Militancy hurts economy in NW Pakistan

North West Frontier Province (NWFP), which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan's capital Islamabad, is rich in agriculture, minerals, stunning mountain scenery once popular with tourists and multiple local industries.

But the 21st century has brought decline owing to extremist violence in the adjacent federally administered tribal areas (FATA) and the NWFP district of Swat, where the Taliban launched an uprising two years ago.

“Around three-quarters of our industries have closed since the war in Afghanistan started but most have closed in the last two to three years,” Sharafat Mubarak, president of the local chamber of commerce and industry, told AFP.

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States which precipitated the invasion of Afghanistan and ensuing Taliban insurgency, 2,254 industries were functional in NWFP, of which just 594 operate today, he said.

“We had more than 100,000 people employed in those industries but now just 18,000 are there and the rest have lost their jobs,” Mubarak said.

The decline has accelerated over the past six months, during which Pakistan battled Taliban fighters, agreed a ceasefire in part of NWFP and last month launched a renewed offensive as militants advanced further towards Islamabad.

The UN says 1.7 million Pakistanis have been displaced this month because of fighting in the districts of Buner, Lower Dir and Swat in NWFP, bringing to more than two million the number displaced across the northwest since August.

Once known affectionately as the “Switzerland of Pakistan” and frequented by Western holidaymakers, Swat is today a national symbol of horror where violence last year halved receipts from tourism, official figures show.

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