Pakistan seeks national support against Taliban

[Coventina]

Source: CNN

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani government convened a meeting on Monday of nearly all of the country's political parties, in an effort to consolidate broad national support for its military operation to crush Taliban militants in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley.

The leaders of 42 political parties were expected to attend the All Party Congress in Islamabad, the capital.

In a separate move to pressure the Taliban, hundreds of Muslim clerics gathered in Islamabad on Sunday, to issue a unanimous declaration that denounced the militants' violent tactics.

"Suicide attacks and beheading is haram," the resolution said. "Haram" means forbidden, according to Islam.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/18/pakistan.politics.mobilization/