A number of positive things have happened in Swat and the rest of Malakand division in recent days and weeks. Educational institutions have opened in some, if not all, conflict-hit places, and these include girls' schools which were a favourite target of the rampaging Taliban. Repatriation of displaced people is in full swing to areas that, according to the military, have been cleared of the militants. Certain basic services have been restored to Mingora and Saidu Sharif and some other towns and villages. The police are again visible on the streets and the civil administration is being slowly revived.
However, a lot needs to be done to make the situation normal. Elected representatives, including lawmakers and nazims and other prominent people such as anti-Taliban landlords, have yet to return to their hometowns due to insecurity. Their return would be the yardstick for judging whether the situation is normal or not. The judges too don't feel secure to resume their work in Swat and parts of other districts in Malakand division. Commercial, agricultural and other economic activities will take time to revive, and until then it won't be easy to provide means of livelihood to the affected people. Tourism, once the mainstay of Swat's economy, and marble mining, the major job- and income-generating industry in Buner, will remain a closed chapter in the foreseeable future.
http://newageislam.com/swat--not-the-end-of-the-road/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1709
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3:23 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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