Pakistan Taliban in Buner pull out

Source: Aljazeera

Residents were warned not to engage in "un-Islamic" activity and barred women from public places [AFP] Up to 500 Taliban fighters have been ordered to pull back from Buner, just 100km away from the Pakistan capital of Islamabad, less than 24 hours after they entered the strategic district. "Our leader has ordered that Taliban should immediately be called back from Buner," Muslim Khan, a Pakistan Taliban spokesman, said on Friday. The pull out came a day after the Taliban clashed with regional forces, leaving one policemen dead. The group's move into Buner had alarmed the Pakistan goverment over what the Taliban's future intentions might be. Tension 'escalating' Hoda Abdel Hamid, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said the withdrawal followed talks between the Pakistan government and the Taliban. In depth Video: Turning to the Taliban Media vaccum in Swat valley Swat: Pakistan's lost paradise Talking to the Taliban Pakistan's war "There was a meeting between Sufi Mohammad, the cleric who brokered a deal between the Taliban, and the Pakistani government, some members of the Taliban and a few officals from the northwest frontier. "Tension was escalating and people were becoming worried about what a Taliban settlement in Buner would mean," she said. Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, less than two weeks ago ratified a deal to put Malakand - home to about three million people in northwest Pakistan, including the district of Buner - under Sharia, or Islamic law, as part of efforts to end a Taliban insurgency. Critics who criticised the deal and warned that government "capitulation" would only embolden the Taliban had said the Taliban's entry into Buner vindicated their fears. 'Very disturbing' The United States had said it was "extremely concerned" after hundreds of armed fighters set up checkpoints and occupied mosques in Buner. "I think the news over the past several days is very disturbing, the administration is extremely concerned," Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman said, noting "candid" comments on the issue by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state. A Pakistani barber stands by the "do not shave" warning written by Taliban [AFP] Some fighters in Buner reportedly moved into another nearby district, Shangla, on Friday. The Taliban's presence in Buner prompted emergency talks by political officials in northwest Pakistan, on what constituted a "violation" of the recent peace deal. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Pakistan's provincial information minister, said: "An all-parties conference convened by North West Frontier Province chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti has begun in Peshawar to discuss developments in Swat and Buner." Representatives of leading parties attended, including from the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), which belongs to the central government coalition, and Islamist parties Jamat-i-Islami and Jamiatul Ulema-i-Islam. Maulana Fazlullah, the Pakistani Taliban leader, launched a nearly two-year campaign to enforce Sharia in the Swat valley, beheading government officials, destroying girls' schools and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee.