Muslim League backs anti-Taliban assault

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 19 (UPI) -- Pakistan's main opposition party, the Muslim League, says it's backing the government's assault on Taliban militants in the Swat Valley.

The Pakistan Muslim League and its leader, Mian Nawaz Sharif, signaled support for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his ongoing security operations against the Taliban in the Malakand region Tuesday during the All Parties Conference in Islamabad, Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn reported Tuesday.

Sharif's closest lieutenant, Raja Zafarul Haq, declared that the party fully backs the anti-Taliban assault, telling the newspaper that the PML-N also wouldn't hesitate to support a similar operation in Waziristan, part of the country's ungoverned tribal areas and home to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

The All Parties Conference was called by Gilani to forge a political consensus among Pakistan's parliamentary groups around the military campaign to fight Taliban militants in Swat and surrounding areas of the Malakand region. Dawn said that despite reservations expressed by relatively small parties, the conference produced a declaration of support for the government's actions.