In 2009, Pakistan’s military achieved a significant victory in counterterrorism by successfully combating the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan and clearing the Swat region in a major operation, marking one of the country’s most notable successes in the fight against terrorism. The Second Battle of Swat also dubbed Operation Rah-e-Rast started in May 2009 and involved the Pakistan Army and terrorist outfit known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants in a battle for control of the Swat district of Pakistan.
In May 2009, the counter-terror assault operation from Pakistan defence force started as airborne troops boarded on C-130 transport aircraft, bounced off and stormed the militant-held valley of Swat. The title of this sub-operation of Black Thunderstorm has been directed as Operation Rah-e-Rast in Urdu. In more than a month of combat, by June 15, 1,040 militants were killed. Militant soldiers were holed up in the emerald mines and the central town of Swat district, Mingora. The emerald mines were assured by the Army’s 50th Airborne Division by May 7, but the militants were still maintaining their positions in Mingora and on a strategic hilltop watching the town. Meanwhile, on May 7, in Lower Dir, which was earlier declared clear of the Taliban by the military, militants raided a paramilitary fort, killing three paramilitary soldiers and arresting 10 policemen.
On May 10, additional airborne brigades with small teams of Pakistan Navy SEALs jumped off from a C-130 transport aircraft and bombarded a Taliban-hidden training camp at Banai Baba in Shangla district, which is just east of Swat. In the fighting at Banai Baba, the military declared the killing of 150 militants for the loss of two soldiers. On May 12, Pakistani SSG soldiers were inserted by helicopters into the Piochar site, a rear-support ground for the militants in the northern region of the Swat valley, to operate search-and-destroy operations.
By May 15, the Army declared that Buner was finally completely vacated of Taliban forces, however, artillery bombardment of Taliban places in the hills was still ongoing. It was said that the Taliban were more dug in and in larger numbers in Buner than the military earlier assumed. Meanwhile, the Pakistani military persisted with their push up the Swat valley. As the military closed to Mingora, the Taliban were exploring for a “bloody urban battle” against the Pakistani army’s airborne strengths in a hotly fought city in the north-western part of the country.
Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas, who was the spokesman for Pakistan’s military expressed “The military plans to drive the Taliban out of the contested area, even if the kind of fighting compares that of the Battle of Stalingrad”. He stated that the whole resolve of the administration and the military is to once and for all finish the Taliban from the Swat valley. The army has approximately 15,000 troops on the ground and is calculated that there are still over 5,000 Taliban fighters in the area.
On May 17, heavy street fights began in the towns of Kanju and Matta and the Army was gradually advancing towards Mingora. Also, a few days later fighting formed in the area of the Takhtaband bridge for command of this crossing point. On May 20, a critical town in Buner was seized by the Army. The Army seized Sultanwas in fighting which, according to the military, killed one soldier and 80 militants, another nine soldiers were injured.
On September 11, 2009, the Pakistan Army reported that Muslim Khan and four other senior TNSM commanders were arrested near Mingora. Maulana Fazlullah was shot in two air strikes, and was critically injured and abandoned for some time in Imam Dehri without any access to medical assistance.
