Swat Valley Floods

Swat valley used to be one of the most visited parts of Pakistan. Swat Valley was one of the richest areas of Pakistan with its large part of money coming from tourism. However, the conflict in which this region was trapped for the last years and the natural catastrophes that have occurred in the area have made it a living hell for its citizens. Read on valleyswat.org and find out more about what used to be called ‘mini Switzerland’ of Pakistan.

The Swat Valley is located in the Khyber Paktunkhwa province of Pakistan, at about 160 kilometers away from Islamabad, the capital of this South Asian country. Swat Valley is situated on the upper side of the Swat River, the river from which the valley obviously got its name. The main town in the region is Mingora and it used to be a princely state until it was dissolved in the late 1960s. The landscape is popular around the world for its high mountains with green meadows and clear lakes and it was what brought millions of tourists to this country. But the conflict that started few years ago and the natural disasters that occurred in the region in 2010, have transformed the swat Valley from a flourishing community to a place where not even its inhabitants would want to be.

Disaster in this valley occurred for the first time some years ago when Islamist militants tried to impose sharia law. The Pakistani government reacted by sending in troops and trying to control the area. After many battles, a continuous war and thousands of victims from each of the camps, peace seemed closer to achieve when a compromise was made by the government who finally accepted to impose sharia law in the valley. But happiness did not come back to the Swat Valley.

Swat valley Floods occurred in the summer of 2010 and they brought along more misery and more poverty. The area wasn’t too developed as it was and the Swat Valley Flood made it even worse. Houses were lost, roads were destroyed and the natural disaster was used by the Islamist militants to reinforce themselves. The damages caused by the Swat Valley Floods were beyond imagination. Even the officials admitted that they are not prepared for a Swat Valley Flood of that scale and magnitude. The civilians who remained here even after the first insurgencies, are now left with nothing. The Swat Valley Floods took the shelter of many of them.

Swat Valley Floods have passed now and the region has managed to get back together, slowly. However, the Swat Valley Floods did not push the militants away and talks are still being carried out in order to come with a compromise and provide civilians living here a peaceful life.