During my two years in then West Pakistan, based on visits I made to Swat. then ruled by a carried over Raj era family principality, good progress was being made from the grass roots up: schools and colleges for boys and girls; light industry; good agriculture; tourism among the best in the world; great fishing and hunting; mountaineering.

What pulled Swat backward then and now was extremist religious practices and views. The benevolent, albiet non-democratic rulers were eventually pushed out, the necessity to keep a semblance of law and order came about, and coerced Sharia in it's most extreme forms reached it's apex today, and is now being resisted by the local tribes people who are being murdered at worship, Mulims murdering Muslims, while at mosque services, Sunnis attacking Shias.

Too, Christians, while a minority in Swat, had a peaceful coexistance until this era of the Taliban and al Qaida.

I have acquaintances today from Swat who are highly successful as professionals (MDs, recent Harvard Law graduate, etc.) who hate and want an end to the use of extremist religion/terrorism to try to take an unwilling people down to neolothic barbarism.

Terrorists and al Qaida hiding behind the good name of Islam are now being fought vigorously by the several tribes within Swat and this is most welcome. They are fed up and enough is enough bloodshed by the terrorists.


By the way, Sanderman's 'hearts and minds' amongst the Baloch was created precisely to counter the 'butcher and bolt' policies that 'Henry Lawrence's Young Men' started with the Pashtun, particularly as practiced in Waziristan and Swat. Heard of those places lately? It seems neither tactics nor strategy have changed much in more than a century, so what have we learned?
Basic freedoms involve the haves and the have nots, but social and religious issue of helping the have nots improve their lot is life is opposed by the terrorists, who fight progress to keep the people, the have nots, in economic subjigation in "the name of radical terrorism" which they try to "smoke screen" as religion.

The grass roots have to have basic freedoms and be allowed to practice moderate Islam, too.