Peace Deal

U.S. unhappy with Pakistani plan for militant peace deal

The White House on Wednesday expressed concern with reports that Pakistan's new government is working on a peace accord with militant leaders in its tribal regions.

"We are concerned about it and what we encourage them to do is to continue to fight against the terrorists and to not disrupt any secure military operations that are ongoing in order to prevent a safe haven for terrorists there," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

According to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, Pakistan's new government - led by the party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto - is nearing an agreement with the Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan which involves exchanging prisoners and withdrawing Pakistani forces.

Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the PakistaniTaliban who has ties to al Qaeda, is a member of the Mehsud tribe. Pakistan's previous government under President Pervez Musharraf said he was behind Bhutto's assassination last year, a conclusion reached by the CIA as well.

Bhutto's party has rejected that assertion, saying it believes Musharraf's government may have orchestrated the attack.

The reported peace deal may include releasing some suspects tied to Mehsud who are facing trial for Bhutto's assassination. On Monday, Pakistani authorities released Sufi Mohammed, a pro-Taliban leader who recruited thousands of fighters to battle U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan after fleeing Afghanistan in 2002, months after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban rulers there. Under the terms of his release Mohammed's banned hardline group, Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM), is expected to lay down its arms and forgo violence, according to Sardar Hussain Babek, the information minister for North West Frontier Province.

But Mohammed's son-in-law Fazlullah, who took over TNSM during his jail stint, announced in a radio broadcast Tuesday that he would continue his fight to impose fundamentalist Islamic law in northwest Pakistan, according to local reports.

Musharraf struck peace deals with pro-Taliban tribal leaders in North and South Waziristan in 2006, but they were later rescinded.

A report by the International Crisis Group said Musharraf's 2006 North Waziristan agreement was directly responsible for creating a safe haven for al Qaeda's leadership inside Pakistan.

(Published by CNN News 23, 2008)