The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Uchrai

Hardcore militants who seized Pakistan's most scenic valley are still holed up in its snowy heights, three months after President Pervez Musharraf sent in the army to show his resolve against spreading Islamic extremism.

Down below, life in the towns that dot the Swat Valley has returned to something approaching normality. But bombings persist and Mullah Fazlullah, the firebrand cleric behind last year's Taliban-style uprising, remains at large.

In November, the army launched one of its biggest operations since Pakistan threw its support behind the U.S.-led war against terrorism six years ago. On Monday, the military ferried journalists by helicopter to three mountaintop positions to show the territory its more than 10,000-strong force has retaken.