KALAM, Pakistan: In the past few years, Pakistan’s Swat valley has been occupied by insurgents, undergone a bruising counter-offensive by the army and then flooded by waters that washed away acres of fruit orchards and steeply terraced fields. In October last year, the valley which lies about 250 km north of the capital Islamabad was again in the global spotlight when militants shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai. Now, as villagers try to piece together shattered lives, the military is coming under pressure to talk peace with the Taleban, a ruthless Pakistani offshoot of the radical movement of the same name in neighboring Afghanistan.
Civilian Pakistani leaders elected in May want to open a dialogue with the homegrown militants set on overthrowing the nuclear-armed state. They say the local people are fed up with the violence and that any talks will be legitimized by US efforts to promote peace with the Afghan Taleban. But the powerful military, which has spent years chasing the Pakistani Taleban into ever-more remote hideouts, is in no mood to negotiate with militants who have killed thousands of soldiers and who they say cannot be trusted.
In Pakistan, army adamant on fighting the other Taleban
