Military moves back after 'sham'

ISLAMABAD - Backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships, Pakistani troops dramatically expanded a military offensive against Taleban hideouts after fresh evidence emerged of the militants' determination to extend their reach beyond the Swat Valley and towards the capital.

Army chiefs said the operation in Buner, which followed swiftly on the heels of a military bombardment of Lower Dir, was expected to last a week. The aim was to "eliminate and expel" around 500 militants scattered across the strategic valley, which lies just 110km north of Islamabad, officials said.

Last night helicopters dropped troops near Daggar, the main town in Buner district. The commandos secured the town and were linking up with police and paramilitary troops already in the area, the Army said.

The Government of President Asif Ali Zardari struck a controversial deal with the Swat militants in February, whereby he agreed to impose Sharia law in a vain bid to get the Taleban to lay down their weapons.

The accord sparked concern in Washington and London and last week the militants appeared to have ripped it up in any case. They rampaged beyond Swat and into Buner, kidnapping and killing policemen, seizing petrol stations and marble factories and terrorising the population, before claiming to retreat.

The military offensive was triggered by phone intercepts that allegedly revealed the Taleban had merely staged a withdrawal from Buner. Major General Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, said the Taleban had in fact stayed put, continuing to recruit locals for their training camps.

"Only a symbolic withdrawal was made," he said. "Instead [the militants] kept increasing their strength and continued with their activities. As per the latest reports, 450 to 500 militants are occupying Buner. The overall objective is to eliminate or expel [them]."

Military officials had transcripts of what they said were phone taps between variousTaleban Taleban commanders who were leading militants in Buner and the group's chief, Maulana Fazlullah, who is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Swat. The authenticity of the transcripts could not be independently verified.

In one conversation, a commander described as "Fateh", the codename for the Taleban commander Maulvi Khalil, is overheard "vowing to do something that they'll remember". The militants do not give specific details of their plans, preferring to signal their intent with half-finished sentences. More controversially, the transcripts imply that Sufi Mohammed - the frail hardline cleric the Government has tasked with brokering the truce with the Taleban - was complicit in the Taleban's withdrawal stunt.

Mufti Aftab, a Taleban commander, quotes Sufi Mohammed insisting that some Taleban fighters should be seen leaving the valley for the sake of "the media" without displaying "their weapons openly".

'These Karakar comrades will be pulled back so that the media can see them [leave], because the commissioner is repeatedly saying we need to show the media something," Aftab says, according to the transcript.

Sufi Mohammed is the father-in-law of Fazlullah. He led a rebellion in Swat during the 1990s and enlisted young men to fight in Afghanistan in late 2001. He was released from prison last year on the condition that he helped the Government tame the Taleban.

A top local government official, Syed Muhammad Javed, is also quoted second-hand as urging the media stunt. He has since been suspended from his duties on suspicion of colluding with the Taleban.

The Buner push marks the second military operation in the past week.

The Army said it had already triumphed in Lower Dir, another area bordering Swat, with more than 70 Taleban militants being killed. Amnesty International estimated that about 33,000 civilians had left their homes in Lower Dir in the past few days.


PHONE TAPS REVEAL CAT-AND-MOUSE TACTICS

The following are translated extracts of phone taps of conversations between senior Pakistani Taleban commanders, provided by the Pakistani Army.

It was not possible to independently verify their authenticity.

TRANSCRIPT A
Fateh (Taleban commander leading Buner operations): How has the decision [to stage the withdrawal] been taken?

Mufti Aftab (another Taleban commander): The decision took place after Maulvi Saab [an apparent reference to Sufi Mohammed, the hardline cleric negotiating with the Taleban on behalf of the Pakistani Government] told us to bring back seven, eight cars and show them leaving to the media. Sufi Saab is there and other advisers are there.

Fateh: We'll say that the Taleban from Swat have left Buner.

TRANSCRIPT B
Mufti Aftab: Right now the subject is Buner. Everyone is saying that they'll take some people out of there and will show them leaving to the media. And they will not display their weapons openly.

Maulana Fazlullah [leader of Taleban in Swat valley]: Okay, we'll tell Suleiman to move these comrades to the side.

Mufti Aftab: These Karakar comrades will be pulled back so that the media can see them [leave], because the commissioner is repeatedly saying we need to show the media something.

TRANSCRIPT C
Sheikh Saab [Taleban commander]: We've discussed firm plans for what's ahead ... First, the situation in Buner is very hot. The Army is ready for an attack ... Those who remain there should separate, so that the world will see that the Taleban have left Buner, even if it means that in each car there are only one or two Talebs sitting.

Fazlullah: This is fine.

Sheikh Saab: If this is okay, then we're coming. Tell the people there that the comrades should move and hide their arms. Some people should leave.

Fazlullah: Okay, I'll make contact.

TRANSCRIPT D
Fateh: If they come now, then I've told the comrades to do things this way. This time, we'll blast the mines as well. We'll also fire rockets.

And we'll do something that they'll remember.

Tomorrow you'll say you didn't know.

- INDEPENDENT, AP