NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Saturday announced the establishment of Dar-ul-Qaza for Malakand division. "Dar-ul-Qaza was the main demand and it has been met. Now there is no justification to take up arms," Mian Iftikhar Hussain told a news conference.
"But if they take up arms even after this announcement, keep on challenging the government and try to run a parallel government, then the government will stop them at all costs." For the fifth consecutive day, security forces battled for control of Buner, a strategic valley in the region.
Military officials say around 250 militants and 12 soldiers have been killed in the operation. There was no independent confirmation of the claim. It also unnerved the United States which considers the stability of the nuclear-armed nation as vital for Washington's efforts to defeat al Qaeda and stabilise Afghanistan.
The United States has welcomed the Pakistani offensive and wants Pakistan to do more to fight home-grown militants who pose a threat to Afghanistan. Elsewhere in the north, the security forces killed 16 Taliban in a counter-offensive in Mohmand tribal region bordering Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar on Saturday.
Two soldiers were killed in the Taliban attack. In the neighbouring Khyber tribal region, a Taliban commander wanted for attacks on convoys carrying supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan surrendered to authorities, officials said.
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