Taliban retains grip on Pakistan district

Although recent headlines suggest that the Taliban has left Buner district, only 60 miles from the Pakistani capital, the facts Saturday told another story.

Throughout the day, militants in black turbans with cloths over their faces could be seen brandishing automatic weapons in vehicles around the bazaars and on the main roads. Their stereos blared religious songs, and their presence was particularly evident at strategic locations such as key intersections.

Residents of Buner district were reluctant to discuss the militants’ presence, but most appeared to be on edge. The news of school bombings and morality campaigns by Taliban militants in the neighboring Swat Valley and the beheading of police officers and politicians critical of their rule there are well known.

Buner has seen an influx of Taliban fighters from Swat who are looking to expand their territory. However, the power grab, coming just days after Pakistan’s central government recognized the militants’ right to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in Swat, appeared to have backfired somewhat -- for the time being.

On Friday, the army, the president’s office, the prime minister, the state government and social critics in fractious Pakistan all warned the Taliban to back off or face a military confrontation and possible dissolution of the Swat deal. Friday night, Taliban militants made a big show for the TV cameras of folding up camp and heading back to the Swat Valley.

Some analysts urged the government to make a steady and strong response to militancy.

“Unless there’s a consistent show of resolve,” said Ayaz Amir, a lawmaker and commentator, “the Taliban will keep making problems and moving into areas in whatever direction they can.”

Underscoring the tragic cost of violence in the area, 12 children were killed Saturday when a bomb they mistook for a toy exploded in a residential compound in the nearby Lower Dir district.

“Seven of the children belonged to the same family. Five of them are girls,” police official Said Zaman told Reuters news agency.

In Buner, residents say the Taliban militants still appear relatively well entrenched, evidenced not only by their high-visibility patrols, but also by their encampment in private homes, a school and mosques.

For their headquarters, they’ve taken over a well-furnished two-story bungalow formerly inhabited by a community leader. Police and paramilitary soldiers have locked themselves in police stations across the district.

And though some security personnel could be seen on the rooftops of police stations overlooking the main roads and bazaars, they were not patrolling.

The only real security presence were traffic policemen trying to keep cars in line on the busy roads leading to the bazaars. One policeman complained that their weapons, training and manpower were inadequate to oppose the militants.

Shah Mureed, who runs a small restaurant in Pir Baba, a city of about 100,000 people, said that economic and social life have been hurt badly by the Taliban’s arrival and the prospect of a confrontation.

“This has become a state within a state,” he said. “People don’t like the army or the Taliban. They’re two faces of the same coin.”

Most people hate the militants, but are afraid to speak out against them, he said. At the same time, many are deeply apprehensive of the army, which can’t be trusted to flush out the militants and may in fact make things worse.

Shopkeeper Anwarullah Gul said tensions had decreased since Friday, when many of the militants returned to Swat. Most of those still on patrol are local men, he said. And he doubts the withdrawal Friday is the end of the matter. “The Taliban has started recruiting, and youngsters are voluntarily joining them,” he said.

The local Taliban commander in Buner, Ustad Yaser, said all his Swat colleagues returned home Friday after talks with local elders and officials, leaving members of the Buner organization.

Main government offices and courts have been closed in Pir Baba. Judges have gone on leave. And owners of music shops have shuttered their businesses, wary of the Taliban’s hatred of secular music.

The militants also installed an FM antenna on top of a large tomb at the main mosque, which they use to broadcast a half-hour sermon on Islamic values every evening, said Farhad Ali, a teenager.

Announcements on loudspeakers atop Taliban vehicles have urged residents to attend a meeting today in nearby Sawarai valley west of Pir Baba.

And banners warn women not to visit the markets. Taliban militants believe women should remain at home, shun education and appear in public only in the presence of their husbands or brothers.

“I don’t know what the logic is behind displaying such banners,” said Sardar Gul, a male pedestrian, noting that in Pashtun society women tend not to go to markets anyway. “They are just terrorizing people.”

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mark.magnier@latimes.com

Ali is a special correspondent.