Pakistani authorities have released 12 Taliban in a bid to consolidate a pact struck last month with Islamists in the northwestern Swat valley, a senior government official said on Sunday. The Taliban were released on Saturday night after talks between North West Frontier Province (NWFP) authorities and representatives of the Taliban and the Islamists, officials said. "It was one of the demands of the Taliban. It was a goodwill gesture. We have fulfilled it and we hope now they will play their part for peace," Syed Mohammad Javed, Commissioner of Swat, told Reuters.