Pakistani PM: Troops to Stay in NW Until Displaced Return Home
By VOA News
18 May 2009
Pakistan's prime minister said troops will stay in the northwest until more than one million people who have fled fighting between the army and Taliban militants return home.
Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military campaign against Taliban fighters in Swat is progressing "very successfully." He said militants are fleeing combat area in disguise.
Mr. Gilani pledged that security forces will stay in the region until peace is restored and people are back in their homes.
He made the remarks Monday, in an opening address to an all-parties conference in the capital, Islamabad.
The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates the military operation in the northwest has caused at least 1.1 million people to flee their homes in recent weeks.
Pakistan's military said troops are now closing in on Swat's main town of Mingora.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has said the Swat Valley offensive is part of a bigger mission.
He told Britain's "Sunday Times" newspaper that military action would follow in Waziristan, another militant stronghold on the Afghan border.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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