ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: The chief military spokesman, Maj-Gen Athar Abbas, said on Monday that the army had ceased its activities in Swat on orders of the government to facilitate the peace process, but the military option remained open.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations said the operation in Swat had been halted because the government had decided to make another conciliatory effort.

The forces would be there if the government decided at any stage to exercise the military option, he said.

Stressing that a military operation had to be politically sustainable, he said the government had taken the decision in view of the rising political cost.

The military spokesman said that in urban warfare many aspects had to be considered to avoid large-scale casualties, destruction and displacement.

He said militants used terror as a weapon while the army had to calculate the cost of civilian casualties. He said public support for the military operation had been receding with increase in damage.

The spokesman said it was not possible to take out the top militant leadership because they did not expose themselves. However, the second-tier militant leadership had been hit.

He rejected allegations that the army was covertly siding with the Taliban and it lacked the will to win the ‘war on terror’. He said the army had suffered 1,340 casualties and close to 3,000 serious injuries over the past couple of years. “What else is required to prove our willingness?”

He said the army had suffered 188 casualties in Swat. Answering questions, the military spokesman said blanket jamming of FM radio channels operating in Swat was not possible because of technical deficiencies. “There are more than 30 FM stations operating in the area and we are awaiting a technology to jam these illegal channels.”

When asked how had the army which claimed to be the defender of the country’s ideological boundaries motivated its personnel to battle people who wanted enforcement of sharia, he said it was a highly disciplined force and troops were motivated against a group which was violating the law and challenging the government’s writ.