re-establish functioning institutions in the area, in the wake of Islamist ruin. On August 23/ 2008 a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a police station in Charbagh Tehsil of Swat valley killing 20 people. The Tehrik-e-Taleban organization claimed responsibility. Through a media broadcast, the Pakistani government announced in late April that it would fight the Taliban in the Swat Valley. This led to a huma[Photo]nitarian crisis. The United Nations Commissioner for Refugees announced that between 150,000 to 200,000 civilians had fled the war zone. The Pakistani military took back multiple Taliban strongholds, such as Rama Kandhao ridge in Matta and a Taliban headquarters in Loenamal. On the 8th of May, the Pakistani military announced that around 80 Taliban fighters had been killed and two Pakistani soldiers had been injured. Air strikes, artillery bombardment and rocket attacks by helicopter gunships are being undertaken