Pakistan Arrests Cleric Behind Deal With Taliban

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani police on Sunday arrested a pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a peace deal between the government and militants in the Swat Valley that has since faltered.

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the North-West Frontier Province, said Mr. Muhammad had been arrested for encouraging violence and terrorism.

“Instead of keeping his promises by taking steps for the sake of peace, and speaking out against terrorism, he did not utter a single word against terrorists,” Mr. Iftikhar said at a news conference in Peshawar, adding that the cleric’s stance “encouraged terrorism. It encouraged violence.”

Mr. Muhammad, the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban leader in Swat, negotiated a truce with the government in February that imposed Shariah, or Islamic law, in the valley in exchange for an end to two years of fighting. But it was widely seen as an acquiescence to Taliban control of the area.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/world/asia/27cleric.html