Khyber District

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Khyber District
  • ضلع خیبر
  • خېبر
District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Top: Bab-e-Khyber
Bottom: Ali Masjid Fort
Map of Khyber District
Map of Khyber District
Country Pakistan
Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
DivisionPeshawar
Established1873 (as an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas)
HeadquartersLandi Kotal
Government
 • TypeDistrict Administration
 • Deputy CommissionerN/A
 • District Police OfficerN/A
 • District Health OfficerN/A
Area
[1]
 • Total2,576 km2 (995 sq mi)
Population
 (2017)[2]
 • Total984,246
 • Density380/km2 (990/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+5 (PST)
Main language(s)Pashto (99.6%)[1]: 24 
Number of Tehsils4
Websitehttp://khyber.kp.gov.pk/

Khyber District (Pashto: خېبر ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع خیبر) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, with merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it became a district. It ranges from the Tirah valley down to Peshawar. It borders Nangarhar Province to the west, Orakzai District to the south, Kurram District to south west, Peshawar to the east and Mohmand District in north.

Major Clans in District Khyber are Shinwari, Afridi, Mulagori and Shalmani.

The majority of Afridis live in Khyber Agency, Dara Adam Khel, Kohat and Peshawar.

All Afridi clans have their own areas in the Tirah Valley, and most of them extend down into the Khyber Pass over which they have always exercised the right of toll. The Malikdin Khel live in the centre of the Tirah and hold Bagh, the traditional meeting place of Afridi jirgas or assemblies. The Aka Khel are scattered in the hills south of Jamrud. All of this area is included in the Khyber Agency. The Adam Khel live in the hills between Peshawar and Kohat. Their preserve is the Kohat Pass in which several of the most important Afridi gun factories are located.

Clans

The Afridi Tribe is subclassified into eight sub tribes listed below.

Administration

Khyber District is currently subdivided into four Tehsils.[3]

Provincial Assembly

Member of Provincial Assembly Party Affiliation Constituency Year
Shafiq Afridi Independent PK-105 Khyber-1 2019
Bilawal Afridi Independent PK-106 Khyber-1I 2019
Muhammad Shafiq Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PK-107 Khyber-1II 2019

Khyber Pass

Portions of Khyber Agency are verdant.

Khyber Pass is a major feature of the Khyber Agency. Its narrowest point is at Ali Masjid, where the Battle of Ali Masjid occurred. The Khyber Rifles paramilitary organization originated in the area and took their name from it.

Khyber Pass copy

A Khyber Pass copy is a homemade firearm characteristic of the Khyber area.

Khyber Pass Railway

Both the Khyber Mail (passenger train) and the Khyber train safari routes passed through the Khyber Agency via the Khyber Pass. Khyber Pass Railway is a railway line in Pakistan.[4][5][6]

Education

Khyber Agency is the most literate of all the Tribal Areas, with a literacy rate of 34.2%, as of 2007. Quite far ahead of the next highest Agency – Kurram at 26.5%. It is also the only Agency where the majority of its men are literate, at 57.2%, which is almost 20% ahead of the next highest agency, Kurram. However, its female literacy rate of 10.1% is 2nd after Kurram's 14.4%.[7]

Agency Literacy rate 2007[7]
Male Female Total
Khyber 57.2% 10.1% 34.2%
  • Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:[7]
    Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:[7]
  • Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:[7]
    Literacy Map, Khyber Highest, Source:[7]

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1972 378,032—    
1981 284,256−3.12%
1998 546,730+3.92%
2017 984,246+3.14%
Sources:[8]

At the time of the 2017 census the district had a population of 1126973, of which 504,502 were males and 479,669 females. Rural population was 886,789 (90.10%) while the urban population was 97,457 (9.90%). The literacy rate was 41.97% - the male literacy rate was 65.08% while the female literacy rate was 18.10%. 1,273 people in the district were from religious minorities, mainly Christians. Pashto was the predominant language, spoken by 98.83% of the population.[2]

The majority of the tribes in Khyber Agency are Afridis. However, there are important pockets of Mullagoris, Shilmanis, Bangashs and Shinwaries.[9]

Insurgency

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Islam and Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi militants began entering Khyber Agency after the US-led NATO Invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Due to absence of a strong government and security network in the area and its rough, mountainous terrain, the area became a hotbed of the insurgents and over 90 percent of the agency came under their control in 2007. After 2007, the militants began attacking government and military establishments in KPK province killing many people and wounding many more. The Pakistan Army began an operation in 2008 to clear the agency of militants and restore normal life in the area. The Operation continued for years and resulted in killing of hundreds of TTP militants and Pakistan Army soldiers. The Local Aman Lashkars or Peace committees supported the army by fighting the foreign terrorists. By July 2012, a major part of the agency was cleared but military operation continued in Bara Tehsil of the agency. The Operation also Produced a large number of internally displaced people. [10] In October 2014, Pakistan Armed Forces launched a military offensive in Khyber Agency code-named Operation Khyber-1.

Sports

Shahid Afridi in the field during a cricket match.

People belonging to this area enjoy cricket, famous Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi and his son-in-law Shaheen Afridi also belong to this area.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b 1998 Census report of Khyber Agency. Census publication. Vol. 138. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000.
  2. ^ a b "District Wise Results / Tables (Census - 2017)". www.pbscensus.gov.pk. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
  3. ^ "DISTRICT AND TEHSIL LEVEL POPULATION SUMMARY WITH REGION BREAKUP [PDF]" (PDF). www.pbscensus.gov.pk. 2018-01-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-26. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  4. ^ APP (2015-04-02). "Peshawar to Attock Safari train". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  5. ^ Khan, Ismail (2012-11-11). "Khyber Safari — out of steam". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  6. ^ "Pakistan Railways plans to lay track from Peshawar to Jalalabad: Sheikh Rasheed". The News International. 2019-06-24. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  7. ^ a b c d "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-16. Retrieved 2010-09-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Pakistan: Provinces and Districts". www.citypopulation.de.
  9. ^ Khyber Agency
  10. ^ Dawn (6 August 2012). "South Waziristan operation: Only Sararogha cleared in three years". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ Shahid Afridi | Pakistan Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials. ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved on 2013-07-12.

External links

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