ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Security forces killed over 230 militants and arrested 90, including some foreign nationals, since the start of operation in Swat, according to interior ministry spokesman Brig (retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema.

In his weekly press briefing on law and order on Tuesday, he said the operation in Swat was continuing and expressed the hope that elections in Swat would be held on January 8, along with other parts of the country.

“With the situation improving in Swat, people of the region will also exercise their franchise in the coming elections,” he said.

He was optimistic that the operation in Swat would be over in about a week and the atmosphere there would be conducive to elections.

The campaign in Swat, he said, was being conducted with due prudence and maximum care to cause minimum hardship to the people. “The situation has considerably improved and most of the areas have been cleared of the militants, enabling local residents to resume their normal activities.”

Mr Cheema said the civil administration was functioning normally in Swat and Shangla and police had set up pickets. The writ of the government, he added, would be also established in other areas. “Now the people of Swat are in the vanguard and working with the security forces.”

About security arrangements and transparency in the coming elections, the spokesman said the government had announced that it would welcome international observers and media personnel to watch the electoral process. “The government would facilitate the observers to monitor the polls on the ground across the length and breadth of the country.”

The provincial governments and security personnel have been asked to provide all possible facilities to the observers and mediapersons.

Mr Cheema said the caretaker government was giving top priority to maintaining of peace during the polls.

The spokesman said that as part of government’s efforts to promote a congenial atmosphere for the elections, almost all political leaders and activists taken into custody after the imposition of emergency had been freed, except for a few who would be freed soon.When asked about the release of PPP leader Aitzaz Hussain, he said the Punjab government would decide about his release at an appropriate time.

Mr Cheema said the government was providing necessary security to former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif.

He said that a mad involved in the explosion in a madressah in Qila Saifullah had been arrested.

The spokesman said that all deposed judges were free to go their homes. But, he said no one could meet them at their official residences.

Mr Cheema said it was up to the Supreme Court to decide how long the deposed judges could avail themselves of the facility of official accommodation.