When Pakistani shopkeeper Abdur Rahim's phone rang in mid-October, he was shocked to hear the voice of a senior militant commander demanding protection money from him and his fellow traders in the Swat Valley. The menacing call was taken seriously in a northern pocket of the country where Pakistani Taliban insurgents took partial control in 2007, before being ousted two years later in a major military operation hailed as a telling blow against Islamist violence. Locals fear that recent threats of extortion and a spate of targeted killings earlier this year mark an attempt by the Taliban to regain a foothold in the picturesque, mountainous area they once ruled with an iron fist. Western powers, including the United States which has thousands of troops fighting other militant groups across the nearby border in Afghanistan, want to see militant networks along the frontier crushed. During the Oct. 19 conversation, Mullah Akhtar, a commander close to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah, ordered Rahim to collect money from 15,000 members of the Swat Traders' Federation, of which he is president. But in a tense exchange, Rahim refused to cooperate, and told Akhtar militants were not welcome in Swat. According to Rahim, Akhtar boiled over with rage: "I will blow you up, so that even the doctors won't be able to find the pieces." Since the call, Rahim's life has changed. Speaking to Reuters in Swat's main town of Mingora, he stood flanked by two armed policemen, while plain-clothed officers keep a watchful eye in the background. CCTV cameras monitor his home. Representatives of the militant movement could not be reached for comment on their tactics in Swat Valley; some residents believe demands for money and a rise in attacks in the first half of the year are signs of desperation. Attacks have been a part of life there since 2010, including the attempted assassination of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012, but in recent months the murders have stopped after a series of arrests by police. The Taliban have also struggled to build ideological support after their bloody two-year rule on the valley's 2 million residents. The group remains active elsewhere, however, particularly in southern Baluchistan province, where a faction of the Taliban and Daesh have claimed responsibility for a series of bomb and gun attacks that have killed more than 180 people. — Reuters
