Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik Sunday said that over 1,000 militants have been killed in the ongoing military operation in the country's northwest.

Hospital staff carry a victim who was injured in a bomb blast, at a hospital in Peshawar May 16, 2009. [Xinhua]

Addressing a news conference, Malik vowed that the writ of the government would be restored at all costs.

He said the security forces would try to complete their operation as soon as possible and the Taliban were battling troops in a few pockets in Swat.

Malik also disclosed that 1.1 million people had fled the conflict zone. He said that anti-Pakistan forces were using Taliban to destabilize the country.

The provincial government of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) inked a deal with an outlawed group led by cleric Sufi Muhammad, founding chief of an outlawed group Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi in February. The government agreed to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, in Malakand Division of NWFP including the restive Swat valley once the peace was restored there.

However, Taliban militants in early April entered Buner District from the neighboring Swat district and were reluctant to vacate the area despite their pledge to do so. The security forces then started a military operation against them in Buner, followed by operations in Swat and other areas in the northwest.

Internally displaced people who were injured in Swat valley while fleeing a military offensive, rest in a hospital, in Peshawar May 15, 2009. [Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2009)