Wāṇa or Wanna ( ; ) is the largest town in the

South Waziristan District South Mahsud Waziristan District () was a district in the Dera Ismail Khan Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, before splitting into the Lower South Waziristan District and the Upper South Waziristan District on 13 April 202 ...

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 Tank District (, '; ') is a district in the Dera Ismail Khan Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city of Tank is the headquarter of the district, which consists of Union Council City I and Union Council City II. There ...

being the winter headquarters. Wanna is also one of the three subdivisions of South Waziristan along with

Ladha Ladha (; ) or Lada is a town in South Waziristan, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, now merged with province). Just 10 km north of Ladha is the city of Makeen, while 10 km south of Ladha is th ...

and

Sarwakai Serwekai () is a town, tehsil, and subdivision of South Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Serwekai is one of the three subdivisions of South Waziristan, along with Ladha and Wanna. The subdivision of Serwekai is fu ...

. 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

Karlan Karlāṇī or Karrani () is a Pashtuns, Pashtun tribal confederacy. They primarily inhabit the FATA region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and certain parts of eastern Afghanistan. In the 16th century the Karlani founded the Karrani d ...

ri 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 The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

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 The Mahsud (), also spelled as Mehsud, Mahsood and others, is a Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Maseeds usually pronounce their name ''Māsīd''. They are divi ...

and

Bettani The Bettani (), also spelled Batani, Baittani or Bhittani, is a Pashtun confederacy located mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Bettani are named after ''Shaykh Beṭ'', their legendary ancestor, who is said to be the third and last son of ...

also live in the surroundings of Wanna.

References

External links

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