During his struggles with the Nawab of Dir, Gul Shahzada had frequently to face the opposition of recalcitrant Khans in the Swat valley itself, but by 1922 he had completely established his authority over all the Swat Pathan tribesmen. At the northern end of the valley however is a large block of extremely mountainous country occupied by non-Pathan races who are loosely known as Kohistanis. These are probably the descendants of the people who were forced northwards into the mountains when the Yusufzai occupied the lower valleys. They boast an Arab origin but speak a variety of “Dardic” languages. The majority in the Swat valley employ a dialect which is known as Torwali, but the inhabitants of one side-valley use Khilliwal, the language of the Indus Kohistan, while there is at least one village in the extreme north of the main valley which speaks Khowar, the language of Chitral. The Swat Kohistanis had helped some of the Khans of the lower part of the valley in their efforts to curb the Miangul’s increasing power. The Miangul therefore, as soon as he was free from anxiety on the Dir side, at once turned his attention to them. Although they are a wild and independent people they possess no cohesion, and he had little difficulty in occupying the whole of their country as far north as Peshmal. Above this at the extreme northern end of the valley is a tract containing valuable forests which is usually referred to as Kalam, though properly speaking this is only the name of a single village. His Highness the Mehtar of Chitral had long laid claim to this tract, and when the Miangul showed signs of occupying it His Highness first sent a peaceful mission to Saidu and then began to mobilize his forces. Government was again forced to intervene, and the Miangul agreed not to interfere in Kalam provided the Mehtar of Chitral and Nawab of Dir similarly refrained from interference. Kalam has thus been left as a sort of no-man’s land in a maze of snow-capped peaks between the three States.
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