Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi vowed Tuesday his government was committed to fighting extremists, despite allowing the imposition of Islamic law in part of its violence-wracked NWFP. Foreign Minister was in Washington where he met his Afghan counterpart ahead of a three-way session with the new Obama administration designed to find a new strategy in the region. Qureshi urged the outside world not to worry about Pakistan's Swat Valley, where pro-Taliban militants declared a unilateral ceasefire after the deal to introduce Shariah law -- their goal during nearly two years of fighting. "It is a local solution to a local problem, which is quick dispensation of justice," Qureshi told reporters. "It is not any appeasement towards militants."
"It is capitulation."
"Pakistan's determination and resolve to defeat terrorism is as sound as it was," he said. The Swat accord deal has triggered alarm in the United States, Europe, Afghanistan and India, amid concerns it will embolden militants in North West Frontier Province, which is rife with Taliban and Al-Qaeda extremists.