Harnai ( ps, هرنای, ur, ) is the capital of

Harnai District Harnai ( bal, ہرنائ, ps, هرنای, ur, ) is a district in the north-east of Balochistan province of Pakistan. Harnai is the principal town of this district and serves as its capital. The predominant first language is Pashto. Wanetsi or ...

in the

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. It was previously in Sibi District. It is located in the northeast of Balochistan province. The town is surrounded by the cities

Ziarat Ziarat (Urdu and ps, ) is a city in the Ziarat District situated in the Balochistan. It is from the capital city of Eastern Balochistan Quetta. It was established as a district on 1st July 1986, before then it was part of Sibi district. Th ...

, Loralai and the state capital,

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of ...

. The population is predominantly

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 ...

followed by Baloch. The language spoken in the town is

Wanetsi Waṇetsi ( wne, وڼېڅي), commonly called Tarīno ( wne, links=no, ترينو), and sometimes Tsalgari ( wne, links=no, څلګري), is a distinct variety of Pashto and is considered by some to be a different language. In some cases, Wanet ...

or Tareeno mainly spoken by Spin Tareen's, a unique and archaic dialect of

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 langua ...

.Hallberg, Daniel G. 1992. ''Pashto, Waneci, Ormuri''. Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan, 4.
/ref> There is also a thinly populated tribe in the town named Wanechi (not to be confused with Wanetsi language). The other name of the Language is Tareeno. The town is inhabited by Marri and Baloch tribes with a Pashtuns majority such as the Tareen and Kakar.

History

The old name of Harnai was Zawara in Local Tareeno Language. Some people still pronounced Harnai as Zawara. The name Harnai refers to an influential Hindu personality, Harnam Das, supposed founder of Harnai town, the capital of Harnai District. The town is quite close to Loralai, Ziarat, Sibi, Mastung and Quetta. Harnai is surrounded by imposing hills on all sides. The encircling hill ranges have the resounding names of 'Khalifat' and 'Zarghun'. Loe sar Nekan (Zarghoon Gar) with an elevation of 3578 Meters is the highest mountain peak in the province of Baluchistan in the southwest of Pakistan is also situated in District Harnai. Harnai proper has a population of about 200,000. The majority of the population of Harnai are Tareens and they mostly speak a unique,

(Tareeno) dialect of

, which is considered by some linguists to be distinctive enough to be classified as its own language. According to linguist Prods Oktor Skjaervo: "The Pashto area split into two dialect groups at a pre-literary period, represented today on the one hand by all the dialects of modern Pashto and on the other by Wanetsi and by archaic remains in other southeast dialects." Until 2007 Harnai had been a tehsil of Sibi District, in August the Balochistan Government announced the Harnai district would be created by splitting the Sibi district and forming the new district from Harnai and Shahrag tehsils and the sub-tehsil of Khost.

Geography

Harnai is surrounded by mountainous ranges, such as Koh e Zarghoon and Koh e Khalifat.

Climate

The minimum and maximum winter temperature of the area is -2˚C to 20˚C. The summer is extreme in the area and the minimum and maximum temperature fall between 20˚C to 48˚C. Harnai has a fertile rainy season during monsoon time. In general, Harnai has pleasant weather in winter season. The best to visit Harnai is February to April.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Harnai District