Comments on: The Akond of Swat

By: » The Akhond of Swat | Pragati

» The Akhond of Swat | Pragati — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:42:06 +0000

[...] WHO OR WHY, or which, or what, is Maulana Fazlullah of Swat? Recent headlines from Pakistan have been grim—pitched battles with many reports of casualties and mass migration of civilians from the conflict region. Yet, the foreign media hasn’t really focused on Maulana Fazlullah—perhaps thinking that the story of “Talibanisation” covers this particular mullah just as well as it does any other. At a cursory glance, it all does blend in. The overall deterioration in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in recent years—specifically in Waziristan, the Malakand Agency regions, Dir, Bajaur, Swat and areas around Peshawar—is often called “Talibanisation” and is often pegged to the aftermath of the Afghanistan war of 2001. There is, though, a longer history that offers some additional venues of thought. At the very least, it tells us to pay attention to the local even as we highlight the trans-national aspects of movements like the Taliban. More on Manan Ahmed’s blog » [...]

By: MAR

MAR — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:59:23 +0000

Thanks for giving us a rare historical account about the chaos that is encircling NWFP and Baluchistan. I couldn’t agree with you more when you say that we have very little understanding about what is happening in FATA, Baluchistan and Swat. It seems like there are too many vested interests who are happy chasing these ghosts of Taliban and Al-Qaeda to bother with the ground realities of these places.

By: MB

MB — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:46:52 +0000

And we thought we had defeated USSR in Afghanistan.

Pay the price now PAKISTAN

By: Global Voices Online » Pakistan: A brief history of Swat

Global Voices Online » Pakistan: A brief history of Swat — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:10:52 +0000

[...] Chapati Mystery explains the issues surrounding Swat in Pakistan. Share This [...]

By: Who Are They? « A Fine Imbalance

Who Are They? « A Fine Imbalance — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:56:22 +0000

[...] these issues in mind, Sepoy’s excellent post on the current happenings in Swat is timely. It has raised a point that I think is very important: [...]

By: Desi Italiana

Desi Italiana — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:44:43 +0000

Sepoy,

Thank you for writing this.

We’ve been hearing a lot on what is going on in Swat, and I’m not sure what to make of what is going on in Swat, mostly because I’m suspicious of whenever the military offs people as “terrorists” and “fundamentalists.” I think this comes from the situation in Baluchistan– much of my reading points to the idea that Musharraf and the military get rid of people whom they call “fundies/terrorists” when in fact they are political opponents who are NOT fundies.

Apart from Fazlullah’s whacky radio broadcasts (which have been reported on), the decision to shut down schools etc, things are somewhat still fuzzy for me re: Swat. But your post gives a good background and starting point to what is going on.

***

This is totally off topic, but when I read “But not simply for their militant struggle for the establishment of an Islamic polity, they came to represent a profound connection to the revivalist thought of nineteenth century Muslims in India,” I remembered how I was surprised and my interest was peaked when I read in another book that there were staunch resistance from certain sections of NWFP which were against Partition and a religious based polity in any shape or manner. I really think there is a scarcity of giving exposure to movements of this kind in areas that we have basically tagged as “anti-democracy,” pro religious politics, fanatical, and so on. It’s like how people don’t know that there ARE Pakistani communists when in fact there are…