Pakistan's Swat Valley: 'The Land of The Terrorists'

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 26, 2008— -- A father carries his son's limp body in his arms, the boy's hair matted with blood. Behind them, the twisted remains of the man's home lie scattered in the street after a mortar attack. A piece of the building has pierced his child's skull.

The boy will not survive, like his little sister who died minutes before.

Welcome to Swat, a valley in northwest Pakistan that has been transformed from a tourist haven to a "terror camp." Where there was once a ski resort there are now masked men who dump mutilated bodies in the town square.

Where there was once the most developed district in the area, there are now the destroyed remains of more than 180 schools.

Where there used to be a progressive valley, women are now threatened with death for shopping alone.

Where there used to be peace, there is now terror.

"Swat used to be called the Switzerland of the East," a resident in Mingors, Swat's main city, tells an ABC News cameraman, refusing to give his name. "And now people call it 'the land of the terrorists.'"

Swat's descent into chaos, which occurred in less than a year and a half, is nearly complete. Nearly every single local politician has moved out after a steady campaign of attacks on their homes and families.

Parents don't feel safe enough to send their children to school. The economy has collapsed and business has evaporated.

The reason why Swat has fallen to the Taliban has become a bit of a blame game, with the local government blaming the military and the military blaming a botched peace deal, the people and the difficult conditions.