ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities last night arrested pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Mohammad, who brokered a now-failed peace deal between the government and militants in the Swat Valley.

Mian Iftikhar, the Information Minister for the North West Frontier Province, said police arrested Mohammad in Peshawar for speaking against the government and encouraging violence and terrorism.

"Instead of keeping his promises by taking steps for the sake of peace, and speaking out against terrorism, he did not utter a single word against terrorists," Mr Iftikhar said.

He said that the cleric's stance "encouraged terrorism, it encouraged violence".

The cleric negotiated a deal with the government in February that imposed shariah, or Islamic, law in Swat in exchange for an end to two years of fighting. But it was widely seen as an acquiescence to Taliban control of the valley.

The deal collapsed in April when the Taliban advanced into neighbouring districts, triggering a military offensive that prompted a spree of retaliatory attacks by militants.

The military offensive in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas forced two million people to flee their homes and take refuge in camps or with relatives across the country. In the past two weeks hundreds of thousands have been returning home as the offensive winds down, although sporadic fighting persists.

The cleric's arrest followed that of a former MP and a suspected Taliban militant in connection with the beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak, kidnapped near the Afghan border last September.

Investigator Malik Tariq Awan said the two were taken into custody a month ago.

He named one as Shah Abdul Aziz, a member of a pro-Taliban party who was elected to parliament's lower house in 2002.

Mr Awan said Aziz was believed to have plotted the abduction of Stanczak, who was taken while surveying oil and gas fields. A video emerged in February of Stanczak's beheading. His remains were recovered and flown back to Poland in April.

Source: The Australian