The Yousafzai divided up all the land among the male members of the tribe. It was a peculiar system called wesh under which every five or ten years all the families would swap villages and redistribute the land of the new village among the men so that everyone had the chance to work on good as well as bad land. It was thought this would then keep rival clans from fighting. Villages were ruled by khans, and the common people, craftsmen and labourers, were their tenants. They had to pay them rent in kind, usually a share of their crop. They also had to help the khans form a militia by providing an armed man for every small plot of land. Each khan kept hundreds of armed men both for feuds and to raid and loot other villages.

优素福扎伊族将部落里的土地分配给男性成员。这是一种特有的体系，称为“沃许”。按照规定，每隔五到十年，所有的家族都必须更换村落而居，男人之间重新分配土地。这样，每家每户都有机会轮流使用到肥沃的土地或者贫瘠的土地，以便有效避免对立的家族发生冲突。村落由部落首领统治，百姓、工匠和工人则是他们的佃户。佃户们必须支付相当的租金，通常是将部分谷物收成给部落首领。佃户们还要组成部落武装，每一块土地都得相应地派出一名兵丁。每个部落首领都拥有数百名战士，帮助他处理冲突事件，或者到其他村落烧杀掠夺。

As the Yousafzai in Swat had no ruler, there were constant feuds between the khans and even within their own families. Our men all have rifles, though these days they don’t walk around with them like they do in other Pashtun areas, and my great-grandfather used to tell stories of gun battles when he was a boy. In the early part of the last century they became worried about being taken over by the British, who by then controlled most of the surrounding lands. They were also tired of the endless bloodshed. So they decided to try and find an impartial man to rule the whole area and resolve their disputes.

当时，在斯瓦特的优素福扎伊族人并没有领导者。部落首领之间，甚至家族内部时常发生斗争。男人们全都拥有来复枪。虽然现在优素福扎伊族人不再像普什图其他地方的人那样，带着枪走来走去，我的祖父却常常跟我们讲起他小时候发生的枪战故事。到了20世纪初，优素福扎伊族人开始担心自己的土地也会被已占领了周围大多数土地的英军所侵占。同时，他们也对无止境的杀戮感到厌倦了，于是，他们决定找出一位公正不阿的人来领导整个地区，解决这些纠纷。

After a couple of rulers who did not work out, in 1917 the chiefs settled on a man called Miangul Abdul Wadood as their king. We know him affectionately as Badshah Sahib, and though he was completely illiterate, he managed to bring peace to the valley. Taking a rifle away from a Pashtun is like taking away his life, so he could not disarm the tribes. Instead he built forts on mountains all across Swat and created an army. He was recognised by the British as the head of state in 1926 and installed as wali, which is our word for ruler. He set up the first telephone system and built the first primary school and ended the wesh system because the constant moving between villages meant no one could sell land or had any incentive to build better houses or plant fruit trees.

在连续几个领导人都失败之后，1917年，头目们决定选派弥安戈.阿卜杜勒.瓦度担任他们的国王。我们敬仰地称他为“贝德山.沙哈卜”。虽然他是个文盲，却成功地为河谷地区带来了和平。从普什图人手中夺走他的来复枪就如同夺走他的性命。所以，他并没有解除部落的武力，反而在斯瓦特各处建造了碉堡，并且建立了一支军队。1926年，英军认定他为国家领袖，称为“瓦利”，意为“统治者”。他架设了第一套电话系统，兴建了第一所小学，并结束了沃许体制。在沃许体制下，人们不停地在村落间搬迁，土地无法交易，人们也没有愿望去建造较好的房屋或者种植果树。