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| India-Pakistan |
| Swat village still militant den |
| 2008-06-01 |
| Key militant leaders remain in Piochar, a small remote village surrounded by mountains in Swat valley, notwithstanding the May 21 peace deal between the NWFP government and militants, sources told Daily Times on Saturday. The sources said prominent leaders among those believed to be in Piochar included Hussain Ali alias Tor Mulla, Lal Din alias Baray Mian, Ibne Amin son of Bahadur, and Umar Rehman alias Dawood. “All of these are key militant commanders who were actively involved in the 14-month-long militancy in the Swat valley,” source added. The militants belong to Jaish-e-Muhammad and are not controlled by Mulla Fazlullah, the sources said. The sources said that Tehreek-e-Taliban leader in Bajaur Agency Maulvi Faqir Muhammad recently visited Piochar to meet with the leaders and their followers to discuss organisational matters. Taliban release: A high-level meeting will be held in a few days to discuss the issue regarding the release of Taliban militants, arrested during the operations the valley, another source told Daily Times. It will be the first high-level meeting since the signing of the May 21 peace deal. Taliban representatives told Daily Times that the government has committed to releasing all the militants within two weeks of the deal. The government demanded local Taliban leaders to provide a list of Taliban prisoners so that officials could review their status before the meeting, the source said. It added that 1,375 people had been taken into government custody since the launch of military operation in Swat and the security officials had released 1,113 so far. |
| Posted by:Fred |