Cleric seeks peace in Swat valley

Mingora: A radical cleric sent emissaries to his Taliban son-in-law on Thursday to seek peace in Pakistan's Swat valley after earlier prising an offer from the government to restore Islamic law to the region.

Critics say that by turning to former militant Maulana Sufi Mohammad to play peacemaker, the government showed its weakness in the face of an Islamist tide rolling over the northwest.

How much influence the elderly Mohammad can exert over son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah is also in doubt, they say, as the younger man has forged ties with Al Qaida and Islamist militants from elsewhere in Pakistan.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Reuters that talks were underway, but the murder on Wednesday night of a journalist underscored insecurity in the valley and cast a pall over hopes for peace.

Between 250,000 and 500,000 people have fled Swat since Fazlullah launched a campaign of violence, according to Amnesty International, and at least 1,200 civilians have been killed in the former tourist paradise 130km north of Islamabad.

The accord reached between the government and Mohammad, who has been at the vanguard of a long violent struggle for the establishment of Islamic law in Swat, has sent a chill through Western allies with troops in nearby Afghanistan.

Mohammad, who spent six years in jail for leading thousands of fighters to Afghanistan in a vain bid to help the Taliban there repel US-backed forces in 2001, is a respected figure among conservatives, particularly in more remote villages. He led an armed uprising in 1994 for the restoration of Islamic law.