Vowing to continue the fight against Pakistani troops who have launched a major offensive against him, a pro-Taliban cleric in the restive Swat Valley of the country has warned that his militant followers will ‘teach a lesson’ to the security forces.Almost a week after his illegal FM radio station was blocked by Army as part of its drive against the militants in the scenic Valley in North West Frontier Province, Maulana Fazlullah better known as ‘Mullah Radio’ made a broadcast from an undisclosed location on Friday night in which he pledged to continue his fight against the security forces.Asking people to return to their homes in Swat, he claimed his men had left their positions for the sake of local residents ‘because the security forces have been killing innocent people in desperation’.Tens of thousands of people have fled Swat and adjoining Shangla district because of the intense fighting over the past few weeks."Our morale is high and we will teach a lesson to the soldiers," Fazlullah said, claiming that the political leaders of Swat had left the people in the lurch and he was now struggling for their rights.Fazlullah admitted Khan Khitab, the militant commander for Matta town, had been killed but said he was shot dead by security forces and not by local people as claimed by Army.The Army blocked Fazlullah's speech while it was in progress and began relaying its own programmes. Military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said on Friday that Fazlullah was ‘on the run and would be hauled up sooner or later’.The Army said it has killed over 230 of Fazlullah's men, including several foreign militants, since it launched the operations in Swat over two weeks ago.Troops backed by artillery and helicopter gunships have evicted militants from many key towns and villages in Swat and Shangla, where Fazlullah was running a parallel government. Over 30 militants have been arrested in the past two days. Police have re-established check posts in Bara Banda, once a stronghold of Fazlullah, and in Ningolai.Police in Mingora, the main town in Swat, arrested a driver of a government hospital on charges of helping militants to escape, while 19 policemen were dismissed from service for allegedly supporting Fazlullah.The Army said in a statement that the security forces had targeted a concentration of militants near Matta and Charbagh on Friday night. Intercepts of radio communications among the militants had revealed that they have suffered ‘heavy causalities’, it said.The security forces are also consolidating their positions near two strategic heights - Point 1819 and Najia Top. Several check posts will be set up and manned by the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary and police, the Army said.
