Niaz Ahmad Khan is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal in Swat, Pakistan.
This week’s transfer of authority comes 11 years after the Pakistani army first moved into the scenic Swat Valley in 2007 to take on a Taliban rebellion.
Seven opposition political parties in a restive northwestern district are opposing the powerful Pakistani military's deployment during the by-elections.
Severe power cuts during the holy month of Ramadan, when most of Pakistan’s estimated 200 million Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk, have prompted violent protests in the scorching temperatures of summer.
