Socio-Economic Uplift In Swat After Its Merger With Pakistan

Abstract

Swat was merged with Pakistan 1969. Previously it enjoyed the status on an indecent princely state in India before partition and even in Pakistan for more than two decades. The socio-economic conditions of this state were better than the other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was after merger that a gradual decline in the socio-economic conditions of the people was clearly discernible. But soon after merger, the people of the valley started immigration to other parts of the world and foreign remittances were sent by them. Education also paved way to the social change and economic prosperity of the valley. This study aims at exploring the socio-economic uplift of the valley in the wake of its merger with Pakistan. It also takes into account the different factors that contributed to the said uplift. It highlights some of trhe negative trends in the society in Swat.