A suicide attack in the Swat area of Pakistan on Friday left at least 27 people dead. It came days after the military took a number of journalists, including the BBC's Barbara Plett, to Swat to show how their fight against pro-Taleban militants was progressing.


The helicopter flies past snow-capped peaks, it hovers over terraced hillsides and green valleys with rivers running through them.

This is Swat, Pakistan's "little Switzerland" in the northwest of the country.

Once a popular tourist attraction, it was occupied by militants last year.

This week the army brought journalists to the area to show us it has defeated the insurgents.

We land on the mountain tops from which the militants once controlled the valley.

In November, thousands of troops launched a major offensive to recapture these strategic positions, scaling the heights in surprise attacks.

They destroyed rebel bases until the militants collapsed as an organized force, says military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas, as soldiers lay out tea and cakes for the visitors.

"I think the Swat operation was a great success for the army and the people," he says.

"Ninety per cent of the militants have been cleared out. A few pockets of resistance are left, and soon they will also be cleared."

Military precision


This was the second Swat revolt in the past 20 years. Both times the militants have demanded Sharia, or Islamic law, which in this part of the world means social justice.

The rebels were followers of a local cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, reinforced by pro-Taleban tribesmen from near the Afghan border and banned jihadist groups from the Punjab province.

"People initially supported (Fazlullah), thinking that a bit of violence by him will force the government to enforce Sharia," says Maj Gen Nasser Janjua, the regional commander.

"But later his atrocious approach in the name of providing justice scared the peace-loving people who started demanding an army operation."

The general speeds through a PowerPoint presentation outlining operational details with military precision.

He said more than 200 militants had been killed and less than 200 detained.

He showed video of bomb-making materials hidden by a false ceiling in a mosque.

Recovered rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were displayed on a long table.

But the general admitted that troops had failed to catch the cleric and other leaders and that many of the militants fled elsewhere, taking their arms with them.

More work to do

Those militants still in the Swat district are thought to be hiding in the hills around the Piochar Valley.

This was the rebels' safe haven, a no-go area for police.

"Some have been able to merge themselves with the civilians," says Lt Col Nadir Hussain, the Battalion commander holding the heights above Piochar.

"A few days back we got reports that they shaved their beards and trimmed their hair, so they are trying to be normal."


From the mountain we can see the place where a roadside bomb killed 13 members of a wedding party last week.

Lt Col Hussain says the road was a regular supply route for his troops and the explosive device was probably meant for them.

So the army still has work to do, but Lt Col Hussain is proud it was able to ensure that recent elections went ahead.

"That was the first time the police entered the valley and they were able to conduct the elections in a congenial environment, so that shows that the government's writ has been established," he says.

Political solution

Snow is melting in the Shangla Pass where the militants took their last stand, dripping into the bunker where they sheltered from incoming fire.

They held the strategic ridge for two weeks from entrenched positions.

The rebels greatly outnumbered the forces of District Police Chief Muhammed Iqbal.

He ordered his men to run because "we thought it would be better to vacate the place and shift our ammunition and arms to safer places, instead of being captured and slaughtered".

He is more optimistic, now that the policemen are back with their numbers doubled, and he hopes the newly elected government will be able to solve the problem of Islamic militancy.

"This is their duty to bring peace to the valley, because it's impossible for any of us to get peace through arms.

"If you see the history of the people and the insurgency throughout the world, the last resolution was through negotiations, not through arms."

In the north-west, many are talking about a political solution to the Islamist tide that has swept the region.

And here in Swat, militants could again win support if popular demands for justice and better governance are not met.

That is something the army, with all its fire power, cannot deliver.