Spiga
The Taliban (who are Sunni Muslims) do not have a significant presence in Upper Kurram as the local population are Shias. Shias are also found in one town in Lower Kurram, Alizai. Otherwise, the Taliban are present almost everywhere else in Kurram where the Sunni population dominates.
Foreign Taliban fighters are believed to have moved into Kurram and adjoining Orakzai agencies since 2008 when missile attacks by suspected US military drones became more frequent in north-west Pakistan.
Of the tribal areas of the North West Frontier, Khyber agency is the only one where different religious organisations operate. There are three known religious groups - Lashkar-i-Islam (Army of Islam) headed by Mangal Bagh, Ansar-i-Islam (Companions of Islam) headed by Qazi Mehboobul Haq and Amar Bil Maroof (Organisation for Virtues) headed by Niaz Gul.
The Taliban presence in Khyber is fairly recent and most analysts link it to Nato's use of the main road through the Khyber pass to Afghanistan. The Taliban are believed to have moved into the area to attack convoys carrying supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan. There has been a spate of such attacks.
Hangu, neighbouring Orakzai, is believed to be under the control of Hakimullah Mehsud, the right-hand man of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Those parts of Hangu that border Orakzai are dominated by the Taliban.
The district also shares borders with two other Taliban strongholds, Kurram and Waziristan. Most analysts argue that if government fails to take steps to check the increasing influence of the Taliban in Hangu, the radical elements now confined to its border areas could soon expand their activities to other areas of district.
Traditionally famous for its flowers and sweets, Dera Ismail Khan (or D.I. Khan) has not escaped the increase in Taliban activity seen elsewhere in North West Frontier Province.
Two groups of militants are active in D.I. Khan, one of them involved in sectarian attacks, the other in attacks on security forces. Taliban active in neighbouring Waziristan have claimed responsibility for almost all the attacks on security personnel.
After troops stepped up an anti-Taliban drive in Waziristan in 2008, large numbers of tribal families settled in D.I. Khan. Some government officials fear that militants might also have left Waziristan and settled in D.I. Khan.
Most analysts agree there will be no end to violence in D.I. Khan until peace is restored in neighbouring tribal areas and concerted action is taken to stop the sectarian attacks.
The district is popular with Pashtuns visiting the tomb of a Sufi saint, but traditional religious freedoms have been eroded. Militants from Swat tried to enter Buner in 2008 but were thwarted by locals. An armed clash between the two sides at Shilabandi left six Taliban dead, and the Taliban retreated to their bases in Swat. Local resistance did not go unpunished, however, as nearly 50 people were later killed by the militants.
After Sharia law was introduced in Swat, the Taliban again decided to target Buner as part of efforts to expand their area of influence. After negotiations with locals, the Taliban were permitted to operate in the district. Since then all barber shops and music stores have closed down.
Bannu is a so-called "settled" (rather than "tribal") area in North West Frontier Province. The district has witnessed a number of attacks on security forces. Civilians have also been killed.
But locals do not have strong tribal affiliations with the Taliban, and the local Taliban have not been successful in building support for their activies in Bannu.
Analysts have long suspected the region to be the hiding place of Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other top al-Qaeda leaders. It is an area where suspected US drones launched their earliest missile strikes.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammad is the chief commander of the Taliban in Bajaur and is said to lead a force of nearly 10,000 armed militants. A year-long military operation ended in Bajaur early this year but a peace agreement has broken down and the Taliban are back in control in most areas outside the regional capital, Khar.
Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the militant alliance Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP), comes from Bajaur. Taliban camps are reported at various places in Bajaur, such as Salarzai and Dasht.
This map of the area is a snapshot of the current situation. However, with ongoing fighting between the Pakistan armed forces and the Taliban the situation on the ground could change in the future.
In Pakistan's north-western district of Kohistan, public discourse is dominated by security issues, not the recently enacted Sharia (Islamic) law. Kohistan Kohistan is mountainous with none of the Swat valley's plains The government is worried that if it fails to extend security cover to this largely ungoverned district, the Taliban will. But the local tribes do not want either the army or the Taliban in the area. "If the army comes in, the Taliban will follow, and vice versa," says an influential tribal elder and former member of parliament, Malik Saeed Ahmad. "In either case, it threatens our way of life." Nightmare scenario The local people, being of a different ethnic stock from the Pashtuns, are opposed to the predominantly Pashtun Taliban. See a map of the region There is also a widespread belief that the Taliban are the creation of the army and are being used for the army's "secret" aims. The tribes are proposing to raise their own tribal force to check possible incursions by the Taliban, who have bases in the neighbouring Swat district to the west.
But officials think such a force is unlikely to match the Taliban's equipment, training and discipline. The local police are also insufficient in numbers and resources to do the job, they say. "It is highly likely that the Taliban will try to enter Kohistan after being squeezed by the army in Swat valley," says a senior official, requesting not to be named. This is a nightmare scenario.
Unlike Swat, where the militants' influence is concentrated in the central plains of the valley and the road network is good, Kohistan is 7,400 sq km of sheer mountains rising from 2,400 to 3,700 metres, with virtually no plains. And there are no roads which the army could use to transport heavy equipment to different western valleys for defence purposes. Members of the Dassu jirga The Dassu jirga discusses how to stop Taliban incursions into Kohistan The only road that passes through the district is the key Karakoram Highway (KKH) that connects Pakistan with China. Officials are worried that once inside Kohistan, the Taliban could render this highway permanently insecure. But their chief concern at the moment is the security of a Chinese construction firm which is building a hydro-power project on the Indus river in the Dubair area of Kohistan.
Chinese workers have been a favourite target of the Taliban. This is partly because the Taliban sympathise with the ethnic Uighur Islamic militants of western China who are waging a separatist struggle in Xinjiang region. On Tuesday, representatives of all the major and minor tribes of Kohistan gathered at Dassu, the administrative centre of the district, to discuss the issue. The gathering unanimously decided against any military deployment in the area. But they were persuaded by the local administration and police officials to allow a small contingent of troops to guard the Dubair works. The gathering continued for well over two hours, but not a single word was uttered about the new Sharia law which has become a source of hostilities in Swat valley. "The Sharia law has no priority here - in fact, people are not interested in any government law," says Mumtaz Khan Jalkoti, a local lawyer. Sharia law More than two-thirds of Kohistan's 500,000 people live a primitive nomadic life and move up and down the country in search of pastures. Disputes either evolve into family feuds that run for generations, or are mediated by tribal elders who travel with the community. Mumtaz Khan Jalkoti By grouping us with areas like Swat and Buner, the government is exposing us to that threat Mumtaz Khan Jalkoti lawyer In Dassu, there are only about eight lawyers who cater to the legal needs of the entire population.
"Few people bring their grievances to local courts, and fewer pursue them through to the high court which is located at a day's journey from Kohistan, in Abbottabad city," Mr Jalkoti says. Many young lawyers have only fading memory of the Sharia movement of 1994, which at that time used Kohistan as a major base, disrupting traffic on the KKH for several weeks.
The movement was led by Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a cleric from the Dir district of the neighbouring Malakand division. He negotiated the recent failed peace deal between the government and the militants in Swat, also in Malakand. When the government of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) enacted a Sharia law for Malakand region in 1994, its jurisdiction was also extended to Kohistan. Since then, the fervour for the Sharia law has subsided everywhere except Swat. "We wonder why a law basically demanded by the people of Malakand division has also been extended to Kohistan, which is not a part of that division," says Abdul Hakim, another lawyer. At Tuesday's gathering in Dassu, Maulana Sufi Mohammad's top aide in Kohistan back in 1994, Maulana Abdul Halim, was the most vociferous in his anti-Taliban tirade. But every fresh enactment of the Sharia law has since been routinely extended to Malakand division as well as Kohistan. Mumtaz Khan Jalkoti says this amounts to conceding a moral upper hand to the Taliban in the government's battle for influence in Kohistan. "There is no evidence of Talibanisation in Kohistan, but by grouping us with areas like Swat and Buner, the government is exposing us to that threat."
There is a real sense of excitement in the World Today offices at the moment - we have just won a major radio award in Britain recognising us as the leading News and Current Affairs programme.
We work through the night here in London to help explain what is happening in the news and how people are genuinely affected by the events behind the headlines.
So we don't get out much, and, as you can see by clicking here, the Sony Awards gave some of us the chance to celebrate.Before the army began its assault, the Taliban were reported to be controlling territory less than 100 kilometres from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
The Pakistani public has on the whole been fully behind the army's military campaign, in contrast to the country's media, which had been at best ambivalent about the fight against the Taliban.
However, many parts of the media are changing their attitude.
One of the most significant turning points was when private television channels showed mobile phone footage of a teenage girl being held down and flogged by the Taliban in the Swat Valley.
Pakistan: a country in crisis
The public has had enough of the Taliban and the army has gone to war.
As a result, well over one million people have been forced to flee their homes.
The BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones went to the Swat Valley, where there has been intense fighting.
Newshour won the Sony Radio Academy Award in 2008 for the best news and current affairs radio show.
With the world's 24-hour news cycle now more intense and unrelenting than ever, there's never been a greater need for a programme that cuts through the background noise and provides you with the definitive take on the big stories of the day, brought to you by the BBC's global network of correspondents, with all the information you need to keep up with world events.
You'll get an authoritative and extended explanation of the lead story of the day, compelling reports from the BBC's team of correspondents, and probing interviews with the news makers at the heart of every story.
Mauritania - a desert country on Africa's north west coast - has a history of slavery going back 800 years.
Overnight, half a million people - a fifth of the country's population - were officially freed from bondage.However many of them didn't hear the news. Without having access to broadcast media or the ability to read, and even if they had, it might not have meant much.
David Gutnick of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation visited Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
He travelled around the city - including the bustling shanty towns - and finds out more about the rigid caste system that affects all walks of life in Mauritania.
During his journey he travels with his interpretor - who helps him to meet residents in Nouakchott including teachers, religious leaders, and former slaves.
David discovers how the master/slave relationship in Mauritiania can't be easily swept aside.
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