Amanda Hodge, South Asia correspondent
April 23
TALIBAN militants have begun their march towards Pakistan's capital after seizing further territory in the country's northwest and setting up street patrols and checkpoints less than 100km from Islamabad.
Residents and journalists have reported heavily armed Taliban patrols in Mingora, the main city in the former tourist haven of the Swat Valley, and in nearby towns where the militants are said to be digging trenches and setting up bunkers.
Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said yesterday that police and security forces had been confined to their stations and camps after the Taliban seized all administrative offices in Buner, which was the headquarters of the provincial Awami National Party government.
The militants had begun recruiting unemployed youth from the streets of Buner and surrounding towns to help enforce their brand of Islamism, the newspaper said.
The move comes a week after Pakistan's parliament signed into law the imposition of Sharia law over roughly one-third of the country's North West Frontier Province in exchange for peace in the region, effectively breaking up the country into those areas ruled by the state and those ruled by Islamic law.
News of the Taliban's extended reach appears to bear out warnings that the deal would only embolden the Islamic extremists.
The Taliban agreed in February to lay down arms after the Government yielded to their bloody 18-month campaign for Islamic law in the Swat Valley - a former tourist haven.
But Taliban troops began moving south from Swat into Buner in the neighbouring Gokand Valley a fortnight ago.
Initial negotiations by local elders to peacefully remove the militants failed. Since then, the Taliban has reportedly taken over a police station, looted international aid offices, forced out elected leaders and business people and engaged in a deadly shoot-out with local militia formed to clear them from the area.
A local politician, Istiqbal Khan, confirmed yesterday that the militants had entered the district in "large numbers" and had started setting up checkpoints at main roads and other strategic positions.
"They are patrolling in Buner, and local elders and clerics are negotiating with them to resolve this issue through talks," he said.
The militants are reportedly advancing towards border areas of Swabi, Malakand and Mardan - the hometown of North West Frontier Province chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti.
A top government official in Upper Dir, a district adjacent to Swat, was reported missing yesterday and is believed to have been kidnapped by militants, another official said.
Pakistani and US officials estimate that up to 8000 militants are based in the Swat region - nearly double the number at the end of last year.
Many politicians backed the deal, in the interests of peace in a region that has been racked by violence.
In a recent interview, Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the US from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected in Swat.
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