The resurgence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the KP chief minister Mahmood Khan’s native area – Matta tehsil in Swat district, has raised concerns. However, local sources say that there is no specific area being ruled by the Taliban in Swat. In a recent video in Swat, the TTP has declared that they have returned to Swat because of their ceasefire with the government in the ongoing talks and that they do not have any enmity with police or other security forces as there is a ceasefire in place.
The defence minister has also taken notice of the matter and said that htey are investigating the news of Taliban entering Swat.
The recent clash between the Taliban and police hit headlines in media. Later, the Taliban also handed over several cops captured in the shoot-out. The Taliban also declared that they have come to their native area of Swat after several years as a result of the ceasefire announced by them and the government in the wake of talks that are underway in Afghanistan in the arbitration of the Afghan Taliban, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Swat district does not share border with Afghanistan. However, the Afghan border is in Medan area of Lower Dir district, wherefrom Matta area of Swat can be reached. Medan area is also the native area of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the erstwhile chief of the Tehreek Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) who had launched his Sharia movement in the 1990s.
The conflict in the Swat Valley had been simmering since the early 1990s and can be partly attributed to the establishment of Maulana Sufi Mohammad’s TNSM in 1992. The conflict peaked in 2008–2009 when Maulana Sufi started the “Tor Patki” (black turban) movement, calling for the quick implementation of Sharia rule.
Afterwards, the Malakand region witnessed incidents of violence prompting the government to launch a counterinsurgency campaign through paramilitary troops.
Here the question arises, how come the news of the Taliban entering Swat is circulating? is there any reality in it? the timing of the issue is also being discussed, though the PTI chairman Imran Khan claimed that attempts are being made to weaken the PTI government in KP, but in a broader sense if the news if authentic and Taliban’s entry into the region proved right then the situation will be alarming for Pakistan in the upcoming days.
