MINGORA/PESHAWAR: Life returned to near normalcy in Swat on Tuesday as the elderly cleric Maulana Sufi Mohammad, heading a peace caravan of hundreds of his black-turbaned followers, reached Mingora after a three-hour drive from Timergara.
A great rush was witnessed in bazaars of the twin towns of Mingora and Saidu Sharif and rest of Swat in anticipation of peace finally returning to the once peaceful valley. Displaced people started returning to their homes carrying their bare belongings that they had managed to bring along while fleeing their villages following the military operations.
Maulana Sufi Muhammad received a big welcome as he drove into Mingora and then walked to the Grassy Ground, the venue of all public meetings in Mingora. He also won the goodwill and prayers of the war-weary Swati people, who were hoping that he would be able to persuade his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, to end his armed struggle after the NWFP government’s announcement to enforce the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Swat and the rest of the Malakand division as well as in Kohistan district of the Hazara division.
The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, incorporating Sufi Muhammad’s suggestions, was being enforced in a desperate move to end militancy in the picturesque Swat Valley. Maulana Sufi Muhammad had promised return of peace in Swat in case the government implemented the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, for which he had set up a protest camp for the last 17 weeks at Timergara, headquarters of his native Lower Dir district.
As part of his peace mission, the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief left Timergara for Mingora in a convoy of 70 vehicles and jubilant people, who cordially welcomed them at different towns, joined them in around 200 vehicles. Life seemed to have returned to normalcy in the valley as all bazaars and shopping centres reopened early in the day and people moved fearlessly and freely in different towns.
The conflict-weary people had attached high hopes to Sufi Mohammad’s visit aimed at bringing back peace to the insurgency-ravaged valley. The people across the Malakand division have been euphoric over the promulgation of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, as they are of the opinion that the militants now had no excuse to fight.
“Our peace caravan and camp in Swat will continue till the restoration of calm,” Sufi Mohammad declared in his short address to a big gathering at Grassy Ground in Mingora. The district police officer and district coordination officer were present at the venue for the public meeting, which was something unusual in the troubled valley. He said negotiations would be held with the Swat militants and they would be convinced to lay down arms, as the NWFP government had met their demand by enforcing Nizam-e-Adl. “All Qazi courts will soon be established in the Malakand division and Kohistan, which will provide speedy and cheap justice,” he assured people. He said he would go to every tehsil, village and street for the restoration of peace in the valley.
After the public meeting, Sufi Mohammad and his delegation met military and civil administration officials at the Circuit House, the headquarters of the military for the Swat operation, and held talks. Sources said Sufi described the police and military as their brothers. “There was a brigadier, commissioner and district coordination officer in the meeting at the Circuit House,” a source close to the Maulana told The News by phone. He said they had not decided about the date and venue of the talks with Maulana Fazlullah. “We will make a decision in this regard in our Shura meeting to be held in the evening,” he said.
Spokesman for the Swat chapter of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Muslim Khan, told The News that they were ready for talks with Sufi Muhammad. However, he said the TNSM leaders had yet to approach them to decide the date and venue for talks. Spokesman for the TNSM Ameer Izzat said they were establishing a peace camp in Mingora and were preparing for peace talks with the Taliban from Swat
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