Islamabad: The government in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and local Taliban today signed an agreement whereby the militants will stop suicide attacks and the army will gradually be withdrawn from the restive Swat valley.

The 15-point deal signed by the two sides includes a provision to implement Shariat or Islamic law and a condition that Taliban will give up militancy and accept the writ of the federal and provincial governments, senior provincial Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour said. Bilour led the provincial government's team in the negotiations with representatives of local Taliban commander Maulana Fazallah, who has been waging a violent campaign for implementing Shariat in Swat.

Hundreds of people, including security personnel, have been killed in suicide attacks, bomb blasts and fighting since the army launched a major operation against the militants in November last year. Fazlullah has been in hiding since his seminary in Swat was attacked by troops in October. Under the agreement, Shariat courts will be set up in Swat and the adjoining Malakand tribal area of the NWFP. The Pakistani Taliban will end militancy and expel foreign fighters from the area.

Foreigners who do not abide by the agreement will be handed over to the government, according to the pact. Reading out the agreement at a news conference in Peshawar, Bilour said compensation will be paid to all the people who were affected during the recent violence and a committee will determine the losses. The Taliban will allow medical teams to administer anti-polio medicines to children, which they had earlier banned, claiming they are "un-Islamic" and a conspiracy to sterilize the local population.

Source : PTI