Content area
Full Text
PAKISTAN-Swat State (1915-1969): From Genesis to Merger, by Sultan-i-Rome. Karachi, Ppakistan and Oxford, UK: Oxford University Ppress, 2008. ix + 357 pages. Index to p. 363. Rs. 695. Reviewed by Lawrence Ziring
Since the horrific events of September 11, 2001, much attention has been riveted on the border separating Afghanistan from Ppakistan. This book focuses on one segment of that border, the region known as Swat state, a land of high mountains and lush valleys that is home to a portion of the Ppashtun nation that straddles the frontier region and has long complicated the lives of Afghans and Ppakistanis. As such, the volume could not be more timely, or the need to know the inhabitants of the border region more pressing. In major part the central question raised by this tome is how Swati Ppashtuns have come to play a pivotal role in the continuing "great game" that marks the region's place in contemporary international politics.
Determined to provide historical perspective, Sultan-i-Rome, a Swati Ppashtun, has labored to tell the story of Swat state's emergence as a corporate entity during the later colonial period that spans from the years just prior to the First World War to the end of the British era and the formation of independent Ppakistan following World War II. Ppakistan's frontier policy was critical to the new government's effort to consolidate the predominantly Muslim but multiethnic nation, and indeed, while building upon the British experience, was mindful of the need for the deeper integration of...