‘Pak Army fears disintegration if it counters Taliban seriously’

August 16th, 2009 PESHAWAR - Even as thousands of refugees have started returning to their home in the Swat and Malakand divisions after the Pakistan Army declared the region free from Taliban control, local residents claimed the extremists are consolidating their position once again. "The Taliban are strengthening their position in some parts of Malakand.

July 23rd, 2009 RAWALPINDI - The Pakistan Army has killed at least 27 Taliban fighters in various districts of the Malakand division in the last 24 hours. According to an ISPR statement, fighter jets pounded Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan killing six close aides of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud.

July 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban Friday claimed to have shot down a Pakistan Army helicopter in the country's lawless tribal region, a media report said. A spokesman for the Islamic militants told Sama television that the Taliban had also captured the pilot of the helicopter gunship.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Pakistan Army is planning an offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in his stronghold South Waziristan, but it seems that it is unaware of the massive threat that the region has in store. The military will have to face a formidable army of extremists if Mehsud join hands with the militant commanders of North Waziristan, The Christian Science Monitor reported an analysis in the Long War Journal, as saying.

June 10th, 2009 LAHORE - One of the commanders of the Swat Operation, Major General Ijaz Awan, has said the Taliban started to arm themselves against the Pakistan Army after parliament decided to enforce the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Malakand Division. In an interview with a private TV channel, he said the Taliban had made Mingora their base, and then advanced towards Buner and other adjoining areas.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army would need to stay in the Swat Valley for at least a year after its operation against the Taliban in the region is accomplished, in order to prevent the extremists from resurfacing again, a senior Army official has said. Major General Ijaz Awan, who is commanding the military's Swat offensive, said the army would have to stay in the valley for at least another year so that peace and security could be re-established.

June 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban leadership has shifted to mountains to regroup and strike back at a suitable time, The Nation reports. After losing hundreds of their low cadre militants in fierce clashes with the Pakistani Army, the central leadership of Swat-Taliban has simply left the valley and hopes to emerge stronger at the right time.

May 30th, 2009 RAWALPINDI - The Pakistan Army has claimed that it has pushed the Taliban out of Bahrain and Peochar village in the Swat Valley, killing at least 28 insurgents including a top commander Khush Mir Khan alias Abu Huzaifa in the process. Security forces have also arrested seven Taliban from different areas of the valley.

May 20th, 2009 LAHORE - The Taliban is forcibly recruiting young men and training them to fight against the army. A young Taliban operative arrested by security personnel from the Mata tehsil region of the Swat Valley has disclosed that the outlawed unit is recruiting teenagers in large numbers to fight against the military in the ongoing operation in the Valley.

May 19th, 2009 LAHORE - The Pakistan military leadership is worried that the longer the Swat offensive against the Taliban persists, public support will erode. The Pakistan Army's heaviest battle against the Taliban is being fought in the Malakand division, The Time has pointed.

May 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Pakistan may have declared an all out war against the Taliban in the Swat and Malakand Division of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), but many believe that it is almost impossible to contain the advancing militia, which they liken to a balloon that can not be stopped from popping up in different directions when subjected to pressure. With Swat and Malakand already under the Taliban's grip, fears are rife that it is almost a matter of time when Mardan, situated just 30 miles away from Swat, would cave in to the extremists.

May 4th, 2009 LAHORE - The already troubled Swat peace deal between the Pakistan Government and the Taliban received another blow when the Taliban militants attacked an Army convoy in Bari Kot region on Monday. The attack killed one soldier and injured another, the army sources disclosed.

May 1st, 2009 LAHORE - In the face of a Taliban advance, senior Pakistani civil and military officials are sharing confidential information about the country's nuclear arms programme with Western countries in order to allay fears about the security of the weapons. The decision highlights global concerns about the safety of up to 100 atom bombs in Pakistan's possession, as the Taliban advanced last week to within 100km of Islamabad, according to a Financial Times (FT) report.

May 1st, 2009 LONDON - US Central Command chief General David Petraeus has said that the next two weeks would be decisive to ascertain the stability of the Pakistan Government. According to Fox News, General Petraeus told US officials that Pakistan has run out of excuses, and are "finally getting serious" about the countering the existential threat that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda poses.

April 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani Army must end its age old anti-India strategy and try to save Pakistan from becoming the caliphate of al Qaeda and the Taliban, according to a leading Islamabad based daily. The Taliban are linked to al Qaeda and they are counting on such elements in Punjab to help them take their war down to other parts of Pakistan.