Pakistan will defeat Taliban and ensure peace - PM
pakistan: Pakistan's army will finish its offensive against Taliban
militants in the Swat valley and ensure peace, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza
Gilani said on Monday as he rallied the support of political parties.
The offensive, launched this month as international alarm grew over
an intensifying insurgency, was making progress and every effort would
be made to help the more than 1 million people displaced by the
fighting, he said.
"The operation against the terrorists is progressing very
successfully and those who destroyed the peace of the nation are fleeing
in disguise," Gilani said in an opening address to an all-parties
conference on the fighting.
"Troops will remain in the region until peace is ensured and all the
displaced people return home," he said.
Militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has surged over the past
two years, raising fears for its stability and alarming the United
States, which needs Pakistani action to help defeat al Qaeda and bring
stability to neighbouring Afghanistan.
More than 1,000 militants had been killed in the offensive in the
Taliban's Swat bastion, the government has said, while nearly 50
soldiers have been killed, according to the military.
There was no independent confirmation of the government's estimate of
militant casualties. Reporters have left Swat and the army is not
letting any back into the valley. Communications with residents still
there have also been disrupted.
The offensive in the one-time tourist valley, 130 km (80 miles)
northwest of Islamabad, has forced at least 1.17 million people from
their homes, and the United Nations has called for a massive
international response to the humanitarian crisis.
"The displaced men, women and children should not feel alone. We
won't leave any stone unturned in providing them help and protection,"
Gilani said.
"A victory in the fight against terrorism is in fact a guarantee for
the security and protection of our coming generations," he said.
Despite widespread doubts over Pakistan's alliance with the United
States in its campaign against Islamist militants and objections to
"fighting America's war", most political parties and many members of the
public support the offensive.
But opposition is bound to grow if the plight of the displaced
worsens or if many of the civilians still in Swat are killed when the
army tackles Taliban dug in in the valley's main town and other
populated centres.
Gilani called for political parties to play a constructive role.
Islamabad, Monday, Reuters |