PESHAWAR - PAKISTAN on Monday released an ailing pro-Taleban leader who sent thousands of fighters against the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, and swiftly signed a peace pact with his hardline group, officials said.
The freeing of Sufi Muhammad and the subsequent deal was the most significant move yet by the new government to broker peace with Islamic militants along the volatile frontier.

It marked a break from President Pervez Musharraf's policy of using force.

Muhammad, believed to be in his 70s, is the father-in-law of the current militant leader in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley which fell into the hands of Islamists last year, prompting a bloody army operation to wrest it back.

However it was not immediately clear if Mullah Fazlullah had agreed to lay down arms as a result of the pact.

Fazlullah's spokesman could not be reached for comment late on Monday, and experts expressed doubt that the younger militant leader, reportedly at odds with Muhammad, would change his ways.

British FM backs talks with Pakistan militants
ISLAMABAD - BRITISH Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday backed the new Pakistani government's talks with militants, but added that there should only be reconciliation with those who renounce violence.

Mr Miliband arrived on a two-day official visit to Pakistan on Sunday and has met President Pervez Musharraf, new premier Yousaf Raza Gilani and top officials in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
... more
'I think Maulana Fazlullah will continue with whatever he is doing,' said Mr Mehmood Shah, former security chief for Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Muhammad founded the Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammed - or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law - which sent thousands of volunteers to fight in Afghanistan against the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.

Mr Musharraf outlawed the group in early 2002. Muhammad was arrested as he returned to Pakistan then sentenced in November 2002 on a weapons charge.

The deaths of many of his followers in the Afghan fighting hurt Muhammad's popularity. The group resurfaced under the leadership of Fazlullah, who won a large following through firebrand preaching over an illegal FM radio station but alienated people by resorting to violence.

Peace pact
Provincial government spokesman Faridullah Khan said the peace pact was signed on Monday evening by Muhammad's deputy and eight other clerics, and four officials, including three provincial government ministers.

Under the six-point agreement, which covers Swat and neighboring districts, Muhammad's group renounces attacks on the government but can peacefully seek the implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law.

Under one clause, the agreement says the government has the right to 'act against' militants who attack the government.

The pact was announced hours after the government released Muhammad from hospital in Peshawar where he had spent the last five months of his detention because of poor health.

He left under police escort, accompanied by followers wearing black turbans who shielded his face - apparently to prevent him being photographed. He later met with the province's chief minister.

The federal government, led by the party of slain premier Benazir Bhutto, which won power in February elections, and the allied administration in North West Frontier Province led by a Pashtun nationalist party, wants to use a combination of dialogue and development to curb the militancy that has exploded in the region over the past year.

That marks a shift from the more aggressive approach that Mr Musharraf's military regime took with US support since Pakistan joined the war on terror after the Sept 11 attacks.

Western nations have voiced support for dialogue if the militants renounce violence, but the release of Muhammad could cause some unease.

Officials at the US Embassy in Islamabad could not be immediately reached for comment late on Monday.

Military not involved in government's decision
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said on Monday the military was not involved in the government's decision to release Muhammad and no decision has been made to withdraw the army from Swat.

He said 90 per cent of the valley was peaceful, but that the army was still conducting occasional search operations against militant holdouts and had recently set up a checkpoint at Fazlullah's former headquarters to stop followers from slipping back in the area.

Fazlullah's spokesman has previously said hostilities would cease if Shariah was adopted and the government released Muhammad.

Fazlullah tapped into popular frustration over official corruption and failings in the justice system. His group wants a Taleban-like system in Pakistan, including compulsory beards for men, mandatory veils for women and the outlawing of music and television.

His dispute with the government is seen as less intractable than that of Taleban fighters in the tribal regions of Waziristan, where US officials believe al-Qaeda leaders are hiding.

Mr Talat Masood, a retired general and security analyst, said the deal with Muhammad demonstrated the new government's willingness to try dialogue with militants, and could increase pressure on Fazlullah and others to eschew violence and seek peace.

'But it's a long way before you can make any judgment as to whether this is a success,' he said, noting that previous peace efforts with Taleban militants have failed.

'We have to see ... to what extent both parties are going to abide by the agreement and whether the militants use this period to consolidate,' he said.

In a sign of continuing insecurity, Pakistani security forces clashed on Monday with gunmen to recover two UN employees who were kidnapped on a key road linking Pakistan to Afghanistan.

One paramilitary soldier was killed and four were wounded in the fighting in Khyber tribal region, said Mohammed Iqbal, a local government official. The two employees of the World Food Programme, both Pakistanis, escaped unharmed, he said.

Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan was abducted in the same region on Feb 11 as he headed by road to Kabul.

The ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, appeared on a video aired on Saturday on Al-Arabiya television saying he was kidnapped by Taleban militants, and urging the government of Pakistan to take steps for his release.