Sadda ( ''Sada'') is a city in

Kurram District Kurram District () is a district in the Kohat Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The name Kurram comes from the river ''Kwarma'' () in Pashto, which itself derives from the Sanskrit word ''Krumu'' (). Until 2018, it funct ...

in 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# ...

. Located on the

Kurram River The Kurram River (), or Kurrama River, originates from the watershed of Spin Ghar region in the Paktia province of Afghanistan and the Kurram District of Pakistan. It flows through North Waziristan, and the city of Bannu, before joining the ...

, it is a big trade market for the people of Lower Kurram and Central Kurram. The main tribe living in Sadda is the

Bangash The Bangash, Bungish, Bangaš or Bangakh () are a tribe of Pashtuns, inhabiting their traditional homeland, the Bangash district which stretches from Kohat to Tall in Hangu and Spīn Ghar, Kurram in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. They also live ...

. Sadda is located about southeast of Parachinar. The nearest main city on the Afghan side of the border is

Khost Khōst () 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 Agency, Kurram i ...

, which is located about to the southwest of Sadda.

Etymology

Sadda or

Sadeh Sadeh ( also transliterated as ''Sade''), is an Iranian festival that dates back to the Achaemenid Empire. ''Sadeh'' is celebrated 50 days before Nowruz. Sadeh in Persian means "hundred" and refers to the one hundred days and nights remaining t ...

literary means "hundred", and is the name of an ancient Iranian winter festival, traditionally celebrated by kindling fires. The festival falls 40 days after the

winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

, and 50 days before the

March equinox The March equinox or northward equinox is the equinox on the Earth when the subsolar point appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equator, heading northward as seen from Earth. The March equinox is known as the ver ...

Nowruz Nowruz (, , () , () , () , () , Kurdish language, Kurdish: () , () , () , () , , , , () , , ) is the Iranian or Persian New Year. Historically, it has been observed by Iranian peoples, but is now celebrated by many ...

, i.e. on or around 30 January.

Demographics

Population

As of the 2023 census, Sadda had a population of 39,888.

Languages

Sadda is inhabited by

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 ...

who speak

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

. The main Pashtun tribes are the

and

Orakzai The Orakzai (Pashto: وركزۍ) are a Pashtun tribe native to the Orakzai Agency and parts of Kurram and Khyber Agencies in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Additionally, a sub-tribe of the Orakzai resides in Afghanistan's Maidan W ...

. Other large tribes are the Alisherzai, Mamozai, and Mangal. Being a trading point, it bustles with business activity attracting customers and traders from all over Kurram District. It is now a diverse multi-tribe city. During the Taliban insurgency, Sadda was home to many Taliban leaders before the Pakistan Army took control of the city. Sadda is a very fast-growing city, which doubled its population between 1998 and 2017. It is the fourth-largest city in

Kohat Division Kohat Division is one of the seven divisions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It consists of five districts: Hangu, Karak, Kohat, Kurram, and Orakzai. The division borders Bannu Division to the south and west, Peshawar Divisio ...

and the 40th largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It first was notified and recognized as an urban area between the 1981 and 1998 censuses of Pakistan.

References

Populated places in Kurram District {{Kurram-geo-stub

Etymology

Demographics

Population

Languages

See also

References