Taliban fighters declare cease-fire in Pakistan
The move is likely to frustrate the U.S., which wants decisive action against the militants. Meanwhile, a helicopter crash kills three generals.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — After weeks of escalating battles with government troops, Taliban militants on Wednesday declared a cease-fire -- a move likely to frustrate U.S. officials who have urged Pakistan to act decisively against Islamic radicals ensconced in the country's tribal belt.
The government of President Pervez Musharraf did not confirm that a truce had been struck, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the government was ready for "dialogue" with the militants. In the past, such announcements by the militants have signaled an imminent accord.
At the same time, Pakistan's military suffered a setback when three senior army generals, including the commander in restive South Waziristan, were killed in a helicopter crash that was blamed on technical problems.
Elsewhere, apparent election-related violence broke out in Karachi, the country's largest city. Gunmen killed a senior official of the Awami National Party, a secular group representing Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun minority.
Hundreds of supporters rioted in response to the shooting of party Vice President Fazal Rahman Kakakhel, setting vehicles ablaze and firing guns into the air.
The deadly attack and ensuing violence raised fears that the government could again postpone parliamentary elections, set to take place Feb. 18.
That balloting was originally scheduled for Jan. 8, but was put off six weeks after rioting broke out in the wake of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination on Dec. 27. That street violence also was centered in Karachi.
The cease-fire by Taliban militants in the tribal areas was announced by a spokesman for Baitullah Mahsud, the newly minted commander of what is believed to be the largest concentration of pro-Taliban fighters in Pakistan.
The spokesman, who goes by the name Maulana Omar, told journalists by telephone that the group had "decided to halt activities across the country for an indefinite period." However, he said the halt to fighting came at the initiative of the government.
Although the chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said no cease-fire agreement had been reached, witnesses said army troops had begun dismantling checkpoints and pulling back from areas where fighting had raged in recent days.
A truce might provide a preelection respite from suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of people across Pakistan, including one in the garrison city of Rawalpindi this week that killed about eight people.
