Pakistan : «les talibans vaincus dans 2 ou 3 jours»
LE FIGARO: Après l'étape clé de la reprise de Mingora samedi, chef-lieu du district de Swat, l'armée pakistanaise espère venir à bout des talibans rapidement.

L'armée pakistanaise, qui a repris samedi aux talibans le contrôle de Mingora, chef-lieu du district de Swat (nord-ouest), espère venir à bout des talibans dans la région d'ici deux à trois jours, a déclaré dimanche le secrétaire pakistanais à la Défense.

«Les opérations à Swat, Buner et dans les zones voisines sont presque totalement achevées», a déclaré Syed Athar Ali, secrétaire pakistanais à la Défense, lors d'une conférence régionale sur la sécurité à Singapour. «Il ne reste que 5 à 10% du travail à terminer et nous espérons que les poches de résistance seront vaincues d'ici deux à trois jours», a-t-il ajouté.

L'armée pakistanaise a indiqué samedi avoir repris aux talibans le contrôle de Mingora, chef-lieu du district de Swat, et étape essentielle dans son offensive contre les islamistes, après des combats violents.

Les autorités pakistanaises ont annoncé que quinze mille soldats y faisaient face à quelque 2.000 talibans. Quelque 15.000 soldats sont engagés dans cette offensive dans la région de Swat face à 2.000 combattants talibans, a précisé l'armée.

«Les forces de sécurité contrôlent la ville. La bataille de Mingora est terminée», a déclaré samedi dans une conférence de presse le porte-parole de l'armée, le général Athar Abbas, selon lequel «Mingora est maintenant sous le contrôle total de l'armée.» L'information n'a pu être confirmée de source indépendante, les zones des combats étant interdites d'accès. >>> LeFigaro.fr | Dimanche 31 Mai 2009

Pakistans Taliban blasen zum Rückzug: Rebellen verlassen Mingora – Kampf «bis zum letzten Blutstropfen»
Frauen mit Kindern auf der Flucht im Swattal. Bild dank der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung
NZZ Online: Der Anführer der Taliban im pakistanischen Swattal, Maulana Fazlullah, hat seinen Kämpfern befohlen, sich aus der strategisch wichtigen Stadt Mingora zurückzuziehen. Der «Heilige Krieg» zur Einführung des islamischen Rechts im Swattal werde gleichwohl «bis zum letzten Blutstropfen» fortgesetzt. >>> sda/dpa/afp/Reuters | Montag, 25. Mai 2009

Fighter Jets Pound Taliban Strongholds across Swat
DAWN: MINGORA / TIMERGARA: Fighter jets and attack helicopters pounded Taliban hideouts in the northwest on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a parliamentarian from Swat said 700,000 people were stranded in the valley.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the punishing offensive, now into its 17th day, escaping also out of the reach of Taliban fighters who have terrorised the local population in a bloody campaign to enforce sharia law.

The air attacks targeted Taliban strongholds across the Swat valley, AFP quoted security officials as saying.

Helicopter gunships also swung into action in the neighbouring district of Lower Dir, where the military has been on the offensive since April 26 after Taliban fighters advanced within 60 miles of Islamabad.

Up to 15,000 security forces are taking on about 4,000 well-armed fighters in Swat in what Islamabad calls a battle to ‘eliminate’ militants.

‘All exit roads from Mingora have been closed. Our troops have surrounded the city to deny any exit to militants,’ said a military official, referring to the main town in Swat. >>> Dawn correspondents Hameedulah Khan and Haleem Asad contributed to this report. | Wednesday, May 13, 2009

DAWN: Can the Taliban Be Defeated?

A Pakistani army soldier stands guard on the roof of a mosque in troubled Buner. Photo courtesy of Dawn
THE moment of truth for the federal government and the Pakistan Army to save Pakistan from imploding under the threat of the Taliban insurgency has arrived.

President Zardari in Washington and Gen Kayani in Rawalpindi, with the blessings of the tripartite Af-Pak strategy meetings presided over by President Obama, prompted Prime Minister Gilani in Islamabad to tell the nation near midnight last week about the decision to call out the armed forces ‘to eliminate the militants and terrorists in order to restore the honour and dignity of our homeland, and to protect the people.’ That reassurance was needed since previous army operations were half-hearted and botched and the operation in Buner and Dir was hardly faring any better, notwithstanding the claims of the ISPR.

The broadcast recalled a similar dramatic moment two months ago when the prime minister in the early hours of the morning announced the reinstatement of the chief justice and the end of the siege of Islamabad by the security forces to prevent the lawyers’ long march. The armed forces — whose refusal to support the government action against the long march is believed to have played a role in reinstating the chief justice — overcame their reservations about a full-fledged military action against the Swat Taliban.

The latter’s proximity to Islamabad had raised the spectre of a Taliban takeover within weeks and led to alarm all over the world, particularly in Washington. The latter seemed more worried about Pakistan’s cache of nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands than the fate of the country’s 170 million people. No one can possibly doubt the pivotal role of the army in our politics.

While the motivation and the circumstances that led to this announcement will be debated for long, the decision to take the Taliban head-on, if successfully executed, could become a historical landmark, along with the reinstatement of the chief justice, and transform Pakistan’s currently bleak future. >>> By S.M. Naseem | Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Trapped by Taliban Terror
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Innocent families are hemmed in as the army tries to crush the hardline Islamic militants fighting for control of north-west Pakistan

A Taliban militant smiles as he holds his weapon outside the mosque where tribal elders and the Taliban met in Daggar, Buner's main town, Pakistan, Thursday, April 23, 2009. Photo courtesy of The Sunday Times
FIERCE fighting engulfed the once serene mountain resort of Swat yesterday, with thousands of civilians trapped as the Pakistani army launched an all-out offensive against the Taliban.

In Swat’s main town of Mingora, now controlled by the Taliban, residents described a scene of terror. Taliban positions were heavily shelled, food and water were running low and electricity and most telephone lines had been cut.

Some described how they were left cowering inside their homes, praying for survival as fighter jets screeched overhead. An army curfew and Taliban threats prevented them fleeing.

The army said it had killed 55 more Taliban fighters in Swat yesterday, bringing the total to more than 200 since the operation began. Hundreds of civilians were feared dead. The provincial government, claiming that hundreds of thousands more were flooding down from the mountains in search of safety, said it could not cope. >>> Christina Lamb and Daud Pakistan Khattak in Batkhela, Swat Valley | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Thousands Flee Pakistan's Swat Valley
Residents prepare to flee from Mingora, the main town in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: ISLAMABAD -- Thousands of panicked residents on foot and crammed in buses, vans and trucks fled Swat valley north of Pakistan's capital Tuesday following the breakdown of a fragile truce between government forces and the Taliban.

Authorities lifted a curfew for a few hours to allow residents to evacuate as the militants took control of Mingora, the main town of the valley, which lies about 100 miles from Islamabad. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for North West Frontier Province, which includes Swat, said he expects as many as 500,000 to flee in the near future.

Khushal Khan, head of the local administration, urged residents to leave their homes before evening as fighting between the army and militants broke out once again. Pakistan's military has been fighting the Taliban in Swat after each side accused the other of failing to honor the terms of a peace accord struck in February to end the conflict in Swat in return for the imposition of Sharia law.

Tuesday's exodus worsened a humanitarian problem stemming from the displacement of more than half a million people from Pakistan's lawless tribal region near the Afghan border and in parts of North West Frontier Province where security forces have been check the militants' efforts to expand their influence. >>> By Zahid Hussain | Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Taliban Enforces Sharia Ruthlessly: Report
DNA (India): London – Drug peddlers have been flogged, music shops closed and girls older than 13 barred from going to schools as Taliban enforces Islamic law in Pakistan's northeast Swat valley.

Taliban writ is the only thing that counts for those who break the Sharia law which has been implemented since the Pakistan Army has given up its control under an agreement with the militants to establish peace in the region.

In Mingora, 175 km from Islamabad, hooded Talibani enforcers are patrolling the streets and meeting out summary justice, The Times [of India] reported on Thursday. In front of large crowd they flog people who have broken edicts set by Taliban. Drug addicts and dealers are held down in the dust by heavily armed militants and flogged. They cry out in pain shouting for Allah. The punishment is brutal but has popular support, the report said.

The valley has now been transformed into Afghanistan of 2001. Under the agreement, Taliban can administer the region, run Sharia courts, ban women from marketplaces, outlaw music shops and stop girls above 13 going to school, the paper said.

"I send a message to the people of the West: stop spending money on tanks and aircraft and attacking the poor people of the world. Look after your own poor people and let
us be. Change your policies. You cannot win here or in Afghanistan. Keep out," the report quoted Muslim Khan, a US educated English-speaking Taliban leader, as saying. [Source: DNA] | Thursday, March 26, 2009

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