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Pakistan teetering on the brink of civil war?
Pakistan troops rush to Taliban-infiltrated area
Police officer killed as Clinton warns Islamabad to focus on Islamist threat
msnbc.com news services
updated 12:54 p.m. ET, Thurs., April 23, 2009
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani troops rushing to protect government buildings and bridges in a Taliban-infiltrated district just 60 miles from the capital were met with gunfire Thursday that killed one police officer, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear if the gunmen were Taliban militants, but the clash in Buner district is likely to heighten concern about the viability of a government-backed peace deal with the Taliban in northwest Pakistan.
The deal imposes Islamic law in a large segment of the country's northwest in exchange for peace with Taliban militants in the neighboring Swat Valley.
In recent days, the valley's militants have entered Buner in large numbers — establishing checkpoints, patrolling roads and spreading fear. Their movement has bolstered critics' claims that the deal would merely embolden the militants to spread their reign to other parts of the province bordering Afghanistan.
Some Pakistani politicians who pushed the government to enforce sharia law in Swat have even begun expressing worries about the growing clout of the Taliban.
"If the Taliban continue their advances at the current pace they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad," Fazl-ur-Rehman, head of the Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Islam, the country's largest Islamic party, told parliament on Wednesday.
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Pakistan troops rush to Taliban-infiltrated area
Police officer killed as Clinton warns Islamabad to focus on Islamist threat
msnbc.com news services
updated 12:54 p.m. ET, Thurs., April 23, 2009
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani troops rushing to protect government buildings and bridges in a Taliban-infiltrated district just 60 miles from the capital were met with gunfire Thursday that killed one police officer, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear if the gunmen were Taliban militants, but the clash in Buner district is likely to heighten concern about the viability of a government-backed peace deal with the Taliban in northwest Pakistan.
The deal imposes Islamic law in a large segment of the country's northwest in exchange for peace with Taliban militants in the neighboring Swat Valley.
In recent days, the valley's militants have entered Buner in large numbers — establishing checkpoints, patrolling roads and spreading fear. Their movement has bolstered critics' claims that the deal would merely embolden the militants to spread their reign to other parts of the province bordering Afghanistan.
Some Pakistani politicians who pushed the government to enforce sharia law in Swat have even begun expressing worries about the growing clout of the Taliban.
"If the Taliban continue their advances at the current pace they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad," Fazl-ur-Rehman, head of the Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Islam, the country's largest Islamic party, told parliament on Wednesday.
...
The Rest Here
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