Peace in Swat hanging by a thread

When ANP leadership brokered peace with Swat TTP last year the move was widely hailed and hopes expressed that it would end the fighting in the valley. The accord however could not be sustained as there was no respite to the burning of the girls schools and government installations. While the local chapter of the TTP disowned the incidents, a perception was formed that the militant outfits connived at the incidents or lacked the clout to stop them. Meantime security officials maintained that the deal had helped the militants to regroup and expand themselves. This led to the collapse of the accord and a renewal of military operations.
Before elections 2008, the militants were largely confined to three tehsils of Swat i.e. Matta, Kabal and Khwaza Khela. Within months of the collapse of the accord and initiation of the operations they established effective control all over Swat district. When foreign journalists visited the region after the ceasefire in the third week of February what they saw were Kalashnikov totting militants minding the road leading into Mingora and maintaining law and order inside the principle town of the valley. A concrete wall had been constructed to block the gate of the Mingora police station and whatever security elements were visible looked more like outlaws while the militants seemed to constitute the official law enforcing agency in control of the city. This was symbolic of the supremacy of the TTP in the valley.
Both security officials and the militants have realized by now that continuing the hostilities could soon turn the most popular tourist resort into rubble without any population. What is more while fighting has led to large scale killings and destruction of property it has endeared neither the TTP nor the security forces to the population and both sides are in fact fighting for a Pyrrhic victory.