US special envoy Richard Holbrooke hailed on Thursday the return home of many of the 2.5 million people displaced by fighting in Pakistan's Swat valley despite pockets of Taleban resistance. Holbrooke described securing valleys, where the Pakistan army opened up an offensive against the militants more than three months ago, as the first priority.” I think they've got their hands full in Swat and Buner,” he said. Holbrooke said this was the likely reason why the army was delaying an all-out assault further west against the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud in the remote South Waziristan tribal region. “They've got to make sure when the refugees come back that they have security, so maybe they're delaying the offensive,” he said, adding that he did not know the timing or nature of the looming action against Mehsud. The Pakistani government gave orders to the army a month ago to go after Mehsud, who leads a loose grouping of some 13 Taliban factions dotted across the northwest. Mehsud has come under frequent air and artillery bombardment since then but there are few signs of an imminent ground assault on his redoubt in the mountains. On the contrary the Taliban on Thursday denied claims that Maulana Fazlullah, architect of a brutal uprising in Pakistan's Swat valley, was wounded and threatened to unleash renewed holy war. Pakistan said on July 8 it had “credible” information that Fazlullah was hurt during a blistering offensive designed to crush Taliban militants who fought for two years to enforce Islamic law in the northwest Swat valley.”Taliban chief Fazlullah is alive, healthy and has never been wounded,” the spokesman, Muslim Khan, told from an undisclosed location. Neither the claim by the military nor the Taleban has been supported by any evidence or independent confirmation.
