Institutional Vaccum, Violence and the State: the case of Swat, Pakistan Date: Monday 25th November 2013, 12.00-13.00 Venue: Room G.06, 32LIF Building, LSE Further Information: Email Wendy Foulds at [email protected] Speaker: Asad Sayeed, Director and Senior Researcher Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi, Pakistan Asad Sayeed works on issues of local governance and state-society relations in Swat and will present his latest findings from recent fieldwork in the area. His research seeks to understand the underlying causes of conflict in Swat, and hence the policy changes and politico-economic initiatives that will be needed for conflict resolution in the future. Research findings to date suggest that issues of land ownership, inheritance and forest management have been key drivers of conflict in the region. Frequent changes in the legal framework generally, and on land issues in particular, have created opportunities for an alternative system of justice based on Sharia law. Muddled responses from the State to these developments created the context for militancy. The role of Pakistan’s foreign and security policy in determining the ideological dimension of militancy, as well as its intensity, also appears to be salient. Background: The Swat region in Pakistan has witnessed militancy perpetrated by Islamic extremists over the last two decades. Violence reached its zenith in the period 2007-2009 when the Taliban occupied the area by force and administered it according to their own brand of governance and justice. The army then took back the territory earlier ceded by the state. While Islamist militancy has a long and complex history in Pakistan, the case of Swat is in many ways unique in the evolution of the post-colonial state in Pakistan. Swat was a Princely state until 1969 when it was formally incorporated within the administrative jurisdiction of Pakistan. However, 44 years later the process of state formation in the region remains incomplete and is seemingly subservient to the larger geo-strategic imperatives of the State.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 16:13:06 +0000
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