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...will ask them to lay down their weapons," Mohammed says of the local Taliban. "We are hopeful that they won't turn us down." Mohammed's credibility with the militants is based on the fact that he waged his own violent campaign for Shari'a law in the area in the mid-1990s; he also fought alongside the Taliban when U.S. forces invaded in 2001. Even though he has renounced violence, Mohammed still denounces democracy as a "heresy." Now he must convince the man who has stolen his thunder - Maulana Fazlullah, whose forces control 80% of the area after...
...With the military effort failing to stem the Taliban's advance in an area just over three hours from the capital, the government may have seen Mohammed as a lesser evil, accepting his demand for Shari'a law in order to help Mohammed win back control of Swat from the Taliban...
...local Taliban, of course, have already effectively imposed their own version of Shari'a on the area. Until a few months ago, the Cheena market in Mingora thronged with women buying dresses and jewelery; now it is closed. Stores selling music and films have been attacked, and though barbers still offer haircuts, they will no longer shave a customer, after the Taliban forbade...
...Mohammed's return to the area has already brought visible changes. "It's the first time in nearly two years I'm seeing police in uniform out on the streets and in their cars," says laborer Tahir Ali. "They used to be without uniform, sometimes too busy protecting themselves to protect the rest...
...number of boys schools too. Now government schools are expected to reopen in March, after the winter break. Government officials insist that under Mohammed's Shari'a regulations, the Taliban's prohibition on female education will be lifted. But many of the teachers who were threatened have fled the area and are too fearful to return anytime soon. "The Taliban have threatened us not to come back," says Zunaiba Hayat, a 35-year-old middle-school teacher who moved to Islamabad after her school was ransacked by the militants...