Institutional vacuum, violence and the state: the case of Swat, Pakistan

From 2007 until 2009 the district of Swat in Pakistan’s Khyber Paktunkhwa province was under the control of an armed group aligned with the Pakistani Taliban. Led by the charismatic and tech-savvy Mullah Fazlullah, the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e- Mohammadi’s violent campaign against local elites and state representatives caught the world’s attention.