Miani (Pashtun tribe)
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Miani ( ps, Mianrhi) is a
Pushtun 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 ...
tribe that mainly inhabit the Gomal plains of Pakistan in the
Tank District Tank District ( ps, ټانک ولسوالۍ, ur, '; skr, ') is a district in Dera Ismail Khan Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The city of Tank is the capital of the district, which consists of Union Council City I and U ...
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, ...
, which was formerly
North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...
. Historically Mianis have been migratory Powindah Tribes migrating between the Derajat Pakistan and Afghanistan though historical Gomal Pass. Many of them settled in the Gomal plains by 1850. There are also Miani people within the
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 ...
of Pakistan who are related to the Mianis settled in the Gomal plains.


History

Mianis are believed to be a Shirani tribe that descended from the
Sarbani Saṛbanī ( ps, سړبني) or Sarban Confedracy is a tribal group of Pashtuns. They are situated in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Sarbani include many Pashtun tribes, including Sherani, Tareen, Durrani, Khalil, Kheshgi,Kasi which includes M ...
. The Shiranis have three sub-tribes, namely Marani, Miani and Babar. Maranis still refer to themselves as 'Shirani' as they are the main sub-tribe, but Babars and Mianis identify themselves as completely separate tribes. A number of clans and sub clans of Miani tribe were Powindahs, who migrated between Afghanistan and Pakistan, afterwards large number of them settled in the Gomal Plains along with their other earlier settled tribesmen.


Gomal plains

Though initially a
nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
ic tribe, Mianis settled in the Gomal plains by or before 1850. The estimated population of nomadic Miani tribe was about 800 in the 1870s. They were a semi-independent group that lived along the
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 ...
border, except for the hot season, when they moved into the hills. They were living among a small tribe, the Ghorezais (or Ghwarazai), of whom there were about 350 people. The larger tribe in the area was the Wazir, of whom there were a couple thousand people. An important technique that the British used to manage the frontier was to make certain tribes responsible for monitoring who had passes to travel on particular routes into the hills. They called this “pass responsibility”. The Bhitannis first accepted pass responsibility on the Tank frontier. Then, pass responsibility for the Girni, Murtuza and Manjhi posts was assigned to the Miani and Ghurezai tribes in 1876. That year, they also accepted responsibility for monitoring passage into the Gomal Valley, as did a portion of the Ghwarazai that lived away from the other clan members of the Kakar tribe of Baluchistan. In 1879, when Tank was raided by the Mehsuds and an uprising took place, wherein the tribes believed that the British control over the area is weakening, Mianis along with Suleman Khels and Kharotis looted a number of villages around Tank. The same fact has been narrated by Evelyn Berkelen Howell, that in January 1879, Tank was raided by the
Mahsud The Mahsud or Mehsood ( ps, محسود), also spelled Maseed ( ps, ماسيد), is a Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, now merged within Khyb ...
. Both Miani and Ghwarazai took part in the looting and plundering of Tank in the resulting disorder."


Miani in Baluchistan

Though a portion of Miani Tribe live in Baluchistan especially in the Shirani District, sizable population of the Miani people live in Sharigh Tehsil of Harnai District in Balochistan. District Development Profile, Planning and Development Department, Government of Balochistan in Collaboration with UNICEF, July 18, 2011 Luni and Jaffar tribes residing in Baluchistan too are believed to be descendants of Miani tribe.


References

{{reflist Pashtun tribes Pashto-language surnames Pakistani names