Wāṇa or Wanna ( ; ) is the largest town in the South Waziristan District 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 of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is the summer headquarters for the agency's administration,

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 battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

located in the neighbouring Tank District being the winter headquarters. Wanna is also one of the three subdivisions of South Waziristan along with Ladha and Sarwakai. The subdivision of Wanna is further divided into three tehsils: Wanna, Barmal, and Toi Khwla.

History

Colonial history

During the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

, beginning in the late 19th century, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

established a cantonment on the Wanna Plain which was used as a headquarters by the British forces in South Waziristan till the partition of India in 1947. During their rule, the

Pashtun tribes The Pashtun tribes (), are tribes of the Pashtun people, a large Eastern Iranian ethnic group who speak the Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali, the social code of conduct for Pashtuns. They are found primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan a ...

Waziristan Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...

- part of the Karlanri Tribal Confederation - gave the British much headache. In fact, the British, known then as the 'foreigners' , had to deal with a full-fledged insurgency in Waziristan in the 1930s. At one point during the 1930s, the British had up to 18,000 troops in and around Waziristan, with Wanna being used as the forward headquarters and airbase.

Post-Independence

During 1989, the city underwent a striking increase in

Malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

with a village Azam Warsak suffering the most.

Wanna in the War on Terror

Wanna has been involved in the War on Terror due to the

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

members affiliated with the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

-aligned Ahmadzai Waziris of the Wanna Plain. The Pakistan Armed forces have conducted several armed operations against these Al-Qaeda members since August 2003 off and on with limited success. Perhaps the town's most violent incident in the War on Terror was the Battle of Wanna which took place in March 2004 and included fighters from the Pakistani Army against Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. More than 100 armed personnel were killed during the week of the fighting.

Ethnic background of inhabitants

Inhabitants of Wanna are Muslim

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

, primarily Ahmedzai Waziris from the Wazir tribe but other Pashtun tribes such as Mahsud and Bettani also live in the surroundings of Wanna.

References

External links

* * * * * {{EB1911 poster, Wana Populated places in South Waziristan Waziristan