Hangu District (', ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

within the Kohat Division of the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province, Pakistan. It is located close to the border with Khost Province,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The district takes its name from the town of Hangu, which is its administrative centre. The name Hangu may also sometimes be applied to the Miranzai Valley which is partly within the district, bordering the Samana Range.

History

From 1540 to 1893, Hangu was ruled by two prominent figures: the Malak Khails and the Khans of Hangu. The Malak Khails were centrally located in the Darsamand and Mammu regions. Historically, nomads from Afghanistan would travel southwards during the winters. However, this free movement was curtailed after the 1970s due to heightened border controls. On 30 June 1996, Hangu District was carved out from a section of the Kohat District. The demarcation of its territory commences from the village of Khawaja Khizer (Jawzara), a point line between the Kohat and Hangu Districts. The 13th and the final Khan of Hangu was Muzaffar Khan Bangash. Today, his descendants live in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Hangu. Bangash is a vast tribe whose descendants are scattered around different parts of Pakistan; mostly

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

and other districts of KPK. They also reside in Afghanistan, from where they had originated, and in some parts of Iran and the Uttar Pradesh State of India. Some have also migrated to western countries seeking better education and improved lives.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Hangu district has 61,148 households and a population of 528,902. The district has a sex ratio of 96.91 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 43.15%: 66.04% for males and 22.02% for females. 152,504 (29.01% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 85,727 (16.21%) live in urban areas.

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

was the predominant language, spoken by 99.59% of the population.

Religion

Administrative divisions

Hangu District is divided into these tehsils:

Villages

* Mardukhel Banda

Constituencies

The district comprises two constituencies for the

Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is located in Peshawar, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of t ...

. The

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right, Conservatism in Pakistan, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate of Pakistan, Senate and the larges ...

(PML-N) has an overwhelming majority here. NA-9 and now NA-16 have been the stronghold of the party. Maulvi Naimatullah, Syed Ifthikhar Hussain Gilani and Javed Ibrahim Piracha have won consecutively since 1985. In the 2002 elections, PML-N did not run a candidate, but in 2008, Dr. Farooq Bangash, the PML-N NA-16 Candidate, who technically could not contest elections being British Citizen, surrendered to ANP Syed Haider Ali Shah, who won marginally from

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , ) is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, Religion in Pakistan, religious, and right-wing parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed such a ...

(MMA). Basically it was Bangash's strategy to ensure a Pir Haider win. Now the majority and whole control for PTI, In Local body election PTI also gain the main power, and there is still strong opposition of JUI.

National Assembly

This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-16. Since 2002: NA-16 (Hangu)

Provincial Assembly

Education

Various public and private schools and colleges exist in district of Hangu. Hangu population is near by 0.8 million people and they demand for university in 2013. Agriculture University campus was to be built in Hangu City but still the project is pending while funds transfer to Charsada University during ANP government. Recently the government degree college Hangu started a BS Hons 4-year program under Kohat University of Science and Technology.