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Pakistan army chief in Swat Valley
Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has visited the restive Swat valley to oversee a military operation against the Taliban militants During his visit Kayani met with senior officers and soldiers engaged in the military operation on Wednesday. The army chief was also briefed about the latest development by operation commanders and reviewed the progress. The visit comes two days after Pakistani lawmakers warned the government that the insurgency was spilling from restive Swat valley over to the settled areas in the country and would "reach Islamabad sooner than Lahore." The 900-square-km (3,500-square-mile) Swat Valley lies less than 160 km (100 miles) from the capital, Islamabad. Taliban has demolished more than 300 schools in the valley which was once considered a tourist destination. The valley has been the scene of some of the worst fighting between Pakistani forces and Taliban-linked militants in recent months. Kayani's visit came days after Maulana Fazlullah, a Pro-Taliban cleric, in a radio address, called on 45 people including political leaders, ministers, lawmakers and prominent personalities to appear before Taliban courts. Fazlullah has threatened that if the summoned officials did not appear in courts they would face dangerous consequences. The militants have set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints in the troubled region. About 1,500 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in fighting against militants in Pakistan since 2002. The spread of violence from Afghanistan to Pakistan comes seven years after US-led forces, under former president George W Bush's war on terror doctrine, invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to eradicate insurgency and terrorism. Posted by: Fred 2009-01-29 |
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