Bajaur

Bajaur
—  Agency  —
Urdu transcription(s)
- Perso-Arabic script	باجوڑ
Bajaur
Coordinates: 34°41′N 71°30′E / 34.683, 71.5Coordinates: 34°41′N 71°30′E / 34.683, 71.5
Country	Pakistan
Province	Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)
Administration HQ	Khar
Tehsils	List Tehsils in the Khar subdivision Khar Salazai Uthman Khel   Tehsils in the Nawagai subdivision Chamar Kand Nawagai Mamund Barang
Government [1]
- The Political Agent	Shafeerullah
Area [2]
- Total	1,290 km² (498.1 sq mi)
Population (1998)[3]
- Total	595,227
Time zone	PST (UTC+5)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC+6)

Bajaur or Bajour (Urdu: باجوڑ) is an Agency (country subdivision) of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Smallest of the agencies in FATA, it has a hilly terrain. The population is according to the 1998 census was 595,227^[3]. It borders Afghanistan's Kunar Province. The headquarters of the Agency administration is located in the town of Khar.

There are three main tribes in Bajaur: Utman Khel, Tarkalanri, and Mamund. The largest tribe is Utman Khel, judged by population or territory. The Utman Khel are at the southeast of Bajaur, while Mamund are at the southwest, and the Tarkani are at the north of Bajaur. Its border with Afghanistan's Kunar province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistan and the region.

The district is partly out of control of the Pakistani authorities^[4].

Contents 1 Geography 2 History and Current Events 2.1 Babur's attack on Bajaur 2.2 Recent decades 3 Local Politics 4 Notes 5 See also

Geography

It is about 45 miles (72 km) long by 20 miles (32 km) broad, and lies at a high level to the east of the Kunar Valley, from which it is separated by a continuous line of rugged frontier hills, forming a barrier easily passable at one or two points. Across this barrier the old road from Kabul to Pakistan ran before the Khyber Pass was adopted as the main route.

Bajour is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani (Tarkalani) Pathans, sub-divided into Mamunds, Isazai, and Ismailzai, numbering together with a few Mohmands, Uthman zais, &c., nearly 1 million. To the south of Bajour is the wild mountain district of the Mohmands. To the east, beyond the Panjkora river, are the hills of Swat, dominated by another Pathan race. To the north is an intervening watershed between Bajour and the small state of Dir; and it is over this watershed and through the valley of Dir that the new road from Malakand and the Punjab runs to Chitral. The drainage of Bajour flows eastwards, starting from the eastern slopes of the dividing ridge which overlooks the Kunar and terminating in the Panjkora river, so that the district lies on a slope tilting gradually downwards from the Kunar ridge to the Panjkora. Nawagai is the chief town of Bajour, and the Khan of Nawagai is under British protection for the safeguarding of the Chitral road. Jandol, one of the northern valleys of Bajour, has ceased to be of political importance since the failure of its chief, Umra Khan, to appropriate to himself Bajour, Dir, and a great part of the Kunar valley. It was the active hostility between the amir of Kabul (who claimed sovereignty of the same districts) and Umra Khan that led, firstly to the demarcation agreement of 1893 which fixed the boundary of Afghanistan in Kunar; and, secondly, to the invasion of Chitral by Umra Khan (who was no party to the boundary settlement) and the siege of the Chitral fort in 1895.

Major towns apart from Khar include Raghagan, Hajilawant and Jar.

An interesting feature in the topography is a mountain spur from the Kunar range, which curving eastwards culminates in the well-known peak of Koh-i-Mor, which is visible from the Peshawar valley. It was here, at the foot of the mountain, that Alexander the Great found the ancient city of Nysa and the Nysaean colony, traditionally said to have been founded by Dionysus.The Koh-i-Mor has been identified as the Meros of Arrian's history—the three-peaked mountain from which the god issued. ^[5]

History and Current Events

Babur's attack on Bajaur

“

In 1518 , Babur had invested and conquered the fortress of Bajaur and gone on to conquer Bhera which was on the river Jhelum,a little beyond the salt ranges .After the River Indus these formed traditionally the defensive frontier of India . Babur claimed these areas as his own because they had been part of Taimur's empire . Hence "picturing as our own the countries once occupied by the Turks" ,he ordered that "there was to be no overrunning or plundering (of the countryside)" . It may be noted that this applied to areas which did not offer resistance , because earlier , at Bajaur , where the Afghan tribesmen had resisted , he had ordered a general massacare , with their women and children being made captive .[6]

”

“

Babur justifies this massacre by saying "the Bajauris were rebels and at enimity with the people of Islam , and as , by heathenish and hostile customs prevailing in their midst , the very name of Islam was rooted out ....".[7]

”

“

'As the Bajauris were rebels and inimical to the people of Islam , the men were subjected to a general massacare and their wives and children were made captive . At a guess , more than 3000 men met their death . We entered the fort and inspected it . On the walls , in houses , streets and alleys , the dead lay , in what numbers ! Those walking around had to jump over the corpses . [8]

”

The Gazetteers and Reports contain nearly all the modern information available about Bajour. The autobiography of Baber (by Leyden and Erskine) gives interesting details about the country in the 16th century.

Recent decades

Main article: War in North-West Pakistan

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

During the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, the area was a critical staging ground for Afghan and local mujahideen to organise and conduct raids. It still hosts a large population of Afghan refugees sympathetic to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a mujahideen leader ideologically close to the Arab militants. Today^[when?], the United States believes militants based in Bajaur launch frequent attacks on American and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. There have been some unconfirmed media reports about the possibility of Osama bin Laden finding refuge in the area^{[citation needed]}. An aerial attack, executed by the United States, targeting Ayman al-Zawahiri, took place in a village in Bajaur Agency on January 13 2006, killing 18 people.^[9] Al-Zawahiri was not found among the dead and the incident led to severe outrage in the area^{[citation needed]}. On October 30, 2006, 80 people were killed in Bajaur when Pakistani forces attacked a religious school they said was being used as a militant training camp. ^[10] There are many unconfirmed reports that the October attack was also carried out by the United States or NATO forces, but was claimed by Islamabad over fears of widespread protest similar to those after the US bombing in January 2006. ^[11] Maulana Liaqat, the head of the seminary was killed in the attack^{[citation needed]}. Liaqat was a senior leader of the pro-Taliban movement Tanzim Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) that spearheaded a violent Islamic movement in Bajaur and the neighbouring Malakand areas in 1994. The TNSM had led some 5,000 men from the Pakistani areas of Dir, Swat and Bajaur across the Mamond border into Afghanistan in October 2001 to fight US-led troops^{[citation needed]}. In what is thought to be a reprisal for the October strike in Bajaur, in November a suicide bomber killed dozens in an attack on an army training school in the North West Frontier Province. ^[12]

A military offensive by the military of Pakistan was launched in early August 2008 to retake the border crossing near the town of Loyesam, 12 km from Khar^[13] from militants loyal to Tehrik-e-Taliban, the so-called Pakistani Taliban^[4]. In the two weeks following the initial battle, the government forces pulled back to Khar and initiated aerial bombing and artillery barrages on presumed militant positions which reportedly has all but depopulated Bajaur and parts of neighbouring Mohmand Agency with an estimated 300,000 fleeing their homes^[4]. The estimate of casualties ran into the hundreds^[4]. The offensive was launched in the wake of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's visit to Washington in late July and is by some believed to be in response to US demands that Pakistan prevent the FATA being used as a safe haven by insurgents fighting American and NATO troops in Afghanistan^[4]. However, the offensive was decided by the military, not the civilian government.^[14] The bloody bombing of Pakistan Ordnance Factories in Wah on August 21, 2008 came according to Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, as a response to the Bajaur offensive^[15][16].

Local Politics

The Nawab of Khar Bajaur used to run this border area nearly autonomously. Remnants of the Nawabi system still exist, and the Nawab family is represented by Nawabzada Dawood Khan (Tehsil Khan), Shams-ul-Wahab Khan (Paccha Khan) and their sons. Although the name of their father had a significant impact on their locals, they have still yet to establish themselves.

Notes

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

See also

• Damadola airstrike of January 13, 2006
• Chenagai airstrike of October 30, 2006
• Bajaur offensive

v • d • e Administrative divisions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Bajaur · Khyber · Kurram · Mohmand · North Waziristan · Orakzai · South Waziristan

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