The Armed Conflict 2007-9 in Swat Valley, Pakistan: An Exploratory Analysis of Violence

This research is an exploratory investigation into the phenomenon of violence in the armed conflict 2007-9 in the Swat valley, between the Taliban and the State of Pakistan. The study aims at analysing violence committed during the conflict, its significance, and the response of the community. It explores violence and its impact in a specific context, and contributes to our conceptual understanding of violence. Because it is a sensitive topic to research and since the concept of violence is inherently complex, a qualitative methodology is adopted. Three approaches which generate three different sets of data are used for triangulation: semi-structured in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and newspaper articles. Through thematic analysis, this research finds that violence was carried out mainly for securing control over areas and maintaining it. In so doing, the civilian population of Swat was subdued through excessive use of three types of violence, namely physical violence, psychological violence, and social violence. “Social violence” in particular, in this context, is a discovery of this research and a significant and unique contribution of the thesis. The commission of violence however had a detrimental impact on the warring parties, making them lose civilian support as a result. Local communities when faced with severe violence had to struggle for survival, a complex phenomenon comprising three types, physical, psychological, and social, paralleling the forms of violence they experienced. The people struggled hard because violence disrupted the society, affecting institutions, values, and social relations. This thesis finds that it was a unique time socially and historically in Swat where significant levels of violence disrupted the societal order. In short, the research not only explores violence in the armed conflict in Swat, but also explains the complex nature of it.