The Government of Pakistan on Thursday offered a cash reward of five million rupees (62,250 dollars) for the arrest of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, the architect of a Taliban uprising in the Swat valley. The government listed names and published mug shots of 20 other militants, including Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan, who are wanted dead or alive as the military pressed a month-long offensive against militants in the north-west.
"People providing authentic information leading to the capture-dead or alive-of these individuals will receive a cash reward," said the picture announcement published in leading newspapers. Fazlullah carries the top reward of five million rupees, while rewards for his associates vary from one to four million rupees. "Can the people who deprived mothers, sisters and daughters of their roofs and rendered them homeless in their own country be called Muslim and patriotic Pakistanis?" said the advertisement.