Peshawar: Suspected militants set fire today to a state-run hotel at Pakistan's only official ski resort as provincial government officials and pro-Taliban forces in the volatile Swat valley worked to shore up a faltering peace deal.

The peace talks between representatives of pro-Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah and the provincial government followed sporadic clashes this week between militants and security forces and arson attacks on several girls schools a sign of the deteriorating security across Pakistan s northwest.

Following the talks in the city of Peshawar, both sides said they were still committed to the peace agreement signed last month. But disagreements remained over its terms, including the release of militant prisoners and implementation of Islamic law.

Bashir Bilour, a senior minister in the government of North West Frontier Province, said both sides agreed to remain in the peace deal.

"Today's negotiations have been successful," he said. "Whenever required, we will hold more talks to implement this peace deal."

Ali Bukht Khan, who headed the Taliban s five-member team, said he wanted the peace agreement "implemented in its true spirit," and he denied that his side was behind the violence.

Hours before the talks, attackers forced their way into the state-run hotel at the mountaintop Malam Jabba ski resort after midnight, ransacked it and set it on fire, causing damage but no injuries, Swat police chief Waqif Khan said.

Source : PTI