Pakistan will defeat the Taliban militarily but could lose the public relations war if it fails to help the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.About 700,000 people have fled from their homes, joining more than 500,000 displaced by earlier fighting in the northwest. The United Nations has warned of a long-term humanitarian crisis.‘Militarily we will win the war but it will be unfortunate if we loose it publicly,’ Gilani told the National Assembly.Most political parties and members of the public support the offensive.But opposition will grow if many civilians are killed in the fighting or if the displaced are seen to be enduring undue hardship.About 15,000 members of the security forces are facing about 5,000 militants in the Swat region, the military says.Soldiers are battling militants in their stronghold in the Peochar valley, a side valley running northwest off the main Swat valley, apparently to block a major escape route.Taliban are still holding the region’s main town, Mingora, where many civilians have been sheltering in their homes since the government imposed a curfew.Residents began fleeing late last month when the army attacked the Taliban in two districts near Swat they had occupied in violation of a February peace pact aimed at ending violence in the former tourist valley.
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