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Khyber Rifles | |
---|---|
Founded | 1878 |
Country | British Raj 1878–1947 Pakistan (1947 onwards) |
Branch | Civil Armed Forces |
Role | Border patrol Counterterrorism Counterinsurgency Special operations |
Size | 7 Wings |
Part of | Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) |
Regimental centre | Shagai Fort. [1] |
Commanders | |
Current commander | Colonel Asim Kiyani |
The Khyber Rifles are a paramilitary regiment, forming part of the Pakistani Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North). The Rifles are tasked with defending the border with Afghanistan and assisting with law enforcement in the districts adjacent to the border. Raised in the late nineteenth century, the regiment provided the title and setting for the widely read novel, King of the Khyber Rifles , and is the oldest regiment of the Corps. The regiment has a 2020/21 budget of Rs. 1.816 billion(1800 crore PKR) [2] and is composed of seven battalion-sized wings.
During the period of British rule, the Khyber Rifles was one of eight "Frontier Corps" or paramilitary units recruited from the tribesmen of the North West Frontier, serving as auxiliaries for the regular British Indian Army. Raised in the early 1880s as the Khyber Jezailchis; (a jezail being a type of home made musket), the Khyber Rifles recruited from Afridi tribesmen, with British commanders seconded from regular British Indian army regiments. Subordinate officers were Afridis. The first commandant was Sir Robert Warburton, son of an Anglo-Irish soldier Robert Warburton of the Bengal Artillery and his wife Shah Jehan Begum, an Afghan princess. Sir Robert remained the commandant until his retirement in 1899. His deputy, Colonel Sir Aslam Khan Sadozai, the first Muslim commandant, succeeded him. Then, the deputy to Colonel Sir Aslam Khan Sadozai was Malik Afridi Khan of Mulazai. Although the deputy, Malik Afridi Khan spent most of his time as the acting in charge of the Khyber Rifles due to the extensive leave of Sir Aslam. [3]
The regiment saw active service in the Black Mountain expeditions of 1888 and 1891, during a period when the Khyber Pass itself remained peaceful. In August 1897 however, the Khyber Afridi tribes rose and the three forts garrisoned by the Khyber Rifles were overrun, the survivors falling back to Jamrud. It took four months and forty-four thousand troops for the British to retake the Khyber Pass. The Khyber Rifles were reconstituted and resumed their garrisons at Landi Kotal, Fort Maude and Ali Masjid.
During the Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919), the loyalty of the Khyber Rifles was put under heavy strain and there were a number of desertions. The regiment was therefore disbanded as unreliable. Of the serving personnel 1,180 opted to be discharged, while smaller numbers transferred to a military police battalion or were formed into a newly raised Khyber Levy Corps. [4]
The Khyber Rifles was however reconstituted from Afridi veterans of World War II in 1946, with its headquarters at Landi Kotal. The commander of the reborn regiment was himself an Afridi, Sharif Khan.
In August 1947, upon partition, the Khyber Rifles and the other Frontier Corps regiments were transferred to Pakistan. In addition to its traditional policing duties in the tribal areas of the Khyber region, the Khyber Rifles provided detachments to serve in Kashmir and East Pakistan. The regiment is currently involved in tracking down fugitives and terrorists.
The headquarters of the Khyber Rifles were at Landi Kotal. Its prime role was to guard the Khyber Pass. The three main garrisons of the regiment were Landi Kotal, at the western end of the Pass, Fort Maude to the east, and Ali Masjid in the centre.
The force is responsible for guarding the Khyber Pass that provides the historical land connection between South Asia and the resource rich Central Asia. The Khyber Rifles ensures defence of the Khyber Pass by protecting the border town of Torkham. This is the site of the main transit terminal between Pakistan and Afghanistan for international trade and tourism via Pakistan's longest National Highway 5. The Khyber Rifles also patrol the several hundred kilometers of border barrier of Khyber District with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan; effectively providing defence to the Khyber Pass and Peshawar Valley.
The force is also tasked with securing strategic installations located across the Khyber region and Peshawar Valley. One of the strategic site that the Khyber Rifles guard is the Warsak Dam located on the Kabul River which is the prime source of drinking water for the Peshawar Valley.
The responsibilities of the Khyber Rifles are to:
During times of extraordinary law and order crisis, the government occasionally grants power to the Khyber Rifles to arrest and detain criminals.
The badge of the Corps comprised two crossed Afghan daggers with the words KHYBER above and RIFLES below.
While the Indian Army as a whole was noted for its colourful and elaborate dress uniforms prior to 1914, the various units of the Frontier Corps wore only plain khaki drill uniforms and turbans.
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan invaded British India and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 resulted in the Afghans gaining control of foreign affairs from Britain and the British recognizing the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and British India.
The Afrīdī are a Pashtun tribe present mostly in tribal areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Colonel Sir Robert Warburton was a British soldier and administrator. Half-Afghan and proficient in both Farsi and Pashto, he served for many years as British political officer in charge of the Khyber Pass, a region of strategic importance to British India. He helped maintain peace with the Afridis, who rose in revolt eighteen years after his retirement.
The North-West Frontier was a region of the British Indian Empire. It remains the western frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the modern Pakistani frontier regions of North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan from neighbouring Afghanistan in the west. The borderline between is officially known as the Durand Line and divides Pashtun inhabitants of these provinces from Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan.
Lanḍī Kōtal or Lwargai is a town in the Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, and the administrative capital of Khyber District. It was one of the largest towns in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and is located 1,072 metres (3,517 ft) above sea level, on the route across the mountains to the city of Peshawar. Landi Kotal is at the western edge of the Khyber Pass that marks the entrance to the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan, which is located just 5 kilometres (3 mi) to the west.
Jamrūd or Jam is a town in the Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, on the western fringe of Peshawar city, Jamrud is the doorway to the Khyber Pass which is just to the west of the town. The pass connects Jamrud with Landi Kotal to the west, located near the border of Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province.
Khyber District 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. 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 following lists events that happened during 1899 in Afghanistan.
The Mullagori or Mulagori or Malagori is a Pashtun tribe present in Khyber District, tribal areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Historically, they are one of the smallest tribes of ethnic Pashtuns. They are considered as a sub-tribe of Momand Pashtun Ghoryakhel confederacy.
The Khyber train safari is a defunct tourist train that was operated and maintained by Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan Railways between Peshawar and Landi Kotal. The trip took approximately 1 hour and 26 minutes to cover a published distance of 69 kilometres (43 mi), traveling along an entire stretch of the Karachi–Peshawar Railway Line. It was the only passenger line in Pakistan still operating steam engines.
The Bazar Valley campaign of 1908 was a punitive expedition against the Zakka Khel clan of the Afridi, a Pakhtun tribe inhabiting the mountains on the Peshawar border of the North West Frontier province of British India.
The Khyber Pass is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing part of the White Mountains. Since it was part of the ancient Silk Road, it has been a vital trade route between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent and a strategic military choke point for various states that controlled it. The Khyber Pass is considered one of the most famous mountain passes in the world.
Ayub Afridi was a Pakistani drug smuggler and tribal politician. He is considered to be the primary founder of the widespread drug trade in Afghanistan. There are a variety of speculations that Afridi, following his close collaboration with the CIA for Operation Cyclone against the Soviet Union, was approached by the United States as a part of an effort to gain easier access to Afghanistan and the semi-autonomous tribal areas of Pakistan after 9/11.
The Frontier Constabulary is a federal paramilitary force of Pakistan under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan, which is largely drawn from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but operates in several districts of Pakistan. It is responsible for maintaining law and order, and dealing with situations beyond the capabilities of the civilian Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police. It also guards against tribal incursions, criminal gangs, and contraband smuggling.
The Bajaur Scouts is a paramilitary regiment of the Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) of Pakistan, recruited locally in Bajaur District and officered by regular Pakistan Army officers. The Scouts were previously the Bajaur Levies, and served in the Bajaur, Swat, and Dir tribal areas. The force was formed in April 1961 from several units of the Khyber Rifles and Chitral Scouts. In the early 21st century, the Scouts have been involved in anti-drugs operations. In 2011-2012, the unit received a number of drug testing kits to assist in their work against drug smuggling.
The Khyber Pass Railway was one of several railway lines in Pakistan, operated and maintained by Pakistan Railways. The line began at Peshawar City and ended at Landi Khana. The total length of the line is 58 kilometers (36 mi), and there are 13 railway stations.
The Chitral Scouts (CS), also known as Chitral Levies, originally raised in 1903 as the militia of the princely state of Chitral, is now part of the Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) of Pakistan. They are recruited mostly from the Chitral and Kalash Valleys areas along the western borders and are led by officers from the Pakistan Army. The Frontier Corps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) falls under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. Its headquarters is at Chitral town, and it is commanded by a Colonel of the Pakistan Army.
The Afridi Redshirt Rebellion was a military campaign conducted by British Indian Army against Afridi tribesmen Ajab Khan Afridi in the North West Frontier region of the Indian Empire, now in Pakistan in 1930–1931.
Sir Richard Udny, KCSI was an official in British India, best known for his role in defining the border with the Emirate of Afghanistan. He took part in the border survey for the stretch between the Hindu Kush range in the north-east to Landi Kotal. This demarcation was the first stage in making the Durand Line of 1893 concrete in geographical terms, a process that lasted into the 20th century.
The Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) (Urdu: فرنٹیئر کور خیبر پختونخواہ (شمالی), reporting name: FCKP(N)), is a federal paramilitary force in Pakistan, operating in the northern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, overseeing the country's borders with Afghanistan and assisting with maintaining law and order. It is one of four Frontier Corps with the others being: FC Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (South) stationed in the south of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and FC Balochistan (North) and FC Balochistan (South) stationed in Balochistan province.
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