Pakistan intensifies offensive,Taliban pulls out of peace talks

As Pakistan troops intensified their operations against Taliban in NWFP killing 50 militants...

As Pakistan troops intensified their operations against Taliban in NWFP killing 50 militants,the hardline religious group negotiating with the Government on Monday pulled out of a worthless peace deal in Swat to protest the offensive that came after intense US pressure.

Helicopter gunships pounded Taliban hideouts as security forces continued their operations for the second day on Monday in NWFPs lower Dir district,which adjoins Swat and is covered by the peace deal between the Taliban and the Government,killing 20 militants.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik earlier said 30 militants were killed in operations conducted by the paramilitary Frontier Corps on Sunday.

Izzat Khan,spokesman of the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi,which is negotiating with authorities on behalf of the Taliban,told reporters that his group would no longer be part of the peace deal in the Swat valley.

The TNSM was pulling of the peace deal,signed in February,to protest the operation in Dir,Khan said,adding that the peace deal was now worthless.

As US pressure built up on Islamabad to take steps to safeguard its nuclear arsenals,President Asif Ali Zardari ruled out the possibility of his countrys atomic weapons falling into the hands of Taliban.

Pakistans nuclear installations are in safe hands and under extra security, Zardari said in an interview to the media.

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Zardari also called for more foreign support for Pakistan to prevent any danger of its nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of al-Qaeda and its allies.

Muslim Khan accused authorities of adopting delaying tactics in implementing the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation,which envisages enforcement of Sharia in the Swat valley.

Reports from Dir said troops had killed three Taliban commanders,including Qari Quresh and Maulvi Shahid,who was involved in killing a district police chief and other officials.

Local residents said they had seen bodies of Taliban fighters lying in the open at several places. The administration of Dir district issued orders for closing all state-run schools. The fighting triggered the exodus of thousands of people from Dir.

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An indefinite curfew was imposed in parts of Dir considered to be strongholds of the Taliban. Security forces on Sunday took control of the strategic Lal Qila area after clearing it of militants.

Islamabad has been under severe pressure from the US and other countries to back out from deals with radical militant outfits,which they say pose a danger of destabilising the entire region.