July 18, 2008	Friday	Rajab 14, 1429

MINGORA, July 17: Despite having signed a peace agreement with the Frontier government, militants in Swat are continuing to recruit youths for training – a fact also acknowledged by the government. Local people say that about 26 boys, aged between 13 and 18 from militancy-infested areas of Charbagh, Gulibagh, Dakorak, Khwazakhela in Matta tehsil and Kabal town, have been lured by the local Taliban to join their camps in the scenic Peuchaar area.

Parents usually do not report to police about disappearance of their children because of fear, and pretend that the boys have gone to their grandparents. Four ‘missing’ boys returned home after a month. “All the villagers know they went to training camps,” some local people said.

Thirtyseven-year-old Asghar, who works for a well-off family in Swat, says his 16-year-old son Ihsan, a student of class 10, has become an altogether different person after spending one month in a training camp.

“Ihsan has grown a beard and has become serious. He does not sit and chat with us anymore,” the man said, adding that the entire family was upset.

When the Taliban emerged as a parallel governing force about a year ago, they impressed youths they met at checkposts set up by them in several parts of Swat valley. Some of the boys even spent nights with the militants at the checkposts and the Taliban let them use their weapons.

Taliban assess the temperament of young recruits and those they think may be trained to carry out suicide attacks are equipped with skills needed for the deadly mission. Others are trained to use arms.

The Swat district administration recently claimed to have traced training camps in Belagat, Malam Jabba, Zorha, Dhadhara, Shuregat, Peuchaar, Sakharra and Benay Baba.

According to the district coordination officer and the district police officer, these camps are a ‘flagrant violation’ of the peace agreement the Taliban singed with the NWFP government on May 21. It binds the Taliban to close all militant training centres in the region.

A Taliban spokesman says that youths join their force on their own free will and they are not forced to go to training camps. “We don’t force boys to join our camps.”

Muslim Khan said that since the government had not implemented all provisions of the agreement, the Taliban had been forced to live in camps in mountainous areas. “Since we use firearms and prepare for Jihad you can call it a training camp, but for us it is our abode.”

He accused the government of continuing to arrest Taliban, instead of releasing them.

A local man, who was an active member of a banned militant group in the 1990s, told Dawn that he had been brainwashed by Jihadi movies and literature.

“Once the organisation was banned and its offices were closed, I gradually became a normal person,” he said.

Both the government and Taliban blame each other for the failure of the agreement and the people of Swat are forced to live under constant fear. The militants have burnt down a number of girls’ schools. And since boys have no recreational activities, they are joining militant camps.

“I have two sons and when they go out I fear for their safety,” a woman of the Bandai village said.

According to the local administration, since May 21 there have been seven attacks on police and five on army personnel and two policemen have been kidnapped. Militants have burnt down three checkposts, 15 schools and five private buildings, including a PTDC hotel in Malam Jabba. There have been four incidents of bomb blasts.

It said that the training centres were still functioning in violation of the peace agreement.

NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour, who had signed the agreement on behalf of the government, said the Swat Taliban had agreed to close the militant camps.

Despite criticism from different quarters for striking the deal with the Taliban, the ANP insists on resolving the issue through jirgas and talks. “We will sit with the Swat Taliban who are different from their counterparts in tribal areas, and we will resolve the issue through talks,” Mr Bilour said.