Government will review stand on Swat accord if deal fails to convince people : Zardari

August 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has claimed that the Taliban has been defeated in the Swat Valley. In an interview with the News ahead of his meeting with US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, Zardari said Pakistan was a united nation and would always stand united against its enemy.

August 18th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is not interested in dragging former President General Pervez Musharraf to the court of law, but rather favours reconciliation with the former general. Zardari said the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) favours reconciliation with Musharraf, and that the fate of the ex-Army chief would be decided by the parliament.

July 5th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the offensive against the Taliban and other extremist groups being carried out in the Swat and Malakand Divisions would be concluded only when the region is completely sanitized. Zardari met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani here to discuss issues relating to the security situation in the country including the ongoing campaign against Taliban in Swat, Malakand and FATA.

June 13th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed because she challenged the writ of the Taliban. In a television address to the nation, Zardari said Bhutto's loss has made him realize the pain of families who have been a victim of terrorism.

June 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that extremism can not pose a threat to the sovereignty of the country, and claimed that the Swat offensive is fully backed by Pakistan's political fraternity. Zardari said the country's civil society and the political forces would never allow the extremists to carry on their nefarious activities to expand their writ.

June 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has rejected Pakistan's claim that Washington has failed to keep its promises regarding providing financial aid for the Swat region. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's claims that Washington has failed to deliver on its promises to help Pakistan deal with issues arising out of the Swat military operation and the exodus of thousands.

May 23rd, 2009 LAHORE - Hinting that the military offensive against the Taliban and other extremist groups could be expanded into other regions than the Swat Valley, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the Taliban would be hunted down everywhere inside the country's geographical territory. In an interview to a private television channel, Zardari refuted media reports that quoted him as saying that the government is planning to carry out military operations in Waziristan after Swat.

May 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani military Tuesday wrested two towns in the restive northwest from the Taliban on a day President Asif Ali Zardari asserted the entire country was united in the struggle against terrorism. The military said Maidan in Lower Dir and Matta in Swat had been cleared of militants and the civilians who had fled the fighting could now return home.

May 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari-led Pakistan People's Party is facing problems at center due to growing bitterness among its coalition partners. According to The Nation, the existence of the four-party coalition government is endangered because of the latest fissure among the Pakistan Peoples Party and its junior coalition partners like Awami National Party and Muttahida Qoumi Movement.

May 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Asif Ali Zardari has said he knew the Swat peace deal with the Taliban would not work, even as the Pakistan Army intensified its operation against the militant group in the troubled region. The Pakistani Army's advance in Swat marks the failure of Islamabad's boldest attempt yet to compromise with the Taliban.

May 11th, 2009 LAHORE - Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad, who was released from prison to talk peace and able to convince the insurgents to lay down their weapons, still backs the Taliban. The ceasefire deal negotiated by Sufi with the NWFP Government in the Swat valley lies in tatters as the Taliban and the army square off amid accusations of betrayal from both sides.

May 6th, 2009 LAHORE - The United States Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke has termed the Swat peace deal as 'dead', the Daily Times reported. Addressing the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington, Holbrooke said Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had already informed the United States that the accord, signed between the NWFP government and the Taliban, would not stand for long.

May 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A senior US Republican Senator Kit Bond has criticized the Pakistan Government over the Swat peace deal. Bond said such deals have failed to yield desired results in the past, and are bound to fall short of expectations.

April 16th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A day after Sharia laws were formally imposed in Swat in Pakistan's restive northwest, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced a Rs.400 million development package for the once scenic valley, saying he would visit it soon. He made the announcement while speaking to a delegation of Awami National Party (ANP) at the PM House here, Geo TV reported.

April 11th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A peace accord with the Taliban in Swat in Pakistan's restive northwest that was on the verge of collapse seems to be intact for the moment but much hinges on President Asif ali Zaradri, who is under intense international pressure to reject the pact. Earlier this week, it appeared that the Feb 16 pact between the Taliban linked radical cleric Sufi Muhammad's Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government on imposing Sharia laws in Swat and six other districts of the province's Malakand division would fall through as Zardari had refused to ratify it.