IT is no secret that Pakistan has implemented the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in defiance of great international pressure. This was done with the express aim to put an end to insurgency and restore peace and tranquillity in Swat. The people all over the country, particularly those in NWFP, have pinned high hopes on the accord. The pressure from abroad continues unabated. Islamabad is being told that instead of bringing peace, the accord amounts to ceding a part of its territory to the armed militants who intend to set up a state of their own in Malakand Division. Further that instead of bringing peace to the area, the deal would encourage insurgency in other parts of the country where armed groups whose morale has been boosted as a result of the accord could now challenge the writ of the state. Foremost among the critics of the accord is the US which happens to be Pakistan's chief donor and principal supplier of sophisticated weapons for the military. White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs has expressed concerns regarding a negative fall-out of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation on human rights and democracy. Senator John Kerry, who is spearheading the $1.5b billion aid bill Islamabad is anxiously waiting for, has expressed "serious reservations" about the feasibility of the peace deal in view of the unravelling of similar accords in the past. State Department Spokesman Robert Wood has on the other hand reminded Islamabad that the US aid is conditional on meeting certain standards and goals dear to the US taxpayer. Meanwhile a spokesman of President Karzai has criticised the enforcement of the Nizam-e-Adl saying it would have "dire consequences' for the region and that it could harm relations with Kabul. Islamabad rightly has rejected foreign pressures on the ground that being a sovereign country it has to make its own decisions in keeping with its national interests. There is a need on the part of the TTP and TNSM also not to say or do anything that adds to the problems the country is facing. While Islamabad has carried out its part of the Swat accord, it is for the militants now to fulfil their obligations in letter and spirit. The promise to surrender arms means handing them over to the government rather than stopping their display. The suggestion by TTP spokesman that the government should equip them with sophisticated weapons to deal with the US would weaken Pakistan's position that militants do not want anything beyond a particular type of courts. Girls schools and colleges have to be opened at once as any bar on their education would be in violation of their rights guaranteed in the constitution. What is more, actions by the TTP must not create the perception that it wants to extend its activities to the rest of the NWFP and beyond or that it is using the region as a springboard to destabilise any other country.