Word: swat
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...raised fears that a future regime in the country may put Islambad's nuclear capacity - estimated at about 80 nuclear devices - into the hands of parties inimical to the West. Indeed, the militants have spread their influence into more moderate areas of Pakistan such as the once-touristy Swat Valley. The militant groups have also launched attacks against Pakistan's cities, including the capital. In July 2007 a mosque in Islamabad became the site of a bloody confrontation between government security forces and radical Islamists and triggered a fresh wave of bombings, kidnappings and other attacks. Within hours of Bhutto...
...army and intelligence forces must now devote time, energy and resources to stamping out opposition protests in the cities rather than fighting militants in their rural redoubts. With the majority of Pakistanis opposed to Musharraf, the government's struggle to establish control in places like the traditionally moderate Swat Valley, where an Islamist militia is waging a bloody campaign to establish Shari'a law, will become even harder. "Pakistan is very religious, but it is not extremist," says Ahsan Iqbal, information secretary for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, the party led by Nawaz Sharif. By making this a battle between...
...turmoil in Pakistan's historic Swat Valley was one reason President Pervez Musharraf cited for his imposition of martial law over the weekend. A recent rash of suicide bombings, beheadings and kidnappings of military personnel in the onetime tourist enclave has brought Pakistan closer to the brink in its faltering war against terrorism. Military forces have been battling an Islamist militia led by a radical cleric determined to establish Sharia law in the region. Yet the truth is, Swat's militancy has been festering for well over a year, with Musharraf's government unable to rein in the charismatic Mullah...
...seen, by coincidence or otherwise, the growth of [Islamic] militancy in Pakistan. They are the ones that have presided over the signing of peace treaties and cease-fires in the tribal areas. They have lost control of our tribal areas. The militants are knocking on the doors of Swat; they are eyeing the capital city of Islamabad. They have access to superior sources of plastic explosives and they have constructed bombs and improvised explosive devices to be used against my rally, against the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] bus [in Rawalpindi on Oct. 20], against officers, against the air force. They...
...escalating war of insurgency and counterinsurgency, with recent clashes between militants and government forces leaving more than 100 dead. The army had been sent in to contend with the supporters of a charismatic pro-Taliban cleric bent on establishing Islamic law in the former tourist enclave of Swat, better known for its Buddha sculptures and ancient monasteries than for any kind of religious fundamentalism...