Among those who are reported to have fled is Fateh Khan, a wealthy Buner businessman. Mr. Khan had been one of the main organizers and financiers of the private armies in Buner.NYTimes 23 April 2009.
Pakistan is on its way to, if not already, a hollow state. In short, that's a nation-state that controls the capital and has international legitimacy, but has ceded control over much its territory to non-state groups. Here's some notes on recent developments:
The "Taliban" recently (and quickly) took the town of Buner in northwestern Pakistan and is now consolidating its gains (by making alliances with existing centers of moral legitimacy -- elders, etc.). Further advances will come. Like Colombia and Iraq, the best source of opposition to the advance of the Taliban will be from wealthy local land owners, businessmen and tribal elders willing to build/hire their own militias and not from the government's uniformed military or its auxiliaries.
These militias aren't getting support, instead the opposite is happening: the government is extending authority and legitimacy to the Taliban through promises of self rule (deals should only be made to the extent they divide the opposition). As these militias fall and the wealth of their owners is distributed (paid off to locals with a cut to the external Taliban warlords making the advance), the Taliban's plausible promise of economic justice and fair sharia rules/courts gets stronger. This will attract more self-organizing groups to join the effort.
Given the rate of the advance, the Taliban may soon be in a position to cut critical services (energy, water, etc.) to key cities.