Pakistani troops advance against Taliban

The Pakistani military said it killed 55 Taliban in the Swat Valley on Friday and that it had lifted a curfew so thousands more civilians could flee the area in advance of an expected operation against militants in the area’s largest town.

Taliban fighters are reportedly deeply entrenched in Mingora, and the military is bracing for house-to-house fighting.

The army warned that militants might shave their characteristic beards and shaggy locks in order to blend in with the fleeing residents.

Government officials appealed to citizens to identify any militants in their midst and issued a phone number so citizens could provide tips anonymously.

Syed Jamaluddin, the provincial commissioner for displaced people, said during a tour of the Jalala camp just south of the Swat Valley that the government was taking all necessary precautions.

“No one is allowed into the camps with arms and ammunition,” he said. “And the government has ways to get intelligence and will act accordingly. We’re well aware of who’s here.”

But some were skeptical of these assurances. Others doubted that there was any problem in the first place.

“There’s been no real screening and I doubt they will be able to mount any sort of effective screening, either,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher with Human Rights Watch. “You have 500,000 refugees fleeing -- against 5,000 Taliban who have no visible or distinguishing features. They’re more than capable of reordering their wardrobe or shaving their beards.”

Niaz Mohammad, one of several Frontier paramilitary members guarding the Jalala camp, said there had been no serious security problems among the facility’s roughly 8,000 occupants and that the guards weren’t too concerned about infiltration.

The army recently mounted the offensive against homegrown Taliban fighters in the scenic Swat Valley after they pushed into the neighboring Buner and Dir districts, putting them within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad. And early today, Pakistani officials said a suspected U.S. missile strike on militant targets near the Afghan border killed at least four people, the Associated Press reported.

Pakistan’s government and the Taliban have accused each other of breaking a controversial peace agreement hammered out in February by local authorities, which the central government confirmed last month. Under its terms, the Taliban were allowed to impose Sharia, or Islamic, law, on the condition they disarm.

The army said it was advancing slowly in Swat to minimize civilian casualties and property damage. Aid groups and the media have not been allowed into the area. There has been little independent verification of the daily military reports -- including Friday’s report of Taliban casualties.

Many of the civilians who have fled accuse the army of firing indiscriminately and destroying their property.

“You work hard all your life to build a house, and the army destroys it,” said Naik Amul, 30, a teacher from Kanju, who was sharing a tent in Jalala with four family members. “Why is this happening to us?”

Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani said taxes would be eliminated in areas where the army had damaged property.

Gul Maeen, 40, who walked four days on a withered foot to reach the Jalala camp, was not impressed. “We would hope they’d help us rebuild our houses,” he said. “But for that, we need peace first.”

Independent defense analyst Shireen Mazari said the displaced were poor enough that they probably don’t pay taxes in the first place. The only way a tax plan might work, she added, would be if it provided tax breaks for investors to create jobs and growth.

The U.N. refugee agency said it had registered 907,000 people displaced by the fighting since May 2, in addition to the 565,000 forced to leave their homes last year amid violence.

Only about 80,000 people, generally the poorest or those with few alternatives, are in the camps. Most have moved in with relatives and friends or created makeshift settlements along roads and in fields.

“When they relaxed the curfew, we escaped,” said Shah Zarin, 56, a farmer from the village of Shawar. Zarin and five family members had just stepped off a pickup outside Jalala.

“We’re going to some close relatives” about four miles away, he said. “We have no way to warn them we’re coming, but I’m sure they’ll welcome us.”

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mark.magnier@latimes.com