recent months , however , militants bent on imposing fundamentalist Islamic law , or Sharia , have unleashed a wave of violence across the NWFP which has claimed hundreds of lives , many of them security personnel . The militants want women to wear veils , beards for men and to ban music and television . After months of bloody battles , the government in May reached a peace deal with fighters loyal to the banned hardline Islamic group , Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi -LRB- TNSM -RRB- . It is the latest attempt by Pakistan 's new government -- headed by the party of the assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto -- to achieve peace through negotiations in the lawless tribal areas where Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are believed to have free rein . Ahead of the peace pact , Pakistan 's government released TNSM 's former leader Sufi Mohammed , who had been jailed in 2002 after recruiting thousands of fighters to battle U.S. forces in Afghanistan . He was freed after agreeing to cooperate with the government . Under the terms of his release , TNSM was also expected to lay down its arms and forgo violence . But
ISLAMABAD , Pakistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Militants set fire to a hotel at Pakistan 's only ski resort Thursday , as security in the Swat Valley continued to deteriorate despite a month-old peace deal . Pakistani soldiers on patrol in the Swat Valley , which is home to the country 's only ski resort . Militants forced their way into the state-run hotel in the northwestern tourist valley early Thursday morning , ransacked it and set it on fire , said Sardar Rehim Shahzad , district coordinator for Swat police . The hotel , the only one at the Malam Jabba ski resort , sustained significant damage , he told CNN . The resort is located near the Afghanistan border and about 300km -LRB- 186 miles -RRB- from the capital city of Islamabad . It was shut down last summer after militants overran the area , keeping tourists away , Shahzad said . Swat Valley , located in North West Frontier Province -LRB- NWFP -RRB- , was once Pakistan 's biggest tourist destination . Aside from the ski resort , it was a draw for trout-fishing enthusiasts and visitors to the ancient Buddhist ruins in the area . In