3 May 2009

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Tripoli on Thursday evening accompanied by his daughter and a high-level delegation.

He was received by the Leader of the Revolution in Tripoli and both leaders held talks during which they reviewed the developments in Pakistan and the political problems faced by all states in the whole region.

They also dealt in detail with the future of peace and security in the region within the framework of great powers' interference in it.

President Zardari is on a three-day visit to Libya.

Later, the AU President hosted a dinner banquet in honor of the Pakistani President and his delegation.

Pakistan is facing formidable internal problems ever since it allied itself in late 2001 with the US' war on the so-called international terrorism.

This American-led war is considered by the majority of the Pakistani people to be directed against Islam and Muslims.

Pakistan government is currently pounding the Pakistani rebel forces called Taliban in their hideouts for a third consecutive day Thursday and said troops killed 14 insurgents in 24 hours as the president Zardari urged the nation to unite behind the offensive.

Faced with grave US concerns that rebels threaten Pakistan's very existence, fighter jets, attack helicopters and tanks this week opened three fronts after armed Taliban seized control of districts 100 kilometres from Islamabad.

The fighters captured Lower Dir and Buner districts despite a government deal to enforce sharia law in those areas in a bid to end a Taliban insurgency, which alarmed Pakistan's allies in the White House and the West.

Operation Black Thunder was launched under intense pressure from the United States, which warned that the Taliban's advance from its insurgency hub in the Swat Valley was posing a severe threat to Islamabad's authority.

The military said Thursday 14 militants had been killed in the last 24 hours of operations and that insurgent positions had been wiped out under fierce resistance across eight kilometres (five miles) of mountain tops in Buner.

Pakistan said around 70 militants and 10 soldiers were killed in Lower Dir. On Wednesday, the military said special forces dropped by helicopter re-took Dagar, the main town in Buner, and killed up to 50 Taliban Pakistani fighters.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the military was verifying an overall death toll and said much of the district of Buner remained in Taliban hands.

Abbas said the militants had taken over police stations in three villages and were holding 52 police officers and paramilitary soldiers hostage.