By Sartaj Khan
In Swat feudals are known as "Khans" while "Pakhtun" refers to those who have cultivated land and are prosperous. "Sayyeds" and "Mians" generally also have land. This particular section of society has traditionally controlled wealth and politics for centuries before it was challenged from two sides: the emerging commercial class and the new middle classes, and the landless.
Those not owning land consist of two groups. The first are the old inhabitants of the valley who were marginalised by the area's conquest by Yusufzais in the 16th century. They consist of the Gujars and Ajar. The latter, known in Pashto as Kasbgar, include blacksmiths, cobblers and hair-dressers. "All alike are directly or indirectly dependent on the landowners both politically and economically," in the words of anthropologist Fredrik Bath.
In some ways, Swat's society is divided on the lines of the caste system, or social groups "of a caste type," as Bath called it. The body of a commoner cannot be buried near the grave of a Mian. However, the emergence of a "new middle class" -- such as real-estate agents, transporters, contractors, people in the armed forces and the bureaucracy, and traders--has been a significant development in challenging the old khanite landed classes in NWFP. Remittances from people whose wealth and power comes from sources other than land also play a crucial role in the development of the emerging middle class.
The appearances of new social players on the social and political arena can be judged from their roles in different movements. The most important are the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). These movements, in the guise of Islamism, are the expressions of the desires of the new middle class and other deprived classes. In one way or the other, they have challenged the dominance of the existing feudal landed autocracy.
The TNSM was founded in 1992 by Sufi Mohammad who, after leaving the Jamaat-e-Islami, launched a movement that enjoyed the support of various sections of society, including ex-servicemen and traders. The TNSM built its support on the criticism of two issues vital to society: the judicial system imposed on the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) and the corrupt electoral and political system of Pakistan. The TNSM rejected electoral politics. Sufi Muhammad saw no hope in society's Islamisation through parliament and opposed the Islamic parties that want to bring changes through parliament. In a speech in Kalam, he said: "There is no room for the vote in Islam and the concept of democracy which some religious political parties are demanding is wrong."
The Supreme Court's verdict on Feb 12, 1994, that PATA regulations are unconstitutional, not only provided legitimacy to the struggle of the TNSM but also gave it impetus. The verdict was followed by mass uprisings in Malakand and adjacent areas. The PATA regulations had replaced the rules of Swat state with its merger to Pakistan in 1969.
After the merger of the ruling family and the Khans, they occupied the lands of the poor, the commoners' lands. Force was used which resulted in clashes. The year 1969 also saw a mass peasant upheaval in the country. The landless occupied the land they cultivated. These settlements are still pending in courts. In the 1990s with the arrival of neo-liberalism, there came the speculation boom in the real-estate business. By now, as a result of autocratic rules and distortions in the Constitution, the existing judicial system in Pakistan was corrupt to the core. Settlement of land cases takes tens of years. Real-estate agents see their land or their commission stuck up in the judicial quagmire. The TNSM was built up on public sentiments and demanded the Sharia as an answer to public grievances. When it came to impose the Sharia the most significant measure of all was the rapid settlement of land disputes.
In 2001, on the eve of the American attack on Afghanistan, public mobilisation of the TNSM for jihad and subsequent events prove to be catastrophic. The debacle in Afghanistan and the arrest of leaders of the movement on return from Afghanistan paved the way for the MMA's gains in the 2002 elections. The leadership of the MMA mobilised the rural poor to defeat the politics of the Khanite landed classes. But the MMA government was soon to be found corrupt to the core as well. Very soon MMA alienated the masses and created distrust in the rural poor.
Islamism builds at the expense of liberal-left-secular-nationalist movement. Pakhtun nationalism (ANP) and Islamic reformism (MMA) failed in challenging western domination and the ruling elite. The Islamism of the Taliban therefore became a force to counter these, with the corrupt rulers portrayed as responsible for the poverty and misery in the country. Poverty, which declined in the 1970s and '80s, has increased since the 1990s.The income of the bottom 20 per cent of households decreased to 5.7 per cent, while in the 1970s and '80s it was 7.5 to 8 per cent. This decline in the total share is more significant for the poorest if inflation is also included.
War and the integration of Pakistan into the world market paved the way for emergences of new movements and changes to old ones. The TNSM was transformed dramatically in the last two years or so. In a society marked with ethnic, cultural, and tribal lineages, Islam and 'Islamic' leaders could transcend the boundaries and unite people for a common cause. In the name of Islam and Sharia class interests can be disseminated. That is where Fazlullah appears on the scene.
Fazlullah, a school dropout in Mingora and a chairlift operator who worked for Rs1,500, emerged as the leader of the Pakistani Taliban of Swat, at the age of 28. "Quick justice and efficient government, this is something that people wanted and this is what the people saw" in Fazlullah, as Prince Asfandiar Amir Zeb, a member of the former ruling family, remarked in an interview with journalist David Montero. Fazlullah's madressa, at Imamderi, was built with the support of the poor and the new middle classes. People across the valley, including women, donated $2.5 million for the cause. But resentment developed in some sections of the middle classes as the movement became more radicalised. Today the militant section of the movement consists of the rural poor, whereas the middle and poorer classes had dominated the TNSM.
Fazlullah communicates with his supporters, through his FM radio. As analyst Khadim Hussain has said: "The marginalised groups have a sense of empowerment in their state of powerlessness. Both the state and the traditional elite, with the political elite of the valley, unfortunately, have all along failed to respond to the aspirations of those who remain marginalised in the already marginalised society of Swat valley."
The militants are targeting the Khans regardless of their political affiliations and have given their fight a class dimension which, in the context of exploitation and oppression that has gone on for centuries, acquires significance in their battle "to win the hearts and minds" of the people.
The writer is an activist. Email: sartaj 2000@yahoo.com