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Swat operations in “final stages”

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military said on Monday it was in the “final stages” of its anti-Taliban operations in Swat, even though operations continued in parts of the district.

“Security forces are in the final phase of eliminating terrorist hide-outs and camps in Swat,” military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told journalists at a briefing on the latest from the operational areas in the Malakand region of the North-West Frontier Province.

In northern Swat, a place called Bhia Valley had been secured, but operations were continuing against Taliban bases in Shamozai in western Swat, he said.

The military says 1,592 militants have been killed in the operation, but the claim has not been verified independently. Many observers have questioned the absence of bodies, and also asked why the military has not been able to kill or apprehend a single leader of the Swat Taliban.

The question was also raised at the briefing, and the spokesman’s reply was that there were unconfirmed reports that “a few” leaders had been killed and buried secretly in unidentified places. He said intelligence agencies were trying to get to the truth of these reports.

Major-General Abbas said search operations were now underway in areas secured in order to make it safe for people who had to flee their homes in the fighting to return.

Gas and electricity supply to the main town in Swat and adjoining areas had also been restored, he said, while work was on to restore telephone lines.

Except for the areas of Kabal and Shamozai, it was safe for government employees to resume their work in all other parts of Swat, according to the spokesman

Describing the sporadic operations in South Waziristan as a “pre-positioning” by the security forces, the spokesman said this was yet the “preliminary stages” of an operation in the tribal area.

According to Dawn Television, people had already begun fleeing the tribal area where Beithullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, is based.

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