Islamabad, May 11 (IANS) Vowing to force the Taliban to lay down their arms, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the government’s writ would be re-established in the country’s troubled northwest, where a military operation is underway against the militants.

“No matter how strong they (the militants) may get, they cannot fight with the armed forces of Pakistan. We will soon force them to lay down their arms,” he said while making a policy statement in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on the military operations in three districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Islamabad, May 9 (DPA) Pakistani troops Saturday destroyed the headquarters of the Taliban in the restive Swat valley and killed some 55 militants, as a humanitarian crisis intensified with thousands of civilians stranded in the battlefield.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR estimated up to 200,000 people fled the former tourist haven in recent days, and forecast further exodus of nearly 300,000 more.

Geneva, May 8 (DPA) UN humanitarian agencies said Friday that the recent outbreak of violence in the northwest of Pakistan would lead to a total of one million people eventually being displaced.

In the last few days, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said between 150,000 and 200,000 people reached safer zones, escaping the renewed violence. Another 300,000 are said to be on the move.

London, May 5 (IANS) Quaid Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has urged people to join forces against terrorism and reiterated that Talibanisation is a conspiracy to break Pakistan, the Online news agency reported Tuesday.

Hussain, who lives in London in self-exile, has also reiterated his party’s support to the Pakistani government to overcome the challenges facing the country.

Islamabad, May 2 (IANS) Some 50,000 people have been displaced by the military action against the Taliban in Pakistan’s restive northwest, UN officials say.

However, the Al-Khidmat Foundation, an NGO working in the Lower Dir district of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has placed the figure at 70,000.

Islamabad, May 1 (DPA) Pakistani troops killed up to 60 Taliban militants in the northwestern valley of Buner, raising the insurgents’ death toll to more than 100 in four days of fighting, an army spokesman said Friday.

“Between 55 and 60 militants have been killed during the last 24 hours in Buner,” Major General Athar Abbas told reporters here.

Islamabad/Washington, April 28 (IANS) Saying that “enough is enough”, Pakistan Tuesday warned the Taliban of “strict action” if it attempted to challenge the government’s writ, even as the top US military commander expressed frustration over Islamabad’s “inability” to confront the growing extremist threat.

“Enough is enough. If the government’s writ is challenged, or any terrorist activity takes place any where in the country, we will take strict action,” Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad.

Islamabad, April 25 (IANS) Pakistani security forces Saturday entered Kalpani, the ancestral village of Taliban-backed radical cleric Sufi Mohammad in the northwest but the move was apparently not linked to his threat to impose Sharia laws across the country.

Security forces have started consolidating their positions and military gunships were flying over the area, Geo TV reported, quoting well-placed sources as saying the government had declared the area sensitive due to increasing cases of kidnapping for ransom and other crimes.