THE TRUE SULTAN OF SWAT, BABE RUTH WAS NOT

SAIDU SHARIF, PAKISTAN -- Who or why, or which, of what,

Is the Akhund of Swat?

Is he tall or short, or dark or fair?

Does he sit on a stool or a sofa or chair, or squat,

The Akhund of Swat . . . ?

Edward Lear, 19th century

It may come as a shock for generations of American baseball fans, but

Babe Ruth was not the Sultan of Swat, or at least not the real sultan of

the real Swat.

Surrounded by rugged mountain peaks far higher than any of the

majestic clouts off the Babe's bat, the real Swat, here in the frontier

of northern Pakistan, is a fertile valley fed by icy-cold streams that

tumble down between valleys of pine.

As many historical invaders have learned, the only entry is through

forbidding mountain passes that twist and turn past ancient forts that

once blocked almost all comers.

"Swat is like Albania: on the road to nowhere, not to the riches of

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India, not on the silk route to China. No one came here, no one went,"

says Miangul Aurengzeb, the man who would be sultan of Swat if such a

position still existed.

For years, Swat, like most of northern Pakistan, remained a mystery

into which only occasional glimpses were made by travelers and by the

Greek, Mogul and British armies that came, saw, but never really

conquered. Like much of Afghanistan to the west, the ruggedness of the

land and the fierceness of its people kept Swat relatively free of

outsiders and subject only to its own Pathan rivalries.

Alexander the Great's sweep across ancient Persia suffered one of its

few setbacks here at Swat, where he made a local beauty his bride when

his troops could not bring him conquest. A Mogul army sent by the great

emperor Akbar was annihilated in Swat.

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None of this, however, prevented the Swatis from engaging in

murderous rivalries and tribal and clan vendettas. Local khans, or

leaders, fought and schemed in power struggles that continue to mark the

politics of Swat -- and of much of rural Pakistan -- to this day.

It was out of this constant bickering and fighting and the occasional

need to unite against an outsider that there came to be an akhund of

Swat, who eventually became the local equivalent of a sultan.

During one of the valley's many wars, an Islamic mystic and holy man

named Abdul Ghaffur, son of a cowherd, was called on by the khans of the

Yusufzai tribe to lead them under the title akhund, or messenger of God.

When the British tried to cross the mountains into Swat in the 1860s,

the tribesmen united behind the akhund to fight them to a standstill,

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and Aurengzeb's great-great grandfather ensured the family's leading

role in Swat for generations to come.

While the akhund remained Swat's spiritual leader, Aurengzeb's

grandfather, apparently after disposing of the other direct male heirs

of the akhund, became badshah, or king, and allied himself with the

British. He ruled until 1949, shortly after Pakistan emerged as an

independent state, when he abdicated in favor of Aurengzeb's father,

Since Swat now existed as a princely state in a new nation, a badshah

no longer seemed necessary or appropriate, and Jahanzeb gave up the

title in favor of wali, or ruler, a title that disappeared in 1969, when

Pakistan abolished the princely states.

But in a land where traditions go back hundreds of years, the notion

and aura of royalty still lives. At rallies in his National Assembly

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race last month, Aurengzeb was greeted by cries of "badshah," and his

son, a candidate for the provincial assembly, was cheered as "adnan

United as a nation-state for only four decades, Pakistan's political

life is determined in no small way by traditional loyalties and

historical feudal relationships. Men who generally are comfortable in

the political salons of Islamabad or the drawing rooms of London often

return to positions of power in the deserts of Sind or the mountains of

the Northwest Frontier to dispense largesse, and often justice, as if

little had changed for centuries.

"I remind them of my grandfather and my father, of the roads and

schools and changes they brought. I ask them if they were safer under

our justice of 20 years ago or the justice of today," Aurengzeb said

after a rally kicking off his campaign for a National Assembly seat in

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Nov. 16 elections.

Like many things in Pakistan these days, the old ways are being

challenged in Swat -- or so it would seem on the surface.

In the streets of Saudu Sharif and in other small towns, the banners

and flags of the rival People's Party and the Awami National Party

proliferate while Aurengzeb's Islamic Democratic Alliance is just

getting organized.

But a closer look reveals that the change in Pakistani frontier

politics, from feudalism to democracy, may not be as radical as it

Back in the days of the badshah and the wali, there is more than one

story in Aurengzeb's family history of brother turning against brother

and father against son. This election turns out to be a modern version

of an old family feud since Aurengzeb's chief opponent is his cousin and

son-in-law, Aman-e-Room.

"He thinks I should have helped him a little more on something," said

Aurengzeb with a shrug. "It didn't really happen the way he thinks, but

what can you do?"

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