malakand

Under the agreement, sharia law was to be adopted in Malakand district, to which Swat belongs.

Pakistani security forces are engaged in major anti-insurgent operations in a militant-dominated region known as Malakand Division.

The troops are supposed to remain in Malakand for a year, while the local police force is retrained and enlarged.

Many blamed it on the army, which had made several truces with the militants in Malakand.

But Pakistan's rulers are at least promising to take steps to prevent this, first by maintaining security in Malakand.

That triggered a violent campaign for Islamic law to be introduced in Swat and other areas of the Malakand region of which it is part.

Rather than allowing the militants to withdraw in good order, this time they chased them into Malakand's hills.

It did sterling work among the refugees of Malakand.

The agreement binds the provincial government to implement Sharia law in the Malakand division.

At that point, the chief government official in charge of Malakand, Mohammed Javed, proposed what he called peace talks.

This has done less damage to civilian life and property than two previous, failed offensives in Malakand.

Success in South Waziristan, which Pakistan only notionally administers, would look much more modest than that in Malakand.