Mingora, Pakistan: Taliban fighters and Pakistani officials agreed on Saturday to a "permanent ceasefire" in the northwestern Swat valley, a senior government official said on Saturday.
Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Radio because he uses illegal FM radio to spread his message, was expected to announce the ceasefire later.
"They have made commitment that they will observe a permanent ceasefire and we'll do the same," Syed Mohammad Javed, the Commissioner of Malakand, told reporters after meeting with elders in Swat.
Around 1,200 people have been killed and between 250,000 and 500,000 people have fled the valley, which lies within the Malakand division of North West Frontier Province.
Western governments, and many Pakistanis, have been alarmed by the government's offer to reinstate Islamic sharia law in Malakand if the Taliban agreed to peace. They fear that a ceasefire could result in another sanctuary in Pakistan where al Qaeda and Taliban militants could move freely, and also worry that Taliban fighters elsewhere in the region will be encouraged by the government's move.
The ceasefire announcement came a day after Fazlullah met his father-in-law, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a radical cleric freed by the government to negotiate peace.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Reuters that Fazlullah would make an announcement on the radio shortly. "I can't say what he would say but there would be good news for people of Swat," Khan said.
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