Officials in northwest Pakistan say all of the Taliban fighters who
infiltrated a district 100 kilometers from the capital have returned to
their stronghold in Swat Valley.
A local administrator (Syed Mohammed Javed) said all the Taliban militants had left Buner district by Saturday, and that government troops were deployed in the area.
A Taliban spokesman (Muslim Khan) told VOA Friday that the
Swat Taliban fighters decided to abandon Buner because they worried
that staying could jeopardize a recent peace deal imposing Islamic law (Sharia) in parts of the region.
U.S. officials have sharply criticized the deal as a capitulation to extremists.
Pakistan's Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani held a meeting Friday to
discuss a military operation in Buner and Swat. In a statement, he said
the army "will not allow the militants to dictate terms to the
government or impose their way of life on the civil society of
Pakistan."
The peace deal between the government and hard-line cleric Sufi
Mohammed calls for militants to lay down their weapons. That has not
happened yet.