First Battle of Swat
The battle began on 25 October 2007 and involved the Pakistani Army and TTP-led forces in a fight for control of the Swat district of Pakistan.On 24 October, more than 3,000 Pakistani infantry troops were sent to Swat to confront Taliban forces that were massing in the district in a bid to impose their version of Sharia law in the valley that included preventing women's education, death penalty for barbers, music shop owners, and thieves, along with an anti Polio-vaccination campaign to prevent the local population from getting vaccinated.The insurgents occupied the floodplain side of the broad Swat river, which sweeps up towards the Hindu Kush mountains, while the remaining Pakistani infantry troops held the road that follows the steep, forested hills.[7] On 12 November, 5,000 soldiers belonging to 12th Regular Army were deployed to Swat to bolster the already 15,000 para-military and police that were already fighting to keep what ground of the district they still held.By 27 November, Pakistani ground forces were not able to reach Matta, Khwazakhela, Charbagh and other sensitive areas occupied by militants.The forces regained Mingora and were poised to push the Taliban out of the district when Sufi Muhammad was released and Shariah was introduced in Swat and Malakand.When the situation went out of hand as predicted, the provincial government requested the center to ask the Army to provide help, built nation support across this phenomenon and evacuate almost 2 million civilians from Sawat Valley to conduct an all out operation against the Taliban.Despite the victory by the Pakistani army, Taliban militants slowly re-entered Swat over the following months and started engaging security forces in battles that lasted throughout 2008.[14][15][16] But the government of Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari later changed the agreement to allow the right of appeal to the supreme court of Pakistan (a secular institution observing the Pakistani penal code based on English common law) on verdicts issues by the Shariat court which was unacceptable to the TNSM and would be the precursor to the Second Battle of Swat [citation needed]