Building trust: K-P approves troop pullout from

TTP releases seven of eight workers of Gomal Zam Dam as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

PESHAWAR/ BANNU/ DI KHAN:

Authorities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday approved the pullout of troops from Malakand division in a move many believe is aimed at appeasing the homegrown Taliban before the start of formal peace negotiations.

The announcement by K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak coincided with the release of seven workers of Gomal Zam Dam by the Taliban “as a goodwill gesture”. Eight workers of the US-funded dam were seized by the insurgents in South Waziristan Agency in August last year.

The government had ordered thousands of troops into Malakand in 2009 after hundreds of radical loyalists of hard-line cleric Mullah Fazlullah who had launched a bloody campaign for the enforcement of his own puritanical version of Islamic sharia in the region. The cleric and his fighters were routed in subsequent military operations.

The chief minister’s spokesperson, Shiraz Paracha, said on Saturday that the withdrawal of troops would begin from Buner and Shangla districts next month. “The chief minister has given formal approval for the pullout of army troops from Malakand,” he added.



Though Mullah Fazlullah, nicknamed Radio Mullah, was driven out from Swat by the military, he and his followers found a safe haven in neighbouring Afghanistan from where they continue to launch attacks in Swat. In October last year, Taliban gunmen shot and critically injured teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai and her two classmates.

A reliable source told The Express Tribune that the army troops had started withdrawing from Buner and Shangla, respectively, in February and April 2012. However, after a fatal suicide attack on a pro-government politician, Fateh Khan, and his five colleagues on November 3, 2012, the government requested the army to delay the process of withdrawal.

“Two companies of troops – one each for Shangla and Buner – stayed in the districts to maintain law and order and their deployment time has now ended and hence their withdrawal is scheduled,” the source added.



The pullout from Buner and Shangla is said to be the first phase, while the second phase which includes withdrawal of troops from Malakand Agency and Swat are linked with the pullout of US-led Nato forces from Afghanistan which, analysts say, is not possible before 2015.

Over in South Waziristan, the birthplace of the dreaded Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), seven of the eight workers of Gomal Zam Dam were freed by the insurgents over a year after they were kidnapped.

Local TTP spokesperson Asimullah Mehsud claimed that the men were released as a ‘goodwill gesture’. Another senior Taliban commander Ehsanullah Ehsan added that the hostages were set free ‘unconditionally’. However, sources privy to the negotiations said that Rs25 million was paid in ransom. The Peshawar High Court had directed the authorities to secure the release of the men even if they had to pay for it.

According to a local political administration official, the hostages were handed over to a pro-government committee in the Gobarh area on the confluence of borders between South and North Waziristan Agencies. They were later shifted to Bannu Cantonment where they were received by their families.

The official said the eight men were kidnapped from the Neil Kach area near Gomal Zam Dam in August 2012. They included sub-divisional officer Shahid Ali Khan, sub-engineer Sanaullah, four security personnel and two others.

A member of a pro-government committee told journalists that when they inquired about the eighth hostage, named Mushtaq, the militants said they did not know his whereabouts. According to a source, Mushtaq was seen being executed in one of the videos released by the militants to threaten the government that they would kill all the hostages if their demands were not met.

A local intelligence official said the release was secured by a jirga of tribal elders from North Waziristan following months of negotiations.

The developments came a week after a government-sponsored all parties conference endorsed opening of peace negotiations with homegrown militants. The two sides are said to have exchange lists of demands before the start of negotiations – though publicly both sides deny any such steps.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2013.