State of Swat (Urdu: رياست سوات) was a state established in 1849 by the Muslim saint Saidu Baba, also known as Akhund of Swat, and was ruled by Walis of Swat. It was recognized as a princely state in alliance with the British Raj between 1918 and 1947, after which the Akhwand acceded to the newly independent state of Pakistan. Swat continued to exist as an autonomous region until it was dissolved in 1969, and incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly North-West Frontier Province). The area it covered is now divided among the present-day districts of Swat, Buner, Kohistan and Shangla.
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Swat (princely state) in the context of Northwest Frontier Province
The North-West Frontier Province (abbr. NWFP), commonly known as Sarhad (lit. 'Frontier'), was a province of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955 and from 1970 to 2010; and prior, a province of British India from its establishment in 1901 to Pakistan's independence in 1947. It was established from the north-western districts of British Punjab during the British Raj. Following the referendum in 1947 to join either Pakistan or India, the province voted hugely in favour of joining Pakistan and it acceded accordingly on 14 August 1947. It was dissolved to form a unified province of West Pakistan in 1955 upon promulgation of One Unit Scheme and was reestablished in 1970. It was known by this name until 19 April 2010, when it was dissolved and redesignated as the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan.
The province covered an area of 70,709 km (27,301 sq mi), including much of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but excluding the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the former princely states of Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra and Swat. Its capital was the city of Peshawar, and the province was composed of six divisions (Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Mardan, and Peshawar Division; Malakand was later added as the seventh division). Until 1947, the province was bordered by five princely states to the north, the minor states of the Gilgit Agency to the northeast, the province of Punjab to the east and the province of Balochistan to the south. The Kingdom of Afghanistan lay to the northwest, with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas forming a buffer zone between the two.
Swat (princely state) in the context of West Pakistan
West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea.
Following its independence from British rule, the new Dominion of Pakistan was physically separated into two exclaves, with the western and eastern wings geographically separated from each other by India. The western wing of Pakistan comprised three governor's provinces (the North-West Frontier, West Punjab and Sind), one chief commissioner's province (Baluchistan) along with the Baluchistan States Union, several independent princely states (notably Bahawalpur, Chitral, Dir, Hunza, Khairpur and Swat), the Karachi Federal Capital Territory, and the autonomous tribal areas adjoining the North-West Frontier Province. The eastern wing of the new country—known as East Pakistan—comprised the single province of East Bengal (which included the former Assamese district of Sylhet and the Chittagong Hill Tracts).
Swat (princely state) in the context of Saidu Baba
Akhūnd Abdul Ghaffūr (also known as Saidū Bābā or the Akhūnd of Swāt; 1794–1876) was a prominent religious saint and founder of the State of Swat. The city of Saidu Sharif, that serves as the administrative capital of Swat District, is named after him. His descendants ruled over Swat between 1876 and 1969 with the title of Wāli of Swāt.