Swat offensive nearing its end: Pak Defence Minister

September 22nd, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia's defence budget will rise by 8 percent in 2010 to reach $36 billion, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday. The defence allocation in 2009 is expected to fetch $33 billion, with $10.9 billion being spent on purchases and maintenance of military equipment.

July 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Raising questions over the success of the Swat military offensive, US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke has said it is unclear whether the Taliban has really been hit hard in the operation. Talking to media persons after returning from his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan here, Holbrooke said Washington is yet to ascertain whether scores of Taliban insurgents are actually being killed, as claimed by the Pakistan Army, or have they just scattered away only to recoil later.

July 28th, 2009 NEW YORK - Hundreds of people who were forced to flee their homes due to the military offensive in Swat and Malakand Divisions have started to return, but the wealthy landlords of the Valley are reluctant to return as they fear retaliation from the Taliban. As none of the top Taliban leader is killed or nabbed in the military offensive, these landlords fear another uprising of the extremists.

July 24th, 2009 SWAT - A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban has said militant leader Maulana Fazlullah is in good health, rejecting the claims by security forces that he was wounded in a military offensive in the country's northwest, the Online news agency reported. Pakistan military spokesman Maj.

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.

July 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - While the Pakistan government has been claiming that the Swat military offensive has been successful and nearing its end, a former Pakistan Air Force (PAF) top official, Air Marshal (retired) Masood Akhter has raised questions over the claims by saying that people shouldn't be fooled through such statements. During a discussion on 'Post-Swat Operation Outlook' here, Akhter said people should not hope that the war against terrorism and the extremist threat would end within a few weeks.

June 27th, 2009 KARACHI - Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military operation in the Swat Valley is nearing end as the top rung militants there have been killed and the government would now focus on the development of the region, the Online News Agency said Saturday. He made the remarks while inaugurating a Textile City here.

June 26th, 2009 PESHAWAR - The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain has said that reports about the death of Taliban Swat chapter deputy leader, Shah Durran, had not been confirmed yet. "We've heard reports of Shah Durran's death, and his consequent funeral and burial, but we cannot officially confirm it unless we have concrete evidence," Hussain said.

June 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar said Friday that the army's operation against the Taliban in the country's northwestern region was nearing its end and people uprooted by the conflict could start returning to their homes from Saturday. The government forces launched a major offensive in Swat and three neighbouring districts around two months ago when the Islamist insurgents failed to observe the terms of a peace deal.

June 4th, 2009 MINGORA - The military offensive in Pakistan's Swat Valley may be nearing its end, with the Army claiming that it has forced the Taliban and other extremists to leave the region, besides sanitizing scores of militants. However, after the troops pull out from the different regions of the region, the biggest task of the local administration would be to prevent the extremists from resurfacing, and starting their reign of terror once again.

May 31st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan expects the military offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat valley to end within two or three days, Islamabad's Defence Secretary Syed Athar Ali said Sunday. "Only five to 10 percent of the job is remaining and hopefully within two to three days the pockets of resistance will be cleared," Ali said at a regional defence conference in Singapore, the Dawn newspaper reported.

May 16th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Babar Awan has told the National Assembly that all political parties were taken into confidence over the Swat offensive. "It was also the unanimous voice of media and the civil society to eliminate elements of terrorism," The Nation quoted Awan, as saying.

May 14th, 2009 LAHORE - While Pakistan has claimed to have sanitized hundreds of Taliban operatives during the ongoing military operation in the Swat Valley, a US expert has said the offensive has a 'bleak' chance of achieving success and yielding the desired result. Key US strategist, David Kilcullen said that due to Pakistan Army's inexperience and its refusal to accept help from the West in the operation, the success of the Swat military offensive is doubtful.

May 7th, 2009 BERLIN - The military offensive against the Taliban in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan would continue for two to three weeks more, as Islamabad has said that it needed more time to flush out the extremists completely from the region. Addressing a joint press conference with his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung, Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said Islamabad wants to root out the extremists from its soil completely.

April 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Despite the military offensive in the Lower Dir region of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the Swat peace deal between the government and the Taliban is intact. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, in a statement said : "The military's offensive in Lower Dir does not void the pact." NWFP's Information and Public Relations Iftikhar Hussain added that military offensive in the district would not affect the ongoing peace efforts in Malakand Division and the Nizam-e-Adl Regulations.