The Valley of Swat is famous for its fruit laden orchards, fertile lands, snowcapped peaks, the mighty and zigzagging River Swat, waterfalls, lush green pastures, azure lakes and not the least, the relics of Gandhara and Darada civilisations.

But extremists distorted its hospitable image by their activities.

It is rightly called Switzerland of Pakistan. In 2002, a Swiss tourist declared Swat more beautiful than her homeland.

When asked how she found Swat she replied, “In beauty Swat is more than Switzerland but there is no Gul Khan there in my homeland”. Gul Khan was the name of the security personnel assigned with the duty to escort the tourist. She was very tired of the gun.

Thus security issues destroyed every aspect of our lives. These have even damaged the image of our heavens like Swat. Adding to the destruction by the insurgency the floods in Swat two years back damaged the remaining infrastructure, particularly of the upper narrower valley of Swat. This part is usually termed as Swat-Kohistan, the mountainous valley in the extreme north of Swat.

This valley is almost equal to the rest of Swat in terms of area. The valley begins upward from Madyan and ends with Ghizer (Gilgit-Baltistan) and Chitral in the north; with Indus Kohistan in the west while it meets Upper Dir in the East. This is the part for whose beauty Swat is famous for. Here lie the gleaming peaks of Koshein (Mankiyal Peak) and Palasaar or Falak Ser. Along the main valley of Swat Kohistan a number of sub-valleys lead to the vast pastures and precious forests.

Each of these side valleys has dozen of azure lakes. Mahudand and Kandol lakes are just two among many that have so far been accessed. By the banks of these lakes are the glaciers which feed the River Swat. The sub-valleys have great potential of winter sports such as skiing. Moreover, they can be used for trekking and other eco-tourism ventures.

Ethnically Swat-Kohistan is home to the ancient Dardic languages Torwali, Gawri, Badeshi and Ushojo with Torwali in majority.

Total population is estimated 265,000 with fewer sources of livelihood in the form of terraced and scarce arable land. This is the main reason why the people of Swat Kohistan migrate to cities especially in winter, and almost 30 percent of the Torwali people have permanently migrated to major cities of Pakistan. Other sources of income for a fringe of society are tourism and the loyalty from forest logging.

Blessed with natural resources in the form of water and forest Swat Kohistan is equally cursed with acute poverty and utter ignorance. Poverty here is more than 85 per cent while literacy rate in male is hardly 12 per cent and in female it is less than two per cent. Being mostly ignorant people cannot even identify their problems let alone to fix them.

The Taliban insurgency was not as severe here as it was in lower Swat. Only a couple of schools had been blasted by the militants here. But Swat Kohistan is the worst victim of the terrible floods two years back.

The bazaars of Bahrain, Kalam and Madyan along with whole villages along the river bed were damaged by the floods; all the link bridges over the River Swat were washed away and the main road of 70 kilometers from Fatepur to Utror was damaged completely. Though this road was not better before the floods yet it worked as the main means of communication. For a long year the destroyed road was not restored.

However, the people and the military did their best to restore a track. This track was no less than a route to death. Accidents were daily routine and owing to the jolts a number of miscarriages happened to the pregnant women who took the risk to travel by it. Life was thus struggling in the area while the governments were busy in stating hollow promises.

This summer the army repaired the road apparently for the Swat Summer Festival held this July in Kalam and Mahudand but the road is still rubble and poses terrible problems for the locals and the tourists. Hats off to the tourists who somehow manage to flock to the area despite the road and poor infrastructure! Perhaps they are driven to these mountains by the power crisis in the cities.

Nonetheless, credit also goes to the military and the United States Agency for International Development which did commendable job in restoring the hotel industry in Swat besides the promotion of the natural beauty and peace of the area. But what has so far been done is far less than enough.Tourism, read ecotourism, can be utilised as a great source of socioeconomic uplift of the people of the area. For that the main road from Mingora to Kalam is a lifeline. This road needs to be constructed of international standard, perhaps an Expressway keeping in mind the mitigation measures regarding likely damage to environment and biodiversity. In addition to the main road the side valleys should be accessed with roads and used for both winter and summer tourism.

Earlier this year, we heard the Swat district coordination officer, saying a fund of Rs6 billion had been allocated for constructing 50 kilometers of road in the area. According to him bidding was supposed to be held on May 2 this year but unfortunately that never happened.

A couple of months ago we read in newspapers that a fund of Rs2.54 billion was allocated for the road. Rs6 billion reduced to Rs2.5 billion and we still have to see work commenced on the road. No one knows when this will happen.