Structure and Dynamics of Political Role of Religious Leadership: A Historical Investigation of The Role of Abdul Ghafoor and Wali Ahmad

Abstract

Swat, currently a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan has a long history. The Yusufzai Afghans of Kabul occupied Swat in the sixteenth century, but they did not succeed in establishing a formal government and were divided into factions and lived in a tribal way, however during this time, the religious leaders played considerable political role in uniting the people of Swat. They have performed a great role in creating political awareness in the people of Swat. They mobilized and guided the people in time of trouble. On the basis of their influence, they altered the political history of Swat to a great extent. The present research aims at examining political role of two religious’ leaders, i.e Abdul Ghafoor and Wali Ahmad in Swat.  Mostly, primary and reliable secondary sources have been used to build a logical and coherent argument in the article.