| Waziristan rebellion (1948-1954) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Pashtunistan conflict and Pakistan-Afghanistan skirmishes | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Afghanistan [1] [2] |  Pakistan | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
 Pashtun tribe forces | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 40000+ [3] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Military Compound destroyed Several killed | Unknown | ||||||
Waziristan rebellion was a rebellion by the Pashtun leader Faqir of Ipi to secede from Pakistan and establish a separate Pashtun state of Pashtunistan.
On 21 June 1947, the Faqir of Ipi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and other Khudai Khidmatgars held a jirga in Bannu during which they declared the Bannu Resolution, demanding that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun majority territories of British India, instead of being made to join the new dominions of India or Pakistan. [4]
However, the British government refused to comply with the demand of the Bannu Resolution and only the options for Pakistan and India were given. [5] [6]
The Faqir of Ipi rejected the creation of Pakistan after the partition of British India, considering Pakistan to have only come into existence at the insistence of the British.[ citation needed ]
In 1948, the Faqir of Ipi took control of North Waziristan's Datta Khel area and declared the establishment of an independent Pashtunistan, forming ties with regional leaders including Prince Mohammed Daoud Khan.[ citation needed ]
In June 1949 a Pakistan Air Force warplane inadvertently bombed the Afghan village of Mughalgai on the Waziristan border with Afghanistan while chasing the Pashtunistan separatists who attacked Pakistani border posts from Afghanistan,this attack killed 23 people and further fuelled Afghan support for Pashtunistan. [7] [8]
On 29 May 1949, the Faqir of Ipi called a tribal jirga in his headquarters of Gurwek and asked Pakistan to accept Pashtunistan as an independent state. He published a Pashto-language newspaper, Ghāzī, from Gurwek to promote his ideas. [9] Afghanistan also provided financial support to the Pashtunistan movement under the leadership of the Faqir of Ipi. [10] Faqir also established a rifle factory in Gurwek with the material support provided by the government of Afghanistan. [11]
In January 1950, a Pashtun loya jirga in Razmak symbolically appointed the Faqir of Ipi as the first president of the "National Assembly for Pashtunistan". [12]
In 1953–1954, the PAF's No. 14 Squadron led an operation from Miramshah airbase and heavily bombarded the Faqir of Ipi's compound in Gurwek. [13] [14]
After sometime, the Faqir of Ipi relations with the government of Afghanistan deteriorated and he became aloof. [15] By this time, his movement had also started losing popular support. The Pashtun tribesmen were no longer willing to fight after the departure of British as the Faqir's reasoning of waging jihad against a foreign power was no longer considered valid. [15]
Although he himself never surrendered until his death, his movement diminished after 1954 when his Commander-in-chief Mehar Dil Khan Khattak surrendered to the Pakistani authorities. [16]
Pashtunistan is a region located on the Iranian Plateau, inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of southern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, wherein Pashtun culture, the Pashto language, and Pashtun identity have been based. Alternative names historically used for the region include Pashtūnkhwā (پښتونخوا), Pakhtūnistān, Pathānistān, or simply the Pashtun Belt.
Abdul Ghaffār Khān, also known as Bacha Khan or Badshah Khan was a Pashtun independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar resistance movement against British colonial rule in India.
Waziristan is a mountainous region covering the North Waziristan and South Waziristan districts of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Waziristan covers around 11,585 square kilometres (4,500 sq mi) and is mainly populated by the 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.
The Tochi Valley, also known as Dawar, is a fertile area located in the North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. In 1881, Nawab of Sarhad Nawab Gulmaizar Khan established the North Waziristan Tribal Agency with its headquarters at Miramshah in the valley.
A jirga is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who are influenced by them in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Bannu also called Bana and Bani is a city located on the Kurram River in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the capital of Bannu Division. Bannu's residents are primarily members of the Banuchi tribe and speak Banuchi (Baniswola), a dialect of Pashto which is similar to the distinct Waziristani dialect. The residents regardless of their tribes are commonly called Banusi, Banuchi or Banisi.
Khudai Khidmatgar was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West Frontier Province.
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.
Mir Ali or Mirali is a town in North Waziristan District, in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Mirali is located in the Tochi Valley, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) east of Miramshah, 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of the city of Khost, Afghanistan. Mirali is at an altitude of 674 metres (2,211 ft).
Razmak is one of the three subdivisions of North Waziristan District in Pakistan, the other two being Mir Ali and Miran Shah. The inhabitants are almost exclusively Wazir Pashtuns, along with a few from the Mahsud tribe. The town of Razmak is located just north of Makeen, South Waziristan.
The Waziristan campaign 1936–1939 comprised a number of operations conducted in Waziristan by the British Indian Army against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region. These operations were conducted in 1936–1939, when operations were undertaken against followers of the Pashtun nationalist Mirzali Khan, also known by the British as the "Faqir of Ipi", a religious and political agitator who was spreading anti-British sentiment in the region and undermining the prestige of the Indian government in Waziristan at the time.
Pashtun nationalism is an ideology that claims that the Pashtuns form a distinct nation and that they should always be united to preserve their culture and homeland. In Afghanistan, those who advocate Pashtun nationalism favour the idea of a "Greater Afghanistan", which includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and be ruled directly under Pashtun principles.
The Bannu Resolution, or the Pashtunistan Resolution, was a formal political statement adopted by Pashtun tribesmen who had wanted an independent Pashtun state on 21 June 1947 in Bannu in the North-West Frontier Province (NEFP) of British India. The resolution demanded the British to offer the option of independence for Pashtunistan, comprising all Pashtun territories in British India, rather than choosing between the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
Gūrwēk is a town in North Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan. Gurwek is located about 46 km (29 mi) southwest of Miramshah, the capital of North Waziristan.
Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen is a Pakistani Pashtun human rights activist from South Waziristan. He is chairman of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, a social movement based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. From 11 to 14 March 2022, he was part of the Pashtun National Jirga, which was held in Bannu to discuss the critical issues faced by the Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The North-West Frontier Province referendum was held in July 1947 to decide whether the North-West Frontier Province {Now Called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa} of British India would join the Dominion of India or Pakistan upon the Partition of India. The polling began on 6 July and the results were made public on 20 July. Out of the total population of 4 million in the NWFP, only 572,798 were eligible to vote, of whom only 51.00% voted in the referendum. 289,244 (99.02%) of the votes were cast in favor of Pakistan and only 2,874 (0.98%) in favor of India.
The inaugural meeting of the Pashtun National Jirga, also known as the Bannu Jirga, was held at Mirakhel Cricket Ground in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 11 to 14 March 2022 to discuss the critical issues faced by the Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was attended by about 5,000 delegates, including politicians, tribal chiefs, researchers, clerics, religious minorities, women and human rights activists.
In June 1949, a Pakistan Air Force warplane belonging to No. 14 Squadron PAF bombed a militant camp in the village of Mughalgai on the Afghan side of the Waziristan border while chasing the Pashtunistan separatist forces loyal to the Faqir of Ipi who attacked Pakistani military border posts from within Afghan territory. This airstrike killed 23 people and further fueled Afghan support for Pashtunistan.
