Pakistan to begin return of displaced next week

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan will start bringing people displaced by fighting between security forces and Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat Valley back home from next week, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.

About 2 million people have fled their homes since the army began an offensive against the Taliban in their bastion of Swat, a former tourist valley northwest of Islamabad, in late April.

Most of the displaced are living with family or friends in "host communities" and about 280,000 are in tent camps. They and their plight are sensitive issues for a government that critics say is bowing to U.S. pressure to battle the militants.

"The displaced men, women and children will begin returning to their homes with dignity from July 13," Gilani told a news conference.

Government officials say more than 1,700 militants and nearly 160 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, launched two months ago after militant aggression and advances prompted concern over the stability of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal. Independent casualty estimates are not available.

The United States, grappling with an intensifying Taliban insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan, has welcomed Pakistan's action against the militants.

The army has pushed the militants out of Swat's towns and it controls the main lines of communication, but clashes are flaring daily in some areas.

None of the top militant leaders in the area have been among those killed, leading to fears the fighters could re-emerge. The military said on Wednesday that the Taliban leader in Swat, Fazlullah, had been wounded in an air strike on Monday.