The Darweshkhel (Pashto : دروېش خېل) is a section of the Wazir Pashtun tribe found in South Waziristan, North Waziristan, and Frontier Region Bannu in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan on its border with Afghanistan.
The tribe comprises two geographically separate subgroups. The Utmanzai are settled in the North Waziristan Agency and the Ahmadzai are in the South Waziristan Agency and Bannu District. [1] [2] [3] Those subgroups are in turn divided further, for example into Utmanzai tribes such as the Bakakhel and Janikhel. [4]
The Darweshkhel are said to descend from Musā, son of Khidrai, son of Wazīr. Musā was a religious man and so was nicknamed Darwesh ("fakir"). Musa is said to have died in the hills near Khwāja Khidar, at the border between present-day South and North Waziristan. [5]
Another son of Khidrai was Masud, who is said to be the progenitor of the Masid tribe, another branch of the Waziri confederacy. [5]
Besides Musa Darwesh and Masud, Khidrai is also said to had a third son Mubarak, who in turn had a son called Gurbuz, the namesake of the third branch (Gurbuz) of the Waziri confederacy. The Gurbuz now live in westernmost North Waziristan and in southern Khost. [5]
Waziristan is a mountainous region of Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan District, and Upper South Waziristan District. Waziristan region, consisted of three districts, covers around 11,585 square kilometres (4,500 sq mi) and is mainly populated by the Mehsud, The Wolves, & Wazir Pashtun tribe, who speak the Waziri dialect of the Pashto language.
Bannu District is a district in the Bannu Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Its status as a district was formally recorded in 1861 during the British Raj.
The Marwat is a Pashtun tribe, a branch of the Lohani tribe and belong to Lodi section. The Marwats were named for their ancestor Marwat Khan Lodi.
North Waziristan District is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering 4,707 square kilometres (1,817 sq mi). The capital city of North Waziristan is Miranshah.
Wāṇa or Wanna is the largest town in the South Waziristan District of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is the summer headquarters for the agency's administration, Tank located in the neighbouring Tank District being the winter headquarters.
Dāwaṛ is a Karlani Pashtun tribe mostly inhabiting North Waziristan, with some settled in the Bannu District of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The Dawaris inhabit the Tochi Valley and speak the Dawari dialect of Pashto.
Waziristāní, also known as Wazirwóla and Wazirí, is a central Pashto dialect spoken in North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Waziristani differs in pronunciation and to a much lesser degree in grammar from the other varieties of Pashto.
Aḥmadzai is a Sunni Muslim Pashtun tribe found in South Waziristan and Bannu District in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. They are a clan of the larger Wazir tribe.
The Povindah was a class of warrior nomadic traders in present-day Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan, who belonged chiefly to the tribes of Ghilzais Pashtuns. Their name, which designates their occupation, is derived from the same root as the Pushtu word meaning "to graze".
South Waziristan District was a district in the Dera Ismail Khan Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, before splitting into the Lower South Waziristan District and the Upper South Waziristan District on 13 April 2022. It covers around 11,585 km2 (4,473 mi2). Waziristan is located in the southwest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is situated between two rivers, the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south. The region was an independent tribal territory from 1893, separated from both Afghanistan and the British-ruled empire in the subcontinent. Raiding the tribal areas was a constant problem for the British, requiring frequent punitive expeditions between 1860 and 1945. Troops of the British Raj coined a name for this region "Hell's Door Knocker" in recognition of the fearsome reputation of the local fighters and inhospitable terrain. The district headquarter of the South Waziristan district is Wanna. South Waziristan is divided into three administrative subdivisions of Ladha, Sarwakai, and Wanna. These three subdivisions are further divided into eight Tehsils: Ladha, Makin, Sararogha, Sarwakai, Tiarza, Wanna, Barmal, and Toi Khula.
Haji Mirzali Khan Wazir, commonly known as the Faqir of Ipi, was a tribal chief and adversary to the British Raj from North Waziristan in what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
The Mehsud or Maseed is a Afghan Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Bannu Division is one of seven divisions in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It consists of three districts: Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and North Waziristan. The division borders Dera Ismail Khan Division to the south and west, Kohat Division to the north and east, and the province of Punjab, Pakistan to its east. CNIC code of Bannu Division is 11.
Mulla Powinda or Mullah Powindah, born Mohiuddin Maseed (1863–1913), was a religious leader and a freedom fighter from the Pashtun tribe of the Shabi khel Mahsuds, based in Waziristan. He was from Marobi Shabikhel, a village in the present-day Makin Subdivision of South Waziristan. He led a long-standing guerrilla insurgency against the British colonial forces in the late 19th century. And came to prominence by getting the two elders of the Jirga, who were responsible for handing over two Mahsuds wanted by the British authorities for killing a British officer of the Works department. to the Political Agent in 1893.
The Wazirs or Waziris are an ethnic Afghan Karlani Pashtun tribe found mainly in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. The Utmanzai Wazir are settled in the North Waziristan and Bannu Subdivision Wazir and the Ahmadzai Wazir and Mahsud waziri are in the South Waziristan, and in Domel, Bannu. Those subgroups are in turn divided further, for example into Utmanzai tribes such as the Baka Khel and Jani Khel. The Wazirs speak the Waziristani dialect of Pashto which is similar to the neighboring Banuchi and Dawari dialect but still distinct.
The Utmanzai or Utmanzai Wazir are a Sunni Muslim Pashtun tribe found in North Waziristan Agency, and Bannu Subdivision Wazir.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur is the leader of a Pakistani Taliban faction known as the Gul Bahadur Network (HGB) based in North Waziristan and surrounding districts of the former FATA region in northwestern Pakistan. Upon the formation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007, he was announced as the militant group's overall naib amir under Baitullah Mehsud, who was based in South Waziristan, but has largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with Mehsud and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pakistani state. Following the Fall of Kabul (2021), the Gul Bahadur Network’s ties to the Haqqani Network and TTP have significantly improved, resulting in a sharp increase in cross border militant incursions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan international border.
The Banuchi(Shitak) (Pashto: شيتک), Bannuzai (Pashto: بنوزي), also Banusi (Pashto: بنوڅي) or Banisi, is a prominent tribe of Pashtun people which has the reputation of being one of the most warlike amongst Pashtun people.They inhabit the Bannu District of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and North Waziristan of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with some members settled in Afghanistan. The Banuchi trace their descent to the Shitak superclan of the larger Karlani tribe. The word banuchi is strictly used for the people who descend from the Shitak super tribe namely Surani (Sur), Mirian (Miri) and Sam (Sami).
Shah Muhammad Khan is Pakistani politician. He had been a member of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from May 2013 to May 2018 and from August 2018 to January 2023. He belongs to Narmi Khel tribe of Baka Khel - a sub group of Utmanzai Wazir, Bannu. He is a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Arif Wazir was a Pakistani politician, activist, and a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). He was a member of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) and its president for the South Waziristan chapter. He also headed the FATA Political Alliance South Waziristan, which campaigned for the rights of the people of former Federally Administered Tribal Areas.