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Pakistan will defeat Taliban, vows Gilani

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-19 09:49

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's army will finish its offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley and ensure peace, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said yesterday as he rallied the support of political parties.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (L) greets leaders of the political parties before an All Parties Conference on the ongoing military offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley at the prime minister's residence in Islamabad May 18, 2009. [Agencies]

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.

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"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 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-Qaida and bring stability to neighboring 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.

Reuters