Remembering Swat's peaceful past


	Remembering Swat's peaceful past

arifsali

5-23-2009 11:04 PM

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tags:

pakistan, swat

arifsali says:

This article also has an audio version by the author which is very interesting.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0f4e611f-2f62-43a4-8d2d-34bdf4f4ae59/560EF1B4-0ED9-4EB3-956C-013B303450A8/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm" style="font-size: 11px;">news.bbc.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">I have no idea what Kalam is like today, and I fear the worst for Swat's other outstanding attraction - the Buddhist ruins.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">When I was there, you did not have to search hard to see priceless ancient etchings in the rock of the valley, or find sites like Butkara, just outside Mingora, built as a Buddhist monastery.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">For thousands of years, these ruins had been preserved, co-existing in the past few centuries with Islam in Swat. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">But it's not hard to imagine the threat posed to the Buddhist heritage both by the conflict and by the Taliban's attitude to anything pre-Islamic. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">In the days of the old Swat, we used to wish it would fulfil its potential as a tourist destination - although popular with Pakistanis, it could have attracted so many more foreign visitors. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">Their spending power would have made a difference to the many Swatis working in the fledgling hospitality business. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm">Today, my wish is much simpler - if only we could have the old Swat back</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8062084.stm"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/news.bbc.co.uk/img/54661475-349A-4623-8EFE-6B913E045F54" alt="Swat valley" /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/560EF1B4-0ED9-4EB3-956C-013B303450A8/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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