Mīrānshāh (

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 ...

and ur, ) or Mīrāmshāh () is a small town that is the administrative headquarters of

North Waziristan District North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

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 of

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 ...

. Miranshah lies on the banks of the

Tochi River The Gambila River (Pashto and ur, دریائے گمبیلا), also called the Tochi River (), is located in Khost Province, Afghanistan, and North Waziristan and Bannu District, northwestern Pakistan. The source of the river lies in the hills six ...

in a wide valley surrounded by the foothills of the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

mountains. It is located at an elevation of about , from the Pakistan-

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 ...

border (

Durand Line The Durand Line ( ps, د ډیورنډ کرښه; ur, ), forms the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, a international land border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia. The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to th ...

). The nearest city in Pakistan is

Bannu Bannu ( ps, بنو, translit=banū ; ur, , translit=bannū̃, ) is a city located on the Kurram River in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the capital of Bannu Division. Bannu's residents are primarily members of the Banuchi tribe ...

, about to the east, while the nearest city across the border in Afghanistan is

Khost Khōst ( ps, خوست) is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram ...

, to the northwest. The city has a shrinking population of only 4,361, and it has only 356 households. This makes it the least populous urban area in

Bannu Division Bannu Division is one of seven divisions in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It consists of three districts: Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and North Waziristan. According to the 2017 Pakistani Census, the division had a population of 2,656,801, ...

, but it is also the only urbanized area in the entire region of

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

, and also the entire

Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...

region, a mountainous area that has 99% of its 1.22 million residents living in rural areas.

Administration

Miranshah is the administrative headquarters of

, in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA). In 2018, FATA was merged into the

province of Pakistan.

History

25th Punjabis (9 Punjab) Band, Miran Shah 1917

Miranshah was named after the

Timurid Timurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror: * Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ** Timurid Empire of C ...

ruler,

Miran Shah Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah ( fa, میران شاہ), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire. During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initi ...

, the son of

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

. In 1905, the British constructed Miranshah Fort to control North Waziristan. In the early 1950s, the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

(PAF) and the "Tochi Scouts" of Pakistan's paramilitary

Frontier Corps The Frontier Corps ( ur, , reporting name: FC), are a group of paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's borders with Afghanist ...

carried out counter-insurgency operations from Miranshah Airfield and Miranshah Fort against the insurgency fomented by the rebellious General Shudikhel Dawar and

Mirzali Khan Haji Mirzali Khan Wazir ( oru, حاجي میرزاعلي خان وزیر), commonly known as the Faqir of Ipi (), was a Ormur tribal chief and freedom fighter from North Waziristan in today's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. After performing his ...

(Faqir of Ipi). In the 1950s, Miranshah was also the site of a weapons firing range of the PAF, which was located next to the Miranshah Airfield. After

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, Miranshah gained prominence in the United States-led

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

and has witnessed numerous

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

strikes by the US

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

targeting alleged militants hiding in the town and in the surrounding foothills. Miranshah and its surrounding areas have also witnessed fighting between militants and Pakistani military and paramilitary forces.

Notable places

Miranshah has a historical fort built by the British in 1905, which, since Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, has been used as a garrison by the "Tochi Scouts" of Pakistan's

. The town also has a 7,000 ft. long airfield, which is used for both civil and military purposes. Other notable places include a bazaar, a sports stadium, a primary school, a secondary school and a college.

References

External links

{{commons category, Miran Shah
Waziristan and Mughal empire

Nehru in Waziristan

Sketch map of Waziristan

Mehsuds and Wazirs, the King-makers in a game of thrones

Lawrence of Arabia in Waziristan
Populated places in North Waziristan Waziristan

Administration

History

Notable places

See also

References

External links