Khyber Agency
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Khyber District ( ps, خېبر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) 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 counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
in
Peshawar Division 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 ...
of
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, ...
province in
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. Until 2018, it was an agency of the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...
; with the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it became a district. It ranges from the
Tirah valley The Tirah also spelled Terah ( ps, تیراہ) also called the Tirah Valley (), is a mountainous tract located in the Khyber district, lying between the Khyber Pass and the Khanki Valley in Pakistan. Society Lying close to the Pak-Afghan borde ...
down to
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 ...
. It borders Nangarhar Province to the west,
Orakzai District Orakzai District ( ps, اورکزو ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Kohat Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas. With the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakht ...
to the south,
Kurram District Kurram District ( ps, کرم ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Kohat Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.The name Kurram comes from the river Kuramá ( ps, کورمه) in Pashto which itself derives from the Sanskrit name K ...
to south west, Peshawar to the east and
Mohmand District Mohmand District ( ps, مومندو ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with merger of FATA with Khyber Pakht ...
to the north. The major clans in District Khyber are Shinwari, Afridi, Mulagori and Shalmani. The majority of Afridis live in Khyber Agency, Dara Adam Khel, Kohat and Peshawar. All Afridi clans have their own areas in the Tirah Valley, and most of them extend down into the Khyber Pass over which they have always exercised the right of toll. The Malikdin Khel live in the centre of the Tirah and hold Bagh, the traditional meeting place of Afridi '' jirgas'' or assemblies. The Aka Khel are scattered in the hills south of
Jamrud Jamrūd (Pashto/ ur, جمرود) or Jam ( ps, جم) 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 jus ...
. All of this area is included in the Khyber Agency. The Adam Khel live in the hills between
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
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 ...
. Their preserve is the
Kohat Pass Kohat Pass ( ur, ) is a mountain pass in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, between the cities of Kohat and Peshawar. The pass traverses the Khigana Mountains, which stretch from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas towards Attock. ...
in which several of the most important Afridi gun factories are located.


Clans

The Afridi Tribe is subclassified into eight sub-tribes listed below. * Kuki khel * Qambar Khel *
Zakha Khel The Afrīdī ( ps, اپريدی ''Aprīdai'', plur. ''Aprīdī''; ur, آفریدی) are a Pashtun tribe present in Pakistan, with substantial numbers in Afghanistan. The Afridis are most dominant in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal ...
* Kamar Khel * Malikdin khel *
Aka Khel Aka Khel or Akakhel is an area of Landi Kotal Tehsil, Khyber Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan located in the Tirah Valley. Census Information As of 2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War A ...
* Sepah *
Adam Khel Afridi Adam Khel ( ps, آدم خېل) is one of the 8 clans of the Afridi tribe that originated in the Pashtun region of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afridi Adam Khel origin is Tirah valley like other Afridi clans, Adam Khel area in Tirah ...
* shlober * aka khel


Administration

Khyber District is currently subdivided into four
tehsils A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
. *
Bara Tehsil Bara Tehsil ( ur, ) is a subdivision located in Khyber District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Geography Adjacent administrative units *Nazyan District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan (north) *Landi Kotal Tehsil (north) *Jamrud Tehsil (nort ...
*
Jamrud Tehsil Jamrud Tehsil is a subdivision located in Khyber District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The population is 228,001 according to the 2017 census. See also * Jamrud * List of tehsils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa In Pakistan, a tehsil is an administr ...
*
Landi Kotal Tehsil Landi Tehsil is a subdivision located in Khyber District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The population is 274,409 according to the 2017 Census of Pakistan, 2017 census. See also * Aka Khel * Landi Kotal * List of tehsils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...
*
Mula Gori Tehsil Mula Gori Tehsil is a subdivision located in Khyber District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located among the Tatara hills. The population is 180,160 according to the 2017 census. The population mostly belongs to the Mulagori tribe of the P ...


Provincial Assembly


Khyber Pass

Khyber Pass is a major feature of the Khyber Agency. Its narrowest point is at
Ali Masjid Ali Masjid (Pashto and ) is the narrowest point of the Khyber Pass. It is located in Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is around east of the city of Landi Kotal (West of Peshawar) and has an elevation of . The width of the Kh ...
, where the
Battle of Ali Masjid The Battle of Ali Masjid, which took place on 21 November 1878, was the opening battle in the Second Anglo-Afghan War between the British forces, under Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel James Browne, and the Afghan forces, under Ghulam Haider Khan. ...
occurred. The
Khyber Rifles 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 adjac ...
paramilitary organization originated in the area and took their name from it.


Khyber Pass copy

A Khyber Pass copy is a homemade firearm characteristic of the Khyber area.


Khyber Pass Railway

Both the ''Khyber Mail'' (passenger train) and the ''
Khyber train safari The Khyber train safari ( ur, , ps, د خیبر تپ صفري) is a defunct tourist train that was operated and maintained by Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan Railways between Peshawar and Attock Khurd. The trip took ...
'' routes passed through the Khyber Agency via the Khyber Pass.
Khyber Pass Railway The Khyber Pass Railway ( ur, ) was one of several railway lines in Pakistan, operated and maintained by Pakistan Railways. The line begins at Peshawar City and ended at Landi Khana. The total length of this railway line is with 13 railway st ...
is a railway line in Pakistan.


Education

Khyber Agency is the most literate of all the tribal areas, with a literacy rate of 34.2%, as of 2007 – quite far ahead of the next highest agency, Kurram, at 26.5%. It is also the only agency where the majority of its men are literate, at 57.2%, which is almost 20% ahead of the next highest agency, Kurram. However, its female literacy rate of 10.1% is second after Kurram's 14.4%. Image:Literacy Rate Tribal Areas 2007 FATA excl FRs.jpg, Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source: Image:Literacy Rate Tribal Areas Male 2007.jpg, Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:


Demographics

At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 1,126,973, of which 504,502 were male and 479,669 female. The rural population was 886,789 (90.10%) while the urban population was 97,457 (9.90%). The literacy rate was 41.97% – the male literacy rate was 65.08% while the female literacy rate was 18.10%. 1,273 people in the district were religious minorities, mainly Christians.
Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
was the predominant language, spoken by 98.83% of the population. The majority of the tribes in Khyber Agency are
Afridi The Afrīdī ( ps, اپريدی ''Aprīdai'', plur. ''Aprīdī''; ur, آفریدی) are a Pashtun tribe present in Pakistan, with substantial numbers in Afghanistan. The Afridis are most dominant in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal ...
s. However, there are important pockets of Mullagoris, Shilmanis,
Bangash The Bangash, Bungish or Bangakh ( ps, بنګښ) are a tribe of Pashtuns, inhabiting their traditional homeland, historically known as Bangash district, which stretches from Kohat to Tall and Spīn Ghar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. They als ...
s and Shinwaries.


Insurgency

Tehrik-i-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 Afghan–Pakistani bo ...
,
Lashkar-e-Islam Lashkar-e-Islam ( ur, لشكرِ اسلام), (''LI'' or ''LeI'') literally ''Army of Islam'' also transliterated as Lashkar-e-Islami, Lashkar-i-Islam) is a militant terrorist organization active in and around Khyber Agency, Federally Administe ...
and
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM, ur, تحریک نفاذ شریعت محمدی, en, Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law) is a Salafi Islamic extremist militant group in Pakistan whose objective is to enforce Sharia law in th ...
militants began entering Khyber Agency after the US-led
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
invasion of
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
in 2001. Due to absence of a strong government and security network in the area and its rough, mountainous terrain, the area became a hotbed of insurgents and over 90 percent of the agency came under their control in 2007. After 2007, the militants began attacking government and military establishments in KPK province, killing many people and wounding many more. The
Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
began an operation in 2008 to clear the agency of militants and restore normal life in the area. The operation continued for years and resulted in the killing of hundreds of TTP militants and Pakistan Army soldiers. The Local Aman Lashkars or peace committees supported the army by fighting the foreign terrorists. By July 2012, a major part of the agency was cleared but military operation continued in
Bara Tehsil Bara Tehsil ( ur, ) is a subdivision located in Khyber District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Geography Adjacent administrative units *Nazyan District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan (north) *Landi Kotal Tehsil (north) *Jamrud Tehsil (nort ...
of the agency. The operation also produced a large number of
internally displaced people An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. ...
. In October 2014,
Pakistan Armed Forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...
launched a military offensive in Khyber Agency code-named
Operation Khyber-1 Khyber was the code-name for a 2014–2017 military offensive conducted by Pakistan's military in the Khyber Agency in four phases; Khyber-1, Khyber-2, Khyber-3 and Khyber-4. Khyber Agency was among Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal dis ...
.


Sports

People belonging to this area enjoy cricket. Famous Pakistani
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er Shahid Afridi and his son-in-law
Shaheen Afridi Shaheen Shah Afridi ( Urdu, Pashto: ; born 6 April 2000) is a Pakistani professional cricketer who plays as a fast bowler for the Pakistan national cricket team. Early life and career Afridi belongs to the Zakhakhel Afridi tribe of the Pasht ...
also belong to this area.Shahid Afridi , Pakistan Cricket , Cricket Players and Officials
ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.


See also

* Khyber Pass Economic Corridor


References


External links


Homepage for the Political Agent Khyber Agency
* http://www.khyber.org/places/2005/KhyberAgency.shtml – Khyber Agency information {{coord missing, Pakistan Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa