THE reopening of schools in Swat is encouraging, particularly given the controversy over the government’s decision to task Maulana Sufi Mohammad of the banned Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Mohammadi with brokering a peace deal with the Taliban. However, this is merely an initial step on the long road to enforcing the writ of the state in Swat. Educational institutions, particularly those for girls, have suffered greatly during the terrifying campaign to enforce Maulana Fazlullah’s version of the Sharia. Of the 191 schools destroyed so far by the militants, 122 were girls’ schools. Indeed, even Monday’s development was only partial: the government could reopen only the primary section (up to the fourth grade) of girls’ schools, as opposed to all sections for boys.

Even so, attendance has been fractional: security concerns remain and thousands of families have fled since the fighting began. With security forces unable to control the situation, the current lull has been achieved only after the government brought in Sufi Mohammad and promised a new Nizam-i-Adl regulation. In this scenario, Sufi Mohammad’s statement that the right of girls in the Swat valley to attend school is “still under discussion” has disturbing implications, as does Taliban spokesperson Muslim Khan’s comment that girls may go to school on condition that they veil themselves. For one thing, education is not only a fundamental human right, it is also a basic one under the laws of the land. The militants’ campaign against women’s education is in itself an act of illegality. Neither the militants nor anyone else can be allowed to ‘grant’ a right that was never theirs to deny. Secondly, the government must not allow the right to education to be made conditional — as on the issue of the veil. This cedes vital ground to those who argue by the barrel of the gun, and constitutes a dangerous precedent. The fact that women’s right to education is negotiable at all gives a lie to the government’s claim that the situation in Swat is being brought under its control. It must not further accommodate those who wish to rule through threats and extortion.