'Taliban are like a balloon, you squeeze them over here and they pop up over there'

New Delhi , May 8 (ANI): Pakistan may have declared an all out war against the Taliban in the Swat and Malakand Division of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), but many believe that it is almost impossible to contain the advancing militia, which they liken to a balloon that can not be stopped from popping up in different directions when subjected to pressure.

With Swat and Malakand already under the Taliban's grip, fears are rife that it is almost a matter of time when Mardan, situated just 30 miles away from Swat, would cave in to the extremists.

Thousands of people have started fleeing Mardan, situated along the strategic Islamabad-Peshawar highway, fearing a probable siege by the Taliban.

"People are so nervous, they're filled with great fear," head of a local humanitarian group, Mardan Foundation, Yasir Ali Bacha said.

When informed that the Army has declared a war against the extremist and has vowed to flush them out of the region, Bacha said it was very difficult, a task next to impossible to suppress the insurgents.

"The Taliban are like a balloon. You squeeze them over here and they pop up over there," the Los Angeles Times quoted Bacha, as saying.

Furthermore, as history suggests, even if the army is successful in quelling the insurgency in the region, they will soon leave and the Taliban will be back. (ANI)