Pakistan says some 2 million refugees who fled Swat battle to be allowed home next week

July 28th, 2009 Pakistan: Police constable decapitated in SwatMINGORA, Pakistan — Police say the decapitated body of a Pakistani police constable has been discovered in a town in Swat Valley. The find was a sign that Taliban militants have not given up the fight for the northwestern region, despite a nearly three-month-old army offensive.

July 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Two days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she considered India a global power, a top American diplomat echoed the thought here Wednesday, saying New Delhi could not be overlooked in Washington's Af-Pak strategy. No third country - and only Pakistan and Afghanistan - was part of his mandate, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters here, adding that India, being a major power in the region, could not be overlooked.

July 13th, 2009 JALOZAI CAMP - Many of the thousands displaced by fighting between the military and Taliban in north-western Pakistan began returning Monday to their homes in parts of the Swat Valley. Authorities transported families from tented camps set up in the districts of Nowshera and Charsadda, located close to the Buner district which was overrun by the Taliban in April, prompting a government offensive.

July 9th, 2009 2 million Pakistani refugees to return home soonISLAMABAD — Pakistan will allow some 2 million people who fled an army offensive against the Taliban in Swat Valley to return home next week, the prime minister announced Thursday, saying the region was now secure and essential services restored. The refugees have stayed in crowded camps and in homes just south of the northwestern region.

June 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has said that it is too soon for Pakistan to declare victory in the Swat Valley, where the Army has purportedly put the Taliban insurgents on the back foot. Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan in Italy, said in an interview that it was too early for Pakistan to announce victory in Swat.

June 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Sixty percent of the schools in Swat in Pakistan's restive northwest, where the military is currently focussing its anti-Taliban operations, have been destroyed, the UN says, quoting government officials. In Swat, the district Department of Education (DoE) reported that 60 percent of schools (122 of 204) are completely destroyed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), says in its third situation report on Swat and two other districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where the military operations are also underway.

June 4th, 2009 Pakistan: Last batch of school abductees foundISLAMABAD — Pakistani officials say that the last batch of students and staff kidnapped in the northwest after leaving their school this week have been rescued. Deputy Interior Minister Tasnim Qureshi told state-run Pakistan Television Thursday that 46 students and two teachers had been recovered from their militant abductors.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - America's top trouble shooter for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke arrived here Wednesday on a three-day visit to study the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's restive northwest and to assess the needs of the millions of people who have been displaced by the fighting. Soon after his arrival here, Holbrooke went into a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The lack of valid data on the number of people displaced by the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's troubled northwest has confirmed fears that many militants could have fled the area by intermingling with the refugees. At least three sets of figures exist.

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani forces have regained control over 90 percent of Buner district and increased their stranglehold over Mingora, the largest town in Swat, the military said Tuesday as the operations against the Taliban in the country's restive northwest entered their second month. "Ninety percent area of Buner has been cleared," an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Millions of refugees who have fled Pakistan's restive northwest following the military's anti-Taliban operations can settle anywhere in the country, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilnai declared here Tuesday. They are Pakistanis.

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani forces have captured the airport in Mingora, Swat's largest city, as the military's anti-Taliban operations in the country's restive northwest entered their second month Tuesday. The security forces are also approaching the mountain village of Pir Baba in Buner district, while in Lower Dir, heavy artillery pounded militants strongholds in parts of Maidan sub-district.

May 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has received pledges of $244 million for the relief and rehabilitation of civilians uprooted by the anti-Taliban operations of the security forces in parts of the country's troubled northwest. Addressing an international donors conference here Thursday, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said the pledged amount includes the $110 million announced by the US.

May 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Swat military operation against the Taliban and other extremist groups in the region has displaced over 834,000 civilians till now, the United Nations has said. "Some 834,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) have been registered so far.

May 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - As many as 600,000 to 800,000 Pakistani refugees are streaming from the mountains and valleys of the greater Swat region, leaving the Pakistan Government with the gigantic task of rehabilitating them, the Central Science Monitor reports. Pakistan Government has a make or break chance to win the public acceptance.