District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan
Khyber District
(
Pashto
:
???? ???????
,
Urdu
:
??? ????
) is a
district
in the
Peshawar Division
of the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province of
Pakistan
. Until 2018, it was an
agency
of the erstwhile
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
. With the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018, it became a district.
[3]
It ranges from the
Tirah valley
down to
Peshawar
. It borders
Nangarhar Province
to the west,
Orakzai District
to the south,
Kurram District
to southwest, Peshawar to the east and
Mohmand District
to the north.
The major clans in the District Khyber are
Shinwari
,
Afridi
,
Mulagori
and
Shalmani
. Nevertheless, the majority of the population are Afridis.
All Afridi clans have their own areas in the Tirah Valley, and most of them extend down into the
Khyber Pass
over which they have always exercised the right of toll. The Malikdin Khel live in the centre of the Tirah and hold Bagh, the traditional meeting place of Afridi
jirgas
or assemblies. The Aka Khel are scattered in the hills south of
Jamrud
. All of this area is included in the Khyber Agency. The Adam Khel live in the hills between
Peshawar
and
Kohat
. Their preserve is the
Kohat Pass
in which several of the most important Afridi gun factories are located.
Clans
[
edit
]
The Afridi Tribe is subclassified into eight sub-tribes listed below.
- Kuki khel
- Qambar Khel
- Zakha Khel
- Kamar Khel
- Malikdin khel
- Aka Khel
- Sepah
- Adam Khel
- shlober
- aka khel
Administration
[
edit
]
Khyber District is currently subdivided into five
tehsils
.
[4]
Provincial Assembly
[
edit
]
Khyber Pass
[
edit
]
Portions of Khyber Agency are verdant.
Khyber Pass
is a major feature of the Khyber District. Its narrowest point is at
Ali Masjid
, where the
Battle of Ali Masjid
occurred. The
Khyber Rifles
paramilitary organization originated in the area and took their name from it.
[
citation needed
]
Khyber Pass copy
[
edit
]
A
Khyber Pass copy
is a homemade firearm characteristic of the Khyber area.
Khyber Pass Railway
[
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]
Both the
Khyber Mail
(passenger train)
and the
Khyber train safari
routes passed through the Khyber District via the Khyber Pass.
Khyber Pass Railway
is a railway line in Pakistan.
[5]
[6]
[7]
Education
[
edit
]
Khyber Agency is the most literate of all the tribal areas, with a literacy rate of 34.2%, as of 2007 ? quite far ahead of the next highest agency,
Kurram
, at 26.5%. It is also the only agency where the majority of its men are literate, at 57.2%, which is almost 20% ahead of the next highest agency, Kurram. However, its female literacy rate of 10.1% is second after Kurram's 14.4%.
[8]
Agency
|
Literacy rate 2007
[8]
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Khyber
|
57.2%
|
10.1%
|
34.2%
|
-
Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:
[8]
-
Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:
[8]
Demographics
[
edit
]
Historical population
Year
| Pop.
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
1951
| 216,622
| ?
|
---|
1961
| 301,319
| +3.36%
|
---|
1972
| 378,032
| +2.08%
|
---|
1981
| 284,256
| ?3.12%
|
---|
1998
| 546,730
| +3.92%
|
---|
2017
| 984,246
| +3.14%
|
---|
Sources:
[9]
|
At the time of the 2017 census, the district had 111,715 households and a population of 984,246. Khyber district had a sex ratio of 951 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 41.97% ? 65.08% for males and 18.10% for females. 97,457 (9.90%) lived in urban areas. 36.79% of the population were under 10 years of age. 1,273 (0.13%) people in the district were religious minorities, mainly Christians.
Pashto
was the predominant language, spoken by 98.83% of the population.
[2]
The majority of the tribes in the Khyber District are
Afridis
. However, there are other tribes residing too. Those include
Mullagori
,
Shilmani
,
Bangash
and
Shinwari
.
[10]
Insurgency
[
edit
]
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
,
Lashkar-e-Islam
and
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
militants began entering Khyber Agency after the US-led
NATO
invasion of
Afghanistan
in 2001.
[
citation needed
]
Due to the absence of a strong government and security network in the area and its rough mountainous terrain, the area became a hotbed of insurgents and over 90 percent of the agency came under their control in 2007.
[
citation needed
]
After 2007, the militants began attacking the government and military establishments in the KPK province, killing many people and wounding many more. The
Pakistan Army
began an operation in 2008 to clear the agency of militants and restore normal life in the area. The operation continued for years and resulted in the killing of hundreds of TTP militants and Pakistan Army soldiers. The local Aman Lashkars or peace committees supported the army by fighting the foreign terrorists.
[
citation needed
]
By July 2012, a major part of the district was cleared but military operation continued in
Bara Tehsil
of the district. The operation also produced a large number of
internally displaced people
.
[11]
In October 2014,
Pakistan Armed Forces
launched a military offensive in Khyber Agency code-named
Operation Khyber-1
.
[
citation needed
]
Sports
[
edit
]
Shahid Afridi
in the field during a cricket match.
People residing to this area enjoy
Cricket
. Famous Pakistani
cricketer
Shahid Afridi
and his son-in-law
Shaheen Afridi
also belong to this area.
Even Nassem Shah is from here
[12]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]