Pakistan's Swat Valley
A Former Tourist Haven Under Islamic Law
The Swat Valley, a Pakistani administrative district referred to as Asia’s Switzerland, has been home to a decades long struggle between the Pakistani government and militant groups agitating to impose Islamic law. Since its integration into the state of Pakistan in 1969, uprisings in the Swat Valley have consistently challenged the authority of the Pakistani government. In 1990, the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), founded by Cleric Maulana Sufi Muhammad, became a dominant voice in the Malakand division of the North West Frontier Province with its demand to administer the region according to the laws of Sharia.
Maulana Muhammad was an active member of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s oldest religious party, which advocates for the implementation of Islamic law, before breaking from the group to establish TNSM. In 1994, TNSM launched an armed uprising in the North West Frontier Province, and negotiated a cease-fire that involved the implementation of the Nazim-e-Adl Regulation in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas. The Nazim-e-Adl Regulation reinforced the Sharia system, and Qazi Courts that had existed in the tribal area before its incorporation into Pakistan, and created a parallel justice system that enabled people to chose between the laws of Pakistan, or the laws of Sharia. In 1999, the Pakistani government again adopted the Nazim-e-Adl Regulation, however, the TNSM led vocal demonstrations against amendments made to it, and called for the abolishment of the jurisdiction of Pakistan’s Supreme Court in the area.
Since 2001, the Swat Valley, with its majority Pahstun population, has served as a refuge for Taliban forces regrouping from the U.S. led invasion in Afghanistan, and has received support and assistance from the TNSM. In 2001, Maulana Muhammed was sentenced to 7 years in prison for leading thousands of his followers to Afghanistan to fight U.S. forces with the Taliban. In 2002, the TNSM was outlawed in Pakistan for its support of terrorism; however, it continued to operate under the leadership of Maulana Fazlullah, Sufi Muhammed’s son-in-law. In October 2007, the TNSM overran Pakistani government outposts in the Swat Valley, which initiated a bloody confrontation with Pakistan’s military. In December 2007, the TNSM joined forces with Baitullah Mehsud’s Tehrik-e-Taliban, which has created an explosive situation for the Pakistani Government, and transformed the Swat Valley from a tourist attraction and popular ski resort to a stomping ground for militants, and the epicenter of an insurgency that threatens to embroil Pakistan in a full-blown civil war.
Peace talks between the Pakistani government, and a negotiator representing the Taliban, and the TNSM in the Swat Valley have been underway since Spring 2008. The enforcement of the laws of Sharia in the Malakand region, and Swat Valley was a major component of the 17 point agreement hammered out over months of negotiations, and on February 15, 2009 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law the Nazim-e-Adl Regulation of 2009, which amended the previous regulation of 1999 and 1994, in exchange for a cease-fire with Islamic militants in the Swat Valley. American diplomats have publicly disapproved of the Swat deal, and expressed fear that it will further transform the Swat Valley into an operational center for the Taliban; however, the Telegraph reported that American officials quietly supported the deal with the hope that it will drive a wedge between the TNSM and Mehsud’s Taliban forces.
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Swat River
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