Breaking news - Sharia approval by President Zardari

MINGORA, Pakistan, - As per breaking news, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, under pressure from conservatives, has signed a regulation imposing Islamic sharia law in the Swat valley in the country's northwest as part of a deal to end Taliban violence.

Critics say the government has caved in to militant pressure but many residents of the scenic valley, 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, said they hoped the agreement would bring peace after 18 months of bloodshed.

Zardari signed the regulation late on Monday after the National Assembly passed a resolution recommending he approve it.

"As long as there's peace it doesn't matter what the law is," said Javed Ahmed, 26, a shopkeeper in the valley's main town of Mingora.

"If sharia law can do that, that's just fine," he said.

Surging militant violence across Pakistan and the spread of Taliban influence through the northwest are reviving concerns about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important U.S. ally vital to efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

The government has been struggling to come up with an effective strategy, alternating in different areas between military offensives and peace deals.

But the militants have been gaining strength while violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan has been on the rise.

Swat was one of Pakistan's main tourist destinations until 2007 when militants infiltrated into the valley from strongholds on the Afghan border to the west, in support of a radical cleric.

After inconclusive military offensives and a failed peace pact, authorities accepted an Islamist demand for sharia law in February.

"FORGET THE PAST"

Sufi Mohammad, a pro-Taliban cleric who brokered the deal, said it would bring peace to the valley.

"Those who have carried guns will quit their armed struggle," he told ARY television.

Asked if residents could go to sharia courts to file complaints against militant leaders for their losses, Mohammad said: "Our aim is to forget the past and move forward."

The United States and Pakistani critics say deals with the Taliban create safe havens for them and their al Qaeda allies.

The Taliban brought fear to the valley, bombing and beheading members of the security forces, executing opponents and blowing up hundreds of girls' schools.

Zardari, who has vowed to stand up to the spread of militancy, had faced pressure to sign the regulation from conservatives and the main political party in the northwest, who said sharia was the only way to bring peace.

"The government has officially accepted Taliban rule in Swat," said Ayesha Khan, a women's rights activist from the valley living in the capital.

"How can this regulation bring peace or real justice if you don't have even your basic rights," she asked. "People may be happy today but they're going to regret it."

Some Pakistani Taliban fighters last week moved, unopposed by authorities, out of Swat and into Buner district to the southeast.

Buner residents formed a militia to try to resist the militants and 13 people, including eight Taliban, three policemen and two villagers, were killed in clashes.

But the militants have prevailed and have begun imposing their rule in the mountain valley only 100 km (60 miles) from the capital, police and residents said. (Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sugita Katyal)