ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party's Information Secretary Senator Zahid Khan claimed on Monday that security forces operating in upper and lower Dir districts had flushed out or killed almost all Taliban militants.
"Oh, yeah, sure. They're all dead."
However, he said, the forces were still facing stiff resistance in Mingora although most of the government buildings in the Swat town had been cleared of militants.
Talking to newsmen outside the parliament house, he said the provincial government had done its home work for rebuilding and rehabilitating government and private buildings destroyed in the war and it would need at least Rs80 to Rs90 billion for the job.
Mr Khan said he had been informed that the Taliban were on the run in Dir and a number of them had been seen fleeing after shaving off their beards.
He expressed the hope that the military operation would end sooner than expected because local people were now coming out in support of the troops fighting foreign elements and forcing them out of their areas.
Answering a question about the problem of transport faced by the fleeing people, the ANP leader said the government had allowed the vehicles on which customs duty had not been paid to carry stranded people. Such vehicles are not allowed to ply on roads in areas other than Malakand.
He said the NWFP government would soon start reconstruction work and payment of compensation to the heir of innocent people killed by the militants. |