November 10, 2007

Officials in the Swat valley in Pakistan say Taliban fighters are tightening their grip on some areas in the north-west of the country close to the border with Afghanistan.

The rising violence near the frontier was one justification for the current state of emergency declared by General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.

Pro-Taliban fighters have advanced in recent days and the government says they now control as much as 70 per cent of the Swat valley.

They have taken control of public buildings, including police stations.

"Banks face trouble transporting money, we are prepared to provide them with protection," Mawlana Mohammed Alem, a local Taliban leader told Al Jazeera.

"We wish to provide security to the public, who can no longer tolerate the unjust prejudicial acts of the police. We wish to provide protection under the Islamic Sharia law," he said.

Police blamed

Local residents say heavy-handed police tactics are one of the reasons Taliban support is growing.

"The police here commit atrocities against the residents and the law provides protection only for senior officers," one man told Al Jazeera.

"Taliban supporters have not caused us any harm; our electricity was cut and they managed to restore it in one hour," another said.

There are also reports that as the Taleban spread out from their traditional stronghold on the Afghan border, they are shutting girls' schools and setting fires to shops selling Western music in Swat.


"We have been getting calls from a number of people who are complaining about how these Taliban have terrorised them, despite the presence of the police and army," Imitaz Gul, a political analyst in Islamabad told Al Jazeera, "so the question is: Where is the state?"

The Swat valley is just a few hours' drive from Islamabad and the Taliban's control is growing.

Opposition politicians say the state of emergency is one of the reasons for the Taliban's expansion.

"They claim that the government has been distracted with all its efforts directed at arresting human rights activists, politicians and lawyers," said James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad.

In Islamabad itself, Benazir Bhutto vowed to go ahead with a planned rally next week to protest against the emergency rule.

In a show of defiance on Saturday, the former prime minister joined a small journalists' demonstration in the capital against media restrictions under the state of emergency.

"I have come here to express solidarity with you. I condemn these curbs," she said.

Jamil Soomro, a senior leader from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), said that a long march from Lahore to Islamabad will take place next Tuesday.


"On the 13th, it [the motorcade] will go ahead. If she's not there, the rally will still happen," Soomro said.

Later on Saturday, Bhutto was blocked by police from visiting Iftikhar Chaudry, the country's deposed chief justice, at his home where he has been confined since emergency rule was imposed

Addressing foreign diplomats at an evening meeting, she called for support to end the state of emergency imposed by Musharraf a week ago.

"Pakistan under dictatorship is a pressure cooker. Without a place to vent, the passion of our people for liberty threatens to explode," she said.

'Ending emergency'

Meanwhile, Pakistan's attorney general hinted at an early end to emergency rule.

"The state of emergency will end within one month," Malik Mohammed Qayyum said.

Bhutto was kept under house arrest on Friday to prevent her from leading a protest in the town of Rawalpindi.

But she was freed later during the day.

Police maintained a strong security presence at her residence in Islamabad, complete with barbed wire and concrete barriers, despite saying she was no longer under house arrest.

Pakistan's slide into political uncertainty has accelerated over the past week when Musharraf declared his country under emergency rule.

Thousands of his opponents have been arrested.

"The government has been paralysed," Bhutto shouted to supporters across a barbed-wire barricade on Friday as police used batons and tear gas to break up small protests in several parts of the country.

"If he [Musharraf] restores the constitution, takes off his uniform, gives up the office of the chief of army staff and announces an election by January 15, then it's OK," she said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's government on Saturday ordered three journalists from Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper to leave the country because of its "foul and abusive language" against Musharraf.

Musharraf has cracked down on both domestic and foreign media since the imposition of the state of emergency.

Elections

Musharraf has said elections will be held by February 15, about a month later than they were due.

He also said he would quit as army chief and be sworn in as a civilian president once new judges appointed to the supreme court struck down challenges against his re-election.

Bhutto has been holding power-sharing talks with Musharraf for months and political analysts say co-operation between the pair - which the US was earlier said to have been encouraging - is still possible.

Since the emergency was imposed, thousands of opposition figures and human rights activists have been arrested.

An interior ministry spokesman said 2,500 people had been detained, though Bhutto's party says 5,000 of their activists have been picked up over the past few days.