Just four hours before the start of the operation to “silence” the Lal Masjid brigade, Swat Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abdul Kalam was browsing the latest news from Islamabad on the standoff. Outside his office, and on the rooftops of police stations, policemen stood at high alert as the threat of attacks from militants remained high.“We are still under threat [of attacks from militants],” DSP Kalam told Daily Times on Wednesday as a tense calm prevailed over Swat district following four attacks on police personnel, killing one and injuring a few others, including the district police officer.
Several attacks on security forces in general, and the police in particular, following the Lal Masjid operation have seen the arrival of military troops in the picturesque Swat Valley and Dir district.
The attacks came days after influential local cleric Maulana Fazlullah, 31, issued a call for jihad in retaliation to the operation against the Lal Masjid.
Policemen have been ordered to stay inside police stations. They remained trenched behind sandbags on rooftops, with heavy machine guns at the ready. Meanwhile, traffic police was burdened with the dual responsibility of maintaining law and order on the streets and regulating traffic.
“We have information that militants want to occupy the police stations and that is why we have reinforced security at all stations in the city,” a traffic policeman told Daily Times.
DSP Kalam said all entry points to Mingora city were heavily manned, and the decision to keep police personnel inside police stations was taken to keep militants from taking control of the city.
The arrival of the army brigade boosted the morale of law enforcement agencies and the civil administration, and also left “significant effects” on Maulana Fazlullah’s nerves. The cleric appeared “disturbed” and described the situation as “threatening”.
Across Swat River, paramilitary soldiers positioned themselves at Pizzaghat Mountain, overlooking the under-construction madrassa of the cleric at Iman Dherey.
“Look, they are positioning themselves against me and I feel threatened,” the cleric told Daily Times at his madrassa that sprawls over six kanals.
Fazlullah was incarcerated for 17 months after returning from Afghanistan where, along with jailed father-in-law Maulana Sufi Muhammad, he fought for the Taliban in late 2001.
Senior government officials said a military operation was not imminent but they did not rule out the option in the near future, sending out a stern warning to militants that they would not allow a Â’90s-like situation to develop this time.
“The army has come to stay here,” the officials told Daily Times, as the civil administration conducted talks with the cleric through “local channels” to keep him under check. “We think there has been a psychological affect on the cleric following the army’s arrival,” they added.
Local observers suggested that a carrot-and-stick policy for the militants would be preferable to going for all-out use of force in the first place. “The cleric enjoys mass public support but to deal with him we need to go by local traditions,” they added.
The army presence gave a new lease of life to moderate voices in the district. “The army’s arrival gives me a sense of security,” said lawyer Amjad Hilal, reacting to the development in a region where security agencies have not ruled out the presence of foreign militants.