Updated on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 00:00 IST

Zeenews Bureau

Peshawar, Feb 18: US has privately backed Pakistan's deal with Taliban militants in the Swat valley, UK media reports suggest.

Bowing to the demands of radical clerics, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zadari had on Monday permitted the enforcement of Sharia laws in the country's restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), including the Swat Valley that has been taken over by the Taliban. The deal is in return of a ten day ceasefire between Pak Army and militants.

The development had raised alarm in the US which had publicly expressed concern. However, on Tuesday, US officials reportedly revealed that they backed the Islamabad deal, attempting to drive a wedge between the militant Taliban and soft Taliban of Swat, the former having links with Al Qaeda, UK’s The Telegraph reports.

Pakistan government had said on Tuesday that the deal was not to be seen as a concession to militants. "It is in no way a sign of the state's weakness. The public will of the population of the Swat region is at the centre of all efforts and it should be taken into account while debating the merits of this agreement," Information Minister Sherry Rehman said in Islamabad.

While there are apprehensions that the deal might be sabotaged by some Swat Taliban militants, the officials believe that if successful, the deal can break up the unity of Taliban which has terrorised Pakistan and the region.

Pakistan Army’s deal with Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah has raised alarm all over the world as his faction is accused of blowing up girls’ schools, carried out brutal executions of those who defy their fatwa etc.

Fazlullah, known as "Maulana Radio" for the illegal FM stations he uses to broadcast his fatwas, is the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the leader of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), who once led thousands of militants to fight US forces in Afghanistan. Sufi was slated to meet Fazlullah to finalise their ceasefire and persuade him to drop weapons.

US officials in Islamabad said they were targetting the alliance of Fazlullah's Swat Taliban and his Sufi's TNSM from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, controlled by Baitullah Mehsud's, accused of assassinating PPP’s Benazir Bhutto.

Officials conceded this was part of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ‘smart power’ approach to foreign relations.