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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| 'Permanent Swat ceasefire agreed' | 'Permanent Swat ceasefire agreed' |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Taleban rebels in Pakistan's Swat valley have agreed to a "permanent ceasefire", a senior official has said. | Taleban rebels in Pakistan's Swat valley have agreed to a "permanent ceasefire", a senior official has said. |
| Syed Mohammad Javed, commissioner of Malakand, which includes Swat, revealed the deal but gave no details. There has been no confirmation from the Taleban. | Syed Mohammad Javed, commissioner of Malakand, which includes Swat, revealed the deal but gave no details. There has been no confirmation from the Taleban. |
| Swat, once one of Pakistan's most popular holiday destinations, has been blighted by violence since 2007. | Swat, once one of Pakistan's most popular holiday destinations, has been blighted by violence since 2007. |
| Reports of the pact come a week after a 10-day ceasefire and a deal to implement Sharia law in parts of Swat. | Reports of the pact come a week after a 10-day ceasefire and a deal to implement Sharia law in parts of Swat. |
| Local Taleban met a senior elder, Sufi Mohammad, to discuss ceasefire terms before the agreement was announced, reports said. | |
| Sufi Mohammad, a pro-Taleban cleric, is the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, who has been waging a violent campaign to impose Sharia in the region. | |
| Crossfire | |
| Following the deal struck last Sunday to agree to introduce Sharia law, negotiations between Maulana Fazlullah and Sufi Mohammad now appear to have led to a more permanent deal. | |
| "They have made commitment that they will observe a permanent ceasefire and we'll do the same," Mr Javed, the commissioner of Malakand, told reporters on Saturday. | |
| A Taleban leader was expected to confirm the ceasefire later on Saturday, Reuters news agency reported. | A Taleban leader was expected to confirm the ceasefire later on Saturday, Reuters news agency reported. |
| Thousands of people have fled and hundreds of schools have been destroyed in Swat since a Taleban insurgency began in 2007. | Thousands of people have fled and hundreds of schools have been destroyed in Swat since a Taleban insurgency began in 2007. |
| The people of Swat have long been caught in the crossfire between the army and the Taleban. | |
| More than 1,000 civilians have died in shelling by the army or from beheadings sanctioned by the Taleban. Thousands more have been displaced. | |
| The Taleban now control the entire countryside of Swat, limiting army control to parts of the valley's capital, Mingora. |