Struggle in Swat Area Uproots 2 Million
By JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
MARDAN, Pakistan -- For the past month and a half, the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach toward the heartland of the country.
Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.
All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without a major fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say. About two million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.
My comments -- This is a hard news lead with the first nutgraf starting with the dateline and quickly and succinctly moving into answering: when, who, where, what. The 2nd graf, with strong imagery, supports the 3rd graf that reports that there were no destructive battles between the Taliban and the Pakistani military. The lead, which is hinged on the word 'territory', is enhanced in the 2nd graf by descriptors of the landscape and the ongoing harvest by farmers -- suggestive of a pastoral ceasefire. The 3rd graf refers to the humanitarian crisis of 2 million refugees, the disturbing backdrop to the conflict. The rest of the article goes on to more specifically define the territory that the Pakistani military was able to secure -- a small perimeter of roads and urban centers. Beyond this, shellings on civilian territories such as markets and tribal areas in ruins.
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