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| India-Pakistan |
| Peace in Swat not fully restored: Mulk |
| 2008-03-30 |
| The caretaker NWFP government conceded on Saturday that the law and order situation in Swat was not fully under its control, but said the military had “put out the militancy-triggered fire to a great extent”. The army was called into the Swat Valley last year to quell pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah’s attempts to take over the district and install a government of extremists there. A pocket of resistance still exists in Swat, although significant areas have been regained from the control of militants. “Swat district was engulfed by a fire [of militancy]. The army has put out this fire to a great extent. But the smoke is still there. This is not the army’s job to put out this smoke,” NWFP Caretaker Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk told a press conference at his residence. Mulk urged people to come forward and help the government “extinguish this smoke”. He denied that the army’s presence was the cause of disturbances in the district. “Who was doing all these [unlawful] things before the arrival of the army in Swat. It’s not an occupational force that needs to go back,” he said. Mulk said the army did not want to operate in Swat “but it had to after the militants were least interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict”. |
| Posted by:Fred |