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Swat (Pakistan)
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Swat (Pashto/Urdu: ????) is a valley and an administrative district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan located 160 km/100 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora. It was a princely state (see State of Swat) in the NWFP until it was dissolved in 1969. With high mountains, green meadows, and clear lakes, it is a place of great natural beauty that used to be popular with tourists as "the Switzerland of Pakistan"..
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Swat (Pashto/Urdu: ????) is a valley and an administrative district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan located 160 km/100 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora. It was a princely state (see State of Swat) in the NWFP until it was dissolved in 1969. With high mountains, green meadows, and clear lakes, it is a place of great natural beauty that used to be popular with tourists as "the Switzerland of Pakistan".. In December 2008 most of the area was captured by the Taliban insurgency and is now too dangerous for tourism. Islamist militant leader Maulana Fazlullah and his group Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi have banned education for girls and have bombed or torched "more than 170 schools ... along with other government-owned buildings."
History
The Swat River is mentioned in the Rig Veda 8.19.37 as the Suvastu river. Swat has been inhabited for over two thousand years and was known in ancient times as the Udyana. The first inhabitants were settled in well-planned towns. The independent monarchs of this region came under Achaemenid influence, before reverting back to local control in the 4th century BC. In 327 BC, Alexander the Great fought his way to Udegram and Barikot. In Greek accounts these towns have been identified as Ora and Bazira. By 305 BC, the region became a part of the Mauryan Empire. Around the 2nd century BC, the area was occupied by Buddhists, the Indo-Greeks, and the Kushans who were attracted by the peace and serenity of the land. Swat is thought to be the probable birthplace of Vajrayana Buddhism. There are many archaeological sites in the district, and Buddhist relics are common, testimony to their skills as sculptors and architects.
Buddhist heritage of Swat
Padmasambhava was the son of Indrabhuti, king of Swat in the early eighth century AD.
The secular Swat museum has acquired footprints of the Buddha, which were originally placed for devotion in the sacred Swat valley. When the Buddha ascended, relics (personal items, body parts, ashes etc.) were distributed to seven kings, who built stupas over them for veneration.
The Harmarajika stupa (Taxila) and Butkarha (Swat) stupa at Jamal Garha were among the earliest Gandhara stupas. These were erected on the orders of King Ashoka and contained the genuine relics of the historic Buddha.
The Gandhara school is credited with the first representations of the Buddha in human form, rather symbolically as the wheel of the law, the tree, etc.
As Buddhist art developed and spread outside India, Indian styles were imitated. In China the Gandhara style was imitated in bronze images, with gradual changes in the features of these images over the passage of time. Swat, the land of romance and beauty, is celebrated throughout the Buddhist world as the holy land of Buddhist learning and piety. Swat was a popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims. Buddhist tradition holds that Buddha himself came to Swat during his incarnation as Gautama Buddha and preached to the people here.
It is said that the Swat valley was filled with fourteen hundred imposing and beautiful stupas and monasteries, which housed as many as 6,000 gold images of the Buddhist pantheon for worship and education. Archaeologists now know of more than 400 Buddhist sites covering an area of 160 km in Swat valley alone. Among the important excavations of Buddhist sites in Swat an important one is Butkarha-I, containing original relics of the Buddha.
A stone statue of Buddha, is still there in the village Ghalegay. There is also a big stupa in Mohallah Singardar Ghalegay.
Hindu Shahi Rulers and Sanskrit
Swat was ruled by the Hindu Shahi dynasty who have built an extensive array of temples and other architectural buildings now in ruins. Sanskrit was the language of the Swatis.
Advent of Islam by Mahmud of Ghazni
Later, when the King of Kabul Mirza Ulagh Beg attempted to assassinate the dominant chiefs of the Yousafzais they took refuge under the umbrella of the Swati Kings of Swat and Bajour. The whole area was dominated by the Swati/Jahangiri Sultans of Swat for centuries. According to H. G. Raverty, the Jahangiri Kings of Swat had ruled from Jalalabad to Jhelum. After more than two decades of guerrilla warfare, they were dispossessed by the Yousafzais. The majority of the aboriginal inhabitants of Swat migrated to the Hazara region to the east, where Swatis predominate with their surname Swati, reflecting their link to the region.
Swat River
Swat River (Urdu: ?????? ????) flows from the Hindukush Mountains through the Kalam Valley into the Kabul River in the Peshawar valley, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan.
The Swat River irrigates large areas of Swat District and contributes to the fishing industry of the region. Ayub Bridge is one of the attractions for visitors. The scenery attracts many tourists from all over Pakistan during the summer. There are two main hydro-electric power projects on canals from the Swat River which generate electricity for local usage. The Swat River joins the Kabul River near Charsadda, in the Peshawar valley.
The Swat River is mentioned in Rig Veda 8.19.37 as the Suvastu river.. It is said that Alexander the Great crossed the Swat River with part of his army and before turning south to subdue the locals at what are now Barikoot and Odegram. Also, the banks of this river, which was earliest known as Shrivastu, later Suvastu.
Demographics
The population at the 1981 Census was 715,938, which had risen to 1,257,602 at the next Census in 1998. The main language of the area is Pashto. The people of Swat are mainly Pashtuns, Kohistanis and Gujars. Some have very distinctive features. Most probably they are originated from the same tribe who are roamed around the great trans-Himalayan mountain ranges thousands of years before, and now remained in some isolated but extremely beautiful pockets of Himalayan mountain ranges.
The dardic people of the Kalam region in northern Swat are known as Kohistanis and speak the Torwali and Kalami languages. There are also some Khowar speakers in the Kalam region. This is because before Kalam came under the rule of Swat it was a region tributary to Chitral the Kalamis paid a tribute of mountain ponies to the Mehtar of Chitral every year.
Tourist attractions
There was a popular ski resort in Swat at Malam Jabba, 40 km north east of Saidu Sharif, closed in 2007 due to the decreasing ability of the Pakistani government to maintain security in the region. In June 2008, the ski resort was burned down by militants.
Administration
The region has gone through considerable changes over the last few years since the dissolution of the princely state.
The district is represented in the provincial assembly by seven elected MPAs who represent the following constituencies:
Provincial & national politics
The region elects two male members of the National Assembly of Pakistan (MNAs), one female MNA, seven male members of the Provincial Assembly of the North-West Frontier Province (MPAs) and two female MPAs. In the 2002 National and Provincial elections, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religious political parties, won all the seats amidst a wave of anti-Americanism that spread after the United States invasion of Afghanistan.
Local politics
As of 2009 the area is almost entirely controlled by the Taliban.
The present government of Pakistan has permitted the rule of Sharia (administration by the Islamic Sharia law) effective from 16th of February 2009.
In August 2001, a new local government system was introduced by the military-led government of Pervez Musharraf. The new system consists of a District Nazim (or mayor) and a deputy Naib Nazim, and the district in turn was subdivided into two tehsils. The first is Swat Tehsil with 52 union councils and the other is Matta Tehsil with 13 union councils. Each tehsil has its own Nazim and Naib Nazim.
The District Nazim is Jamal Nasir Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League and his Naib Nazim is Malik Sadiq Ahmed. Swat Tehsil's Nazim is Fazal Rehman Nono from the Pakistan Peoples Party, while its Naib Nazim is Shah Dawran from the Awami National Party. In Matta Tehsil, the Nazim is Abdul Jabbar Khan and Zakir Khan, both of the Awami National Party (ANP).
Taliban insurgency and attacks on non-combatants
In recent years, militant groups in the Swat valley, led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, began attacking and killing civilians as well as police checkposts in Swat. In 59 villages, the militants set up a "parallel government" with Islamic courts imposing sharia law. The region was largely under effective militant control as of January 2009 despite the presence of 20,000 Pakistani troops. Local opponents of the militants have been harshly critical of Pakistani civil society for its lack of concern for their plight as well as critical of the military and provincial government for their ineffective measures for controlling the tide of militancy.
Developments in 2009
A January 21, 2009 issue of the Pakistan daily newspaper The News, reports Taliban enforcement of a complete ban on female education in the Swat district. Some 400 private schools enrolling 40,000 girls have been shut down. At least 10 girls' schools that tried to open after the January 15, 2009 deadline by the Taliban were blown up by the militants in the town of Mingora, the headquarters of the Swat district. "More than 170 schools have been bombed or torched, along with other government-owned buildings."
In a stated attempt at bringing peace to this region, the Pakistani Government on 16 February 2009, signed a peace accord with the Taliban and agreed to the imposition of Sharia law in Swat and suspension of military offensives against the Taliban. This agreement invoked mixed reactions from the locals, some of whom are relieved on the prospect of relative peace. Others are more skeptical about the Talibanisation of this scenic paradise and the push that this accord would give to the spread of Taliban's movement in Pakistan. International concern primarily stems from the rigidity with which the Taliban is seen to be imposing Sharia. Others point to the impact such an accord will have in empowering radical Islamists and the jihadi movement in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Late 2007:
After a four-month truce ended in late September 2007, fighting resumed. The paramilitary Frontier Constabulary was deployed to the area, but initially were reported to be ineffective. On November 16, 2007 Militants were reported to have captured Alpuri district headquarters in neighbouring Shangla. The local police fled without resisting the advancing militant force which, in addition to local militants, also included Uzbek, Tajik and Chechen volunteers.
In late November 2007, Pakistani regular forces threw out Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi militants from its stronghold in the Kabal District of north-western Swat. About 250 militants died in two weeks of fighting according to Pakistani authorities and the militants retreated into the mountains. By December 2007, the militants were on the run, with the valley "largely cleared". Pakistani officials stated at that time that it would take four months to re-establish functioning institutions in the area, in the wake of Islamist ruin.
Killing of Malak Bakht Baidar:
On January 13, 2007, Malak Bakht Baidar, vice-president of Awami National Party, District Swat, and well-known businessman, was kidnapped from his village home and killed by around 80 masked and armed militants. Bakht Baidar belonged to a noble and wealthy family and was one of the younger sons of Ferdost Malak, resided in Mamdherai. Bakht Baidar was known for his nobility and progressive political work in district Swat. He had been resisting Maulvi Fazlullah's agenda from the outset. He was also known to have attended meetings with security forces during their operation in the valley. Bakht Baidar was buried in his ancestral graveyard in Mamdherai, Swat.
Kidnapping of Israr Muhammad:
The militants have also kidnapped Professor Israr Muhammad of Swat Govt College, who strongly opposed them, trying to enlighten people about their actions. His two sons, Zubair Ahmad and Younas Muhammad, were also supporting his father against militants. But on 21 August 2008, Israr and Zubair were kidnapped by militants. His other son, Younas, is out of Swat, and the militants are searching for him. The Taliban claim they are non-Muslims because they are against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Trying to find Younas, the Taliban are searching in Peshawar and Mardan, and have delivered brochures stating that Younas is wanted by Sharia Court in Swat.
Targeting Afzal Khan Lala:
Abdul Jabbar Khan was wounded during an attack on ANP leaders by gunmen on 21 September 2007. The attacker killed two people and wounded three members of the ANP, including Mohammad Afzal Khan Lala, ex-federal minister and central leader of the ANP. On 24 January 2008, Zakir Khan, the Naib Nazim of Matta Tehsil, was killed in an attack by gunmen along with his brother, Shakir Khan, and friends. Zakir Khan was a nephew of Tehsil Matta's Nazim, Abdul Jabbar Khan, and grandson of Mohammad Afzal Khan Lala, a senior member of ANP and former federal minister.
Charbagh Tehsil suicide bombing:
On August 23, 2008 a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a police station in Charbagh Tehsil of Swat valley, killing 20 people. The Tehrik-e-Taleban organization claimed responsibility.
Swat’s situation is worsening further and the Taliban now control most of the valley.
February 2009 Ceasefire
The Pakistani government announced on February 16, 2009 that it would allow Taliban's version of Sharia law in the Malakand region. In return, Fazlullah's followers agreed to observe a ceasefire negotiated by Sufi Muhammad.
Reactions to Ceasefire
- NATO feared that the agreement would only serve to allow militants to regroup and to create a safe haven for cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
- Amnesty International expressed concern that the agreement would legitimize human rights abuses in the region.
See also
External links
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