Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, ,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Dera Ismail Khan District Dera Ismail Khan District ( ps, ډېره اسماعیل خان ولسوالي, bal, ڈیرہ عِسمائیل خان, ur, , skr, ; often abbreviated as D.I. Khan) is a district in Dera Ismail Khan Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in P ...

, located in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakistan and fifth largest in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population. Dera Ismail Khan is situated on the west bank of the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

, at its junction with the Gomal River. It is south of the provincial capital

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, and northwest of

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Etymology

In the local language, the word ''ḍerā'' means "tent, encampment", and is commonly found in the name of towns in the

Indus Valley The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

such as Dera Ghazi Khan and

Dera Bugti Dera Bugti ( Balochi and Urdu: ) is a district within the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It was established as a separate district in 1983. Administration The district is administratively subdivided into Four sub-divisions, these are: * Pirko ...

. It is named after Baloch mercenary Ismail Khan, son of

Malik Sohrab Dodai Malik Sohrab Dodai was a son of Doda mercenary who moved to Multan (Punjab) in the late 15th century with his father Mir Doda Khan at the behest of the Langah dynasty. He was accompanied by his sons, Ghazi Khan, Fateh Khan, and Ismail Khan. This ...

, who founded the town. "Dera Ismail Khan" thus means "Camp Ismail Khan." People of Dera Ismail Khan as well as Dera Ghazi Khan are known by the

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

''Dērawāl''. The majority of the population are Saraiki people.

History

Foundation

Early history

The region around Dera Ismail Khan has been inhabited for millennia, as evidence by the nearby site of

Rehman Dheri Rehman Dheri or sometime Rahman Dheri () is a Indus Valley Civilization, Pre-Harappan Archaeological Site situated near Dera Ismail Khan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. This is one of the oldest urbanised centres found to date in S ...

— a pre-Harappan archaeological site dating from 3300 BCE. C. seventh century, the city had a large population of Brahmins and Buddhists.

Medieval history

D. I. Khan is located in the historical

Derajat Derajat ( Punjabi/Urdu: ), the plural of the word 'dera', is a cultural region of central Pakistan, located in the region where the provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan meet. Derajat is bound by the Indus River to the east, and ...

region, which was established in the 15th century, when

Baloch people The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian peoples, Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afgh ...

were invited to settle the region by Shah Husayn, of the Langah Sultanate of

. Shah Husayn being unable to hold his trans-Indus possessions, assigned the region around D. I. Khan to Sardar Malik Sohrab Khan Dodai Baloch in 1469 or 1471 and appointed him as "Jagir". Malik originally hailed from the

Makran District , subdivision = Princely state , nation = Pakistan , image_flag = Flag of the State of Makran.svg , image_map = Makran Map.gif , image_map_caption = Map of Pakistan with Makran highlighted , capital = Kech (Turbat) , stat_year1 = , sta ...

of southwestern Balochistan province. His success lead to the migration of other ''Makrani'' tribesmen — one of which, Ghazi Khan, founded the city of Dera Ghazi Khan further south. Malik's son, Ismail Khan, is traditionally believed to have founded the city of Dera Ismail Khan, though the Emperor

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...

passed through the region in 1506 and made no mention of the city. Baloch settlers were assimilated through the, later waves of

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

settlement, although villagers along the alluvial plains are typically Baloch or

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

. Dera Ismail Khan region was part of Multan province of Mughal Empire. The city was along the major

-to-

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

trade route, though D. I Khan never attained a station of great power or importance before the British period. D. I. Khan grew prosperous as a trading centre for Powindah nomads. During Nader Shah's invasion of the Mughal Empire. D. I. Khan was ruled by nine generations of Baloch leaders descended directly from Ismail Khan. The last, Nusrat Khan, was removed from power after the city was captured by

Ahmad Shah Durrani Ahmad Shāh Durrānī ( ps, احمد شاه دراني; prs, احمد شاه درانی), also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī (), was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is regarded as the founder of the modern Afghanistan. In July 1747, Ahm ...

in 1750. In 1794, the city was granted to Nawab Muhammad Khan Sadozai by

Shahzada Kamran Durrani Kamran Shah Durrani was born in the Sadozai dynasty. He was the son of Mahmud Shah Durrani, grandson of Timur Shah Durrani and the great grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire. He was deposed and killed in early 1842, ...

Reestablishment of the city

The original town was swept away by flooding on the Indus River in 1823. The present city was founded by Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan of the Sadduzai clan in 1825, and now stands four miles (6 km) away from the permanent channel of the river, atop a small plateau. Nawab Sadozai took into consideration the opinions of Diwan Lakhi Mal and Tej Bhan Nandwani for the city's reconstruction. Architects were brought in from Punjab, who designed a city where Hindus would live south of the city center and Muslims north of it. Four bazaars were laid in each of the cardinal directions, with all four converging in the town's central ''

Chowgalla Chowgalla (also called Chogallia) is the centre of Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province (formerly North West Province NWFP) of Pakistan. The majority of the population speaks Saraiki. Geography It is situated on the west ba ...

''. The rebuilt city contained a large bazaar for Afghan traders, and the city prospered from trade via the Gomal Pass. An eight-foot mud wall with nine gates was built around the city during this time as well, some of which such as the ''Kaneran Wala'' and ''Sakki'' survive until today. All existing buildings date from no earlier than the 19th century.Dera Ismail Khān Town – Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 11, p. 269
Dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved on 2012-06-01.

Sikh rule(1821-1849)

D. I. Khan remained under Sadozai rule from the nearby town of

Mankera Mankera (In Punjabi and ur, ), is the principal town of Mankera Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of Bhakkar District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is situated about west of the city of Lahore. Bhakkar is located in the west of ...

until it was annexed by Bhatti Jatsikh ruler Maharaja

Nau Nihal Singh Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh (9 March 1821 – 5 November 1840) was the third Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the only son of Maharaja Kharak Singh and his consort, Maharani Chand Kaur. He was known as Yuvraj Kunwar Nau Nihal Singh. He was also kn ...

of the Sikh Empire in 1836. Diwan Lakhi Mal appointed the city's ''Kardar'' ruler, though the Nawabs of the city from the Durrani order were allowed to maintain their title and some income. The city suffered under punitive taxes that lead to frequent complaints in the Sikh ''Darbar'' at Lahore, resulting in several changes of ''Kardar''. The city was annexed by the British in 1849 following their conquest of Punjab that resulted in the defeat of the Sikhs as the Battle of Gujrat.

Colonial British India era

NWFP province was made out of Punjab province in 1920. D. I. Khan was made part of the NWFP, now known as KPK province. D. I. Khan's first deputy commissioner under British Indian Empire was General Henry Charles Van Cortland, who arrived in February 1848, before departing later that year to quell a revolt in nearby

. Following the defeat of rebels at Multan, Lieutenant Butler was made the next deputy commissioner of D. I. Khan and

Bannu Bannu ( ps, بنو, translit=banū ; ur, , translit=bannū̃, ) 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 ...

. Under his rule, the city's infrastructure and colonial administration system were established in which top posts were exclusively occupied by the British. The city was on the edge of the Tribal Areas — lands that were frequently in rebellion against British Indian Empire. The town did not rise up in revolt against British Indian Empire during the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. In 1861, D. I. Khan was made into the Divisional Capital of the new Dera Ismail Khan Division: analogous to a British county. The municipality was constituted in 1867, while the

Dera Ismail Khan Cantonment Dera Ismail Khan Cantonment is a cantonment adjacent to the Dera Ismail Khan, which is situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South As ...

was established in 1894. By 1881 the city's population was 22,164. The military

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

area, which lies southeast of the town, has an area of , excluding the portion known as Fort Akalgarh on the northwest side. The

Derajat Brigade The Derajat Brigade was formed after the 1903 reforms of the British Indian Army by Herbert Kitchener when he was Commander-in-Chief, India. The brigade was part of the Northern Army and deployed along the North West Frontier. The Derajat Brigade ...

had its winter headquarters at Dera Ismail Khan, and the garrison consisted of a mountain battery, a regiment of Native cavalry, and three regiments of Native infantry. Detachments from these regiments helped to garrison the outposts of Drazinda, Jandola, and Jatta. The "Civil Lines" neighborhood was built to the south. The local trade of Dera Ismail Khan was of moderate importance, but some foreign traffic with Central Asia passed through it. Powindah caravans of Afghan merchants traversed the town twice a year on their road to and from India. With the increasing security of the Gomal route, these caravans were swelling in numbers. The chief imports were English and native piece-goods, hides, salt, and fancy wares; the exports were grain, wood, and

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...

. The local manufacturers specialized in lungis and lacquered woodwork. The town possessed a civil hospital; its chief educational institutions were two aided Anglo-vernacular high schools, one maintained by the Church Missionary Society and the other by the Bharatri Sabha, and an Anglo-vernacular middle school maintained by the municipality. According to the 1901 census, the population of Dera Ismail Khan was 31,737, of whom 18,662 were Muslims, 11,486 Hindus, and 1,420 Sikhs. Of the total, 3,450 lived in the cantonment. In 1911 the population reached 35,131 and in 1921 it became 39,341. In 1932, the population of Dera Ismail Khan was 56,741. It consisted of Hindus and Muslims, the latter of which included recent converts from Hinduism and Pashtuns. The predominantly Muslim population supported the Muslim League and the Pakistan Movement. After the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

and independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s and

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

s migrated to India, while the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

migrants from India settled in Dera Ismail Khan. In India, Model Town, Vijay Nagar and

Derawal Nagar Derawal Nagar is a neighbourhood in Delhi, India which is named after people of the Derawal community. Originally native to the Derajat region (districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan in present-day Pakistan). These individuals, who ar ...

colony in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

absorbed many Hindu former residents of D. I. Khan.

Modern era

Following an influx of refugees following the 1979

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, D. I. Khan's population tripled. D. I. Khan was badly affected by a terrorist campaign conducted throughout northwest Pakistan, primarily between 2007 and 2014 by the

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Durand Line, Afghan–Pa ...

. A suicide bomber on January 29, 2007 detonated himself killing two while injuring seven people. During the

2008 Dera Ismail Khan suicide bombing The August 2008 Dera Ismail Khan suicide bombing took place on 19 August 2008, near the Emergency Ward of District Headquarter Hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, killing 32, including 7 policemen. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility fo ...

a bomber targeting some specific

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

s blew himself up in a hospital waiting room, killing 32 people. The attacks were carried out by the

to pressure the government to call off its offensive in

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

and the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which had begun less than two weeks earlier. During the

November 2008 Dera Ismail Khan bombing The November 2008 Dera Ismail Khan bombing took place on November 21, 2008 at Bannu Ada in Dera Ismail Khan , killing 8. Sectarianism in the city rose in 2007-2009 span. More than 8 people died each month from sectarian violence. The November ...

, Shia religious leader Allama Nazir Hussain Shah was shot dead in a sectarian killing with Shah Iqbal Hussain. During his funeral prayers, a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing nine people and injuring 39. In the January 2009 bombings, 52 people were injured while 16 were killed as three explosions took place in the city. In May 2009, three explosions caused the deaths of five people while nine were injured. On 14 June 2009, eight people were killed while 27 injured in an explosion in Pir Market near a bus stand. On 29 July 2009, two people were killed and four injured when a bomb planted in car detonated near the district court. On May 18, 2010, a bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded near a police van killing 13 people while injuring 14. On 25 June 2011, between 10 and 12 militants of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan attacked a police station in the nearby town of

Kulachi Kulachi (کلاچی) is a city named after the Kulachi Baloch tribe and is the headquarter of Kulachi Tehsil (an administrative subdivision) of Dera Ismail Khan District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at at an altitud ...

, killing 10 police officers. The

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Durand Line, Afghan–Pa ...

claimed the responsibility of these attacks. In 2014, the wide-scale

Operation Zarb-e-Azb Operation Zarb-e-Azb (Pashto/ ur, ALA-LC: ) was a joint military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces against various militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Eas ...

was launched against militants throughout Pakistan, which resulted in a greatly improved security environment by 2016, although on January 4, 2017 15 people including five policemen were killed when a remote control planted bomb exploded on Bannu Road. On 17 February 2017, another five people, including four police officers, were killed after unidentified suspects opened fire on a police van near Mission Mor. As part of the 2015 China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, it was announced that D. I. Khan would be the terminus of the

Hakla–Dera Ismail Khan Motorway The M-14 Motorway, also known as the Islamabad–Dera Ismail Khan Motorway () and the Hakla–Yarik Motorway, is a four-lane North-South motorway in Pakistan. The motorway is a part of the Western Alignment of the China–Pakistan Economic Co ...

— a four-lane

controlled access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

motorway, 280 km in length, that is to begin at the M1 near

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

and serve as part of the

Western Alignment The Western Alignment refers to the portions of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which are located in the Pakistani provinces of northwestern Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The CPEC project envisages an expanded and u ...

of the economic corridor.

Geography

Climate

Dera Ismail Khan has a hot desert climate ( Köppen ''BWh'') with sweltering summers and warm winters. Rain mainly falls in two distinct periods: in the late winter and early spring from February to April, and in the monsoon in July and August.

Transportation

Road

. The city is connected to

via the highway, which further connects it to the provincial capital of

via

Kohat Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...

and

Darra Adam Khel Darra Adam Khel ( ps, درہ آدم خیل) is the main town of Kohat Subdivision (formerly known as "Frontier Region Kohat") in the Kohat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It has gained fame and notoriety for its bazaars packed with gun ...

. Another road connects D. I. Khan to Mianwali through

Chashma Barrage Chashma Barrage is a barrage on the River Indus in Mianwali District of the Punjab province of Pakistan 304 km NW of Lahore and 56 km downstream of Jinnah Barrage. The contract for Chashma Barrage works was awarded on 10 February 1967 ...

, and another connects the city to Zhob. The third major road connects it to

Bhakkar Bhakkar ( ur, ), is the principal city of Bhakkar District located in Punjab, Pakistan. It lies on the left bank of the Indus River. It is the 86th largest city in Pakistan. Administration Bhakkar city is also the administrative centre of B ...

, situated on the eastern bank of the

. A bridge on the

was constructed in the early 1980s, before which the approach to Bhakkar was made through a

boat bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry. ...

. Another road connect it to district

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

which further leads towards Jandola-AngoorAdda areas of South South Waziristan district at North west and Pezu on eastern side. D. I. Khan is at the terminus of the

— a 280-km, four-lane

motorway that is to extend from the Hakla Interchange on the M1 Motorway, near

to D. I. Khan.

Air

The city is served by

Dera Ismail Khan Airport Dera Ismail Khan Airport or D. I. Khan Airport is situated 10 km away from the city centre of Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. This is the only airport besides Bannu Airport that connec ...

, though no commercial flights operate to the airport.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Dera Ismail Khan Populated places established in the 15th century ! Cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa