Islamabad - Taliban militants in Pakistan's volatile north-west region bordering Afghanistan were observing a unilateral ceasefire with government forces, whom they had been fighting for more than six months. The ceasefire announcement was made late Wednesday by a spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Taliban Movement of Pakistan), an umbrella group of more than two dozen pro-Taliban militant groups.
"The military has reduced actions against us, and therefore, we also announce a ceasefire as a goodwill gesture," Maulvi Omar, the organization's spokesman, said in a statement to the media. "We have said repeatedly that we will fight only those who wage war against us and not those who do not want to fight us."
The spokesman said the truce was for an indefinite period and would cover Pakistan's ungoverned tribal regions as well as the restive north-west Swat Valley, where government forces are currently clearing out armed Islamic militants who had taken control of the area in October.
Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander from the tribal district of South Waziristan, heads the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. He has been accused by the Pakistani government and US intelligence officials of masterminding the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto at a December 27 election campaign rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
After her slaying, Army and paramilitary forces backed by helicopter gunships, jet fighters and heavy artillery launched an operation against Mehsud, killing several dozen militants.
The military's chief spokesman brushed aside the ceasefire declaration, saying cold weather in the mountainous tribal districts likely led to a current lull in fighting.
However, a member of Pakistan's Senate, Saleh Shah, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
