Victory is the only option in the ongoing military operation against the Taliban in Swat and Malakand, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday.I'm sure they'll come up with lots of other options, though.
"Defeat is no option. We must win the fight and we will," he said while addressing a high-level meeting at the Presidency that approved Rs 8 billion for relief activities for the internally displaced persons (IDPs).
This is whatcha might call the "Sri Lanka trap," where Prez Ten Percent makes ferocious faces and threatens blood and gutz, while Gilani pushes for ceasefires and negotiations and all that nonsense because of all the unfortunate collateral damage. So they'll end up getting defeated "for the children," who'll then all die of polio.
The president said the government had urged the international community for greater assistance and he would attend a European Union summit next month to seek greater international support for the IDPs.
The ever-helpful Norwegians will no dboubt offer to set up a ceasefire...
Beside the initial earmarking of Rs 8 billion for relief work, the meeting also approved a direct, one time grant of Rs 25,000 for each displaced family.
To include the displaced extended families of politicians...
Speaking during the meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said
... here it comes...
the war against the Taliban was fully endorsed by the people, and parliament, political parties, cabinet and religious leaders were all standing by the government and the security forces.
... except for Imran Khan and Co., Qazi and the JI, Sami and his diminished but still extant party, and Fazl when he thinks the wind's blowing away from Lower Dir...
He said the use of force, however, was not the final solution to the problem and the government would pursue its relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction policy.
Which boils down to ceasefires "to let the civilians get out of the way of the fighting," negotiations, and all the silliness that Lanka's looking back on with embarrassment right now -- and that the EU's threatening to prosecute them with war crimes trials for abandoning.