Report: Sufi Mohammed to negotiate peace in Bajaur and Waziristan

After negotiating a ceasefire and putting together the framework for the implementation of sharia, or Islamic Law, in the district of Swat, Sufi Mohammed has offered to mediate between the government and the Taliban in the tribal agencies of Bajaur and North and South Waziristan.

The announcement was made as Sufi continues to mediate between the Taliban and the political leaders of the Malakand Division and the district of Kohistan, the PakTribune reported. The Pakistani military and the Taliban agreed to an indefinite ceasefire as the peace agreement, known as the Malakand Accord, is negotiated.

The peace agreement calls for the military to halt operations and return to barracks in exchange for the implementation of sharia in the districts of Malakand, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Chitral, and Kohistan. The Taliban have demanded that its prisoners be released and an amnesty granted for its members. Both sides have halted operations and have begun to dismantle checkpoints. But since the ceasefire was put into effect, the Taliban have kidnapped and released a senior Swat official and prevented a military convoy from entering the town of Mingora.

The Pakistani government currently has peace agreements with the Taliban in North and South Waziristan, where the Taliban have held sway for years and run a parallel government.

In Bajaur, where the fighting has been ongoing since August 2008, the Pakistani military took control of a strategic valley that linked the region to Afghanistan. Faqir Mohammed, the leader of the extremists in Bajaur, declared an indefinite ceasefire earlier this week.

Daily Times reported that Bajaur’s political agent said the military agreed to a 4-day ceasefire. But Major General Tariq Khan, the Inspector General for the Frontier Corps, said in an email to The Long War Journal that the military has not ceased offensive operations. Bajaur’s political agent repeated the claim of a military ceasefire today, Daily Times reported.

Sufi Mohammed is the spiritual leader of the outlawed Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad’s Sharia Law. He claimed to have eschewed violence after being released from prison in November 2007 as a condition of a similar failed peace agreement in Swat. Sufi led more than 10,000 Pakistanis into Afghanistan after the US invasion in 2001. Mullah Fazlullah, the radical anti-government cleric behind the insurgency and terror attacks in Swat, is his son-in-law.

Sufi and the Swat Taliban maintained very close links to the radical administration of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, the pro-Taliban mosque in the heart of Islamabad whose followers enforced sharia and kidnapped policemen just one mile from the seat of government. The Pakistani military stormed the Lal Masjid in July 2007 after a several-month standoff. More than a hundred followers and more than a dozen soldiers were killed in the battle.

In recent interviews, Sufi declared his hatred for democracy and the West, and described Mullah Omar’s regime in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 as “ideal.”

“From the very beginning, I have viewed democracy as a system imposed on us by the infidels. Islam does not allow democracy or elections,” Sufi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur just days before the Malakand Accord was signed. “I believe the Taliban government formed a complete Islamic state, which was an ideal example for other Muslim countries.”

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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7 Comments

  • Ayamo says:

    I’ve just read that the army claims to have broken the Taliban resistance in Bajaur once and for all.
    I really doubt that.
    Waiting for more information about this.
    Bill, do you have any news about Bajaur?

  • Bangash Khan says:

    Why would you automatically doubt the pakistan army? are you on the ground taking casualties ?

  • KW64 says:

    I wonder when they will announce a peace treaty for Islamabad? At this rate one has to wonder where the government is going to defend.

  • David says:

    So strange army has announced clearing the Bajour from millitants we have heard this thousands of time but its never true. How many top comanders of militants has been killed in Bajour? Its another surrender like Swat where the state give in to the deamnds of militants this time they are claiming flushing them out. if realy where they have been flushed out?
    This is really a shame for a nuclear state to beg Maverick sufi like people for peace with militants.
    Please please dont call sufi a spirutula leader his hands are still stained with blood like his son in law fazal ullah .

  • bard207 says:

    Bangash Khan
    In advance, thank you for responding to my post.
    Why would you automatically doubt the pakistan army? are you on the ground taking casualties ?
    This is why the Pakistani Army is automatically doubted:
    Pakistan: Timeline on Swat Valley turbulence
    13 July 2007 – President Pervez Musharraf approves a plan to deploy paramilitary forces in Swat to crush growing militancy. Troops are positioned in Swat.
    28 November – 6 December 2007: Security forces say militants have been forced out of Swat and many key leaders arrested. Key centres such as Imam Dehri are seized. Hundreds are feared dead in the operation; 500,000 of Swat’s 1.8 million people are reported to have fled.
    27-30 July 2008 – Fierce clashes erupt again, after incidents involving the killing of military personnel.
    August-December 2008 – The military moves tanks, heavy artillery and helicopters into Swat to
    combat militants. Hundreds are reported killed in heavy clashes. Reports of atrocities by militants increase – including the killing of women who decline to stop work and public beheadings of those accused of spying. Human rights activists say 60 percent of Swat’s 1.8 million people have fled. Thousands of homes are reported to have been damaged and 150 schools destroyed.
    February 2009: Renewed military offensives are reported against militants as the Pakistan Army pledges to regain control of Swat. Mingora said to be under government control. Fierce fighting continues and more people flee.
    Report: Sufi Mohammed to negotiate peace in Bajaur and Waziristan
    The Pakistani military and the Taliban agreed to an indefinite ceasefire as the peace agreement, known as the Malakand Accord, is negotiated.
    ——————————————————-
    Again, thanks for your response.

  • Neo says:

    A new week and more demands from the Taliban. What a surprise?
    http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/pakistan/nwfp/sufi+muhammad+demands+launch+of+sharia+courts+soon-rs
    It seems we have a new variation on an old game in Western Pakistan. The game is called “Sufi Muhammad Says”

  • bard207 says:

    Where is Bangash Khan?
    Are there any supporters of Pakistan that will stick around and provide a quality conversation?

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis