PESHAWAR, May 29: Denouncing the peace deal signed by the NWFP government with the Taliban of Swat, participants at a consultation alleged on Thursday that people were left at the mercy of militants.

The participants said that dwellers of Swat and stakeholders were not taken into confidence before inking the deal.

“I was not consulted and I believe other people in the district were also not taken on-board during negotiating with Taliban,” said former federal minister and leader of Awami National Party, Mohammad Afzal Khan, who hails from the troubled Matta tehsil of Swat.

The day-long consultation on “Peace: At what cost? A civil society perspective” was jointly organised by e Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Action Aid and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). The participants were invited from cross sections of the society and many of them hailed from Swat district.

Except few rest of the participants believed that the government had adopted the policy of appeasement towards the militants which would help them in regrouping, rearming and starting target killings of those individuals who had raised voice against them. They also criticised the military operation stating that instead of militants the operation had mostly affected ordinary citizens.

Afzal Khan said that after 9/11 the policy of General (retired) Pervez Musharraf might have changed, but the policy of the intelligence agencies to support militants remained the same. “Even now some US circles have been airing concern over this double dealing,” he added.

“This agreement is not aimed at restoring durable peace rather it is a one sided ceasefire,” said senior advocate Sher Mohammad Khan, an HRCP member from Swat. He said that despite security threats people in Swat came out on Feb 18 and voted in favour of ANP hoping that the party would rid them of the militants. People did not vote ANP for legalising local Taliban, he added.

“We don’t want this agreement. The militants against whom more then 50 cases were registered have now been roaming like conquerors in the troubled district. They are involved in target killing and after the peace deal Bukht Baidar of Imam Dehri was killed as he had raised voice against their wrong doings,” he added.

The president of Swat Hotels Association, Zahid Khan, said that they had around 825 members and most of the hotels remained closed during the last one year which rendered about 40,000 persons unemployed -- 15,000 directly employed by these hotels and 25,000 indirectly related to the industry. He said that the industry suffered a loss of around Rs2.5 billion due to militancy in the district.

“We had not given the government the right to pardon the killers of innocent people. Even these militants have not sought forgiveness for their past deeds then how deal could be signed with them,” Mr Zahid said adding that during the military operation only innocent people were killed and not a single prominent militant was targeted.

Prominent scholar Dr Mohammad Farooq recommended that Fata should be merged into NWFP and the provincial assembly elections should be held there forthwith. He added that the tribal areas should be governed through Acts of parliament and not through regulations in which the elected people had no say.

“Sharia is not the name of introducing few laws. First the state has to enforce four basics -- democracy, justice, honesty and education -- and then it could introduce the Islamic punishments,” Dr Farooq added. The same people demanding sharia in Malakand were reluctant to give inheritance right to female members of their families in accordance with sharia.

Professor Ijaz Khattak stated that the peace deal in Swat could not be taken in isolation and unless peace was restored in Afghanistan and other militancy-hit areas the deal would not work in Swat. He added that peace did not mean the stoppage of bombings and ceasefire rather it meant the living of people freely in accordance with their wishes.

“Actual stakeholders in Swat were not consulted by the government in the peace deal and it will further promote militancy,” said Dr Said Alam Mehsud of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party. He said the controversial deal would further increase cross border infiltration of militants. He added that unless the ISI and other intelligence agencies given in civilian control such issues would continue to persist.

Advocate Kamarn Arif of HRCP said that the military operation in swat was not proper as it was not under control of civilian government. He added that they were not against dialogues, but that did not mean to surrender completely to militants.

A social activist from Tank district, Gul Rehman, stated that three peace deals were signed in the North and South Waziristan agencies and fourth one was in the pipeline, but those had not worked. Similarly, he believed the deal would not work in Swat and would only provide breathing space to militants.