Mingora: Frightened civilians fear
the Taliban will pounce again on Pakistan`s Swat as residents
try to rebuild shattered lives and shot nerves in the mountain
valley once likened to Switzerland.
Pakistan claims the military has "eliminated" the
extremists, two years after they rose up under an militant
cleric to enforce repressive Islamic laws and more than two
months after launching a new offensive under US pressure.
But stringent security checks, unexploded ordnance and
ruined homes lie in wait for some of Pakistan`s nearly two
million people displaced by fighting between government forces
and Taliban militants across the northwest.
"I can smell them. I`m still afraid of them," said Badar
Gul on the outskirts of Mingora, where his bus stalled in a
snarl of vehicles carrying home people encouraged by the
government to think the worst is over.
The 65-year-old Gul was headed with his five-member
family to the northern town of Charbagh, desperate to leave
his refugee camp but uncertain about the future in Swat, whose
rich tourist industry was decimated by the Taliban.
"The Taliban may come back and the Taliban still have
hideouts in the hilly areas," said Gul, whose bus was laid on
by the government to repatriate families from Jalozai camp on
the sweltering lowland plains.
Voluntary returns have been going on for weeks. An army
spokesman claimed today that nearly 100,000 families have
returned to Swat.
Bureau Report
