Abstract
Unlike other faith-based conflicts, the militancy in Swat seems unique, as militants used religion for promoting their agenda and giving voices to the grievances of the poor people through a popular narrative likely without knowing narratology. Using narratives and narratology as a theoretical framework, this qualitative study is an effort to understand the essence of militants' narrative in Swat and the mechanism through which they steered it up until the time it gained verisimilitude. Conducting 73 semi-structured interviews, the study finds that it was a planned strategy of the militants that popularized them in Swat, while they later lost this support due to their atrocities against general populace. The militants used the socially and culturally constructed narrative through FM radio and motivated the masses to follow their ideology and brand of Islamic Sharia. The study concludes that the formulation and popularization of social narratives play vital roles in social movements and conflicts to muster popular support for promoting vested interests that can be used against the state and general public.
Highlights
Unlike other faith-based conflicts, the militancy in Swat seems unique, as militants used religion for promoting their agenda and giving voices to the grievances of the poor people through a popular narrative likely without knowing narratology
Conducting 73 semi-structured interviews, the study finds that it was a planned strategy of the militants that popularized them in Swat, while they later lost this support due to their atrocities against general populace
The study concludes that the formulation and popularization of social narratives play vital roles in social movements and conflicts to muster popular support for promoting vested interests that can be used against the state and general public
Summary
“single narrative’, composed of explanations that give a new and attractive image of the world to its supporters, as the. Tives are a resource for political actors to construct a shared the phenomena of terrorism in Swat needs to meaning to shape perceptions, beliefs and behavior of the be studied within the frame of scientific knowledge, perceppublic”, they present a composition through which people tions and the declared militants’ narratives to understand are arrayed in a specific direction by giving them an under- the mystery through which militants convinced the people standing of the past, and are an action plan for the present of Swat to accept them on the political scene. The literature identifies different narratological standings of militants in Swat, the general public in Swat as well as in Pakistan still wonders why the militants’ narrative was so attractive to the people in Swat. The study evaluates the narrative construction mechanisms of militants in Swat and analyzes the push factors that fostered their narrative in public
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