Misplaced Pages

Wazir

وزیر‎
Languages
Pashto
Religion
Islam 100% Sunni
Related ethnic groups
Bannuzais · Khattaks · Zadrans · Afridis · Mangals · Mehsuds and other Karlani Pashtun tribes

The Wazirs or Waziris (Pashto: وزير) are a Karlani Pashtun tribe found mainly in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. The Utmanzai Wazir are settled in the North Waziristan and Bannu Subdivision Wazir and the Ahmadzai Wazir and Mahsud wazir are in the South Waziristan, and in Domel, Bannu. Those subgroups are in turn divided further, for example into Utmanzai tribes such as the Baka Khel and Jani Khel. The Wazirs speak the Waziristani dialect of Pashto which is similar to the neighboring Banuchi and Dawari dialect but still distinct.

The common ancestor of the Ahmadzai and Utmanzai is believed by them to be the eponymous W also ancestor to the Mahsud wazir tribe that has since taken a distinct and divergent path. Through Wazir, the tribes trace their origins to Karlani and thence to the founder of the Pashtun lineage, Qais Abdur Rashid. Some western ethnologists consider them of being mix of Arachosian or Tatar ethnicity.

Although the Utmanzai and Mehsud tribes have a traditional rivalry and live in geographically distinct regions, the Ahmadzai and Mehsud communities co-exist peacefully and many head men are connected by marriage.

Notable members

• Haji Mirzali Khan Wazir
• Gilaman Wazir
• Shah Muhammad Khan
• Ali Wazir
• Arif Wazir
• Maulana Noor Muhammad
• Zartaj Gul
• Muhammad Iqbal Wazir
• Ayesha Gulalai Wazir
• Mir Kalam Wazir
• Mohammad Wasim
• Manzoor Pashteen
• Mulla Powinda
• Hakimullah Mehsud

References

1. ^ "Tribe: Ahmadzai Wazir" (PDF). Naval Postgraduate School.
2. Hasnat, Syed Farooq (2011). Pakistan. ABC-CLIO. p. 164. ISBN 9780313346972.
3. Gul, Imtiaz (2010). The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan's Lawless Frontier. Penguin UK. p. 44. ISBN 9780141962986.
4. Scott, Ian (1999). Judd, Denis (ed.). A British Tale of Indian and Foreign Service: The Memoirs of Sir Ian Scott. The Radcliffe Press. p. 71. ISBN 9781860643804.
5. Ahmed, Akbar (2013). The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 9780815723790.
6. "Tribe: Utmanzai Wazir aka Utmanzai" (PDF). Naval Postgraduate School.

Further reading

• Arjomand, Said Amir, ed. (1984). From Nationalism to Revolutionary Islam. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780873958707.

• Karlani Pashtun tribes