Pakistan will launch an operation against militants in restive South Waziristan "imminently", Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
He was speaking after troops stormed a building at an army base in Rawalpindi, rescuing dozens of people taken hostage in an attack by militants.
Mr Malik blamed the attack, in which 19 died, on the Taliban and al-Qaeda whose strongholds are in South Waziristan.
One militant, thought to be the group's leader, was arrested.
Mr Malik said the government had given its approval to an operation in South Waziristan, and it was now up to the army to decide on its timing.
"The operation is imminent," he said, according to Reuters news agency.
The army has been preparing for a major operation in South Waziristan since it successfully cleared the Swat valley of militants in September.
Correspondents say a string of recent militant attacks have been attempts to dissuade the army from mounting an assault on South Waziristan.
The military in Pakistan had been trying to build public confidence ahead of a major new offensive, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad.
But Pakistanis will be wondering how safe the army can keep them when militants can strike back with such audacity, our correspondent adds.
The attack on Rawalpindi, an army town to the south of the capital, Islamabad, prompted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking during a visit to London, to say militants in Pakistan were increasingly threatening the authority of the state.
But she said the US saw no evidence they were going to succeed, or that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was at threat.
Lahore link
Mr Malik also congratulated the army on its success in ending the hostage situation.
