Pakistani Military Claims Victories in Street-by-Street Fighting in Swat Valley

Pakistani troops fighting street-by-street with Taliban militants have regained control of more than half of the largest town in the Swat valley, and many insurgents were now fleeing the battlefield, military commanders said Tuesday.The militant threat has made Pakistan's Western allies increasingly anxious to see political stability in the country — a goal that may be helped by a top Pakistani court's decision Tuesday to lift an election ban on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, the country's most popular politician according to polls.The ruling removes a source of uncertainty and possible political conflict in the country as it battles Taliban insurgents spreading out across the nuclear-armed nation from the lawless northeast.Sharif is now free to contest national elections in 2013 and become elected to parliament in a by-election. He had been blocked because of a criminal conviction in 2000 he has insisted was politically motivated.Officials said the military's monthlong offensive was advancing in the Swat valley, where a growing humanitarian crisis is adding pressure to the government, which is being tested in its resolve to stand up to the militants.The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees on Tuesday said nearly 2.4 million people have been uprooted by the violence, with people being forced from their homes at a rate of about 126,000 people day — one of the sharpest rates of displacement in recent world history.he numbers were being cross-checked for accuracy, but there was no immediate sign that conditions were improving, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva.And Human Rights Watch warned that a curfew keeping thousands of residents trapped in the valley in their homes for long periods risks causing a humanitarian catastrophe because food, water and medicine is running out.Pakistan army chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas gave an upbeat assessment Tuesday of the campaign, which is strongly backed by U.S. officials who want Pakistan to root out al-Qaida and Taliban havens used to plan attacks on Western troops in nearby Afghanistan. Swat is considered an important test of the Muslim nation's ability and willingness to do so.