A princely state in NWFP until it was dissolved in 1969, Swat was a famous centre of Buddhism during the Mauryan period. In December 2008, most of this area was captured by Taliban insurgents headed by Maulana Fazlullah and his group Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi. In most places, they have established a parallel Government with their own code of law based on the Shariat. Traditionally the area has been a stronghold of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Awami National Party, but the militants are trying to weed out their supporters. Nearly a third of Swat’s 1.5 million people have migrated due to the fighting.
The present
The area has been under indefinite curfew since January 26. So effective is Fazlullah’s army of 10,000 that that the government’s influence is now largely confined to just 36 sq km of territory in and around the main town Mingora. His feared — and well-equipped — rebel army reportedly takes its cue from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an extremist organisation headed by Baitullah Masud, the commander suspected of orchestrating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The two came together in the aftermath of a sweeping military operation in 2007 at the Red Mosque in Islamabad that killed many seminary students and clerics.
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3:38 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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