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Bannu (Template:Lang-ur; Template:Lang-ps [ˈbanu], in the local Pashto dialect called Bana or Bani Gul) The City Location Near Waziristan. is the principal city of the Bannu District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is an important road junction and market city. Bannu is a very old city, founded in ancient times; however, the present location of the downtown Bannu was founded by Sir Herbert Edwardes in 1848, and was formerly called Edwardesabad and Dhulipnagar. It lies in the north-west corner of the district, in the valley of the Kurram River and was a British military base, especially in actions against Afghan border tribes. The town is located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the Kurram river, (35 k.m) East Of North and South Waziristan, 79 miles (127 km) south of Kohat, 27 km north of Serai Naurang, and 89 miles (143 km) north of Dera Ismail Khan.

HISTORY OF BANNU VALLEY

Historical Relics

Of the early history of District Bannu prior to 1000 BC, nothing can be stated with any certainty beyond the fact that it remained a part of Khurrasan and that its inhabitants were Hindus settled around Akra area (not built by them), followed by occupation of the land by the Achaemenian Dynadty and the inhabitants thus adopted Parsis religion; and that later on, the country was formed an integral portion of the Graeco-Bactrian Empire of Kabul from time to time who firstly adopted greek mythology; followed by Budhist, Hindu Shahi and Muslims dynasties till 1802-1808 AD when it was for the first time annexed to Punjab in a treaty between Shah Shujah of Kabul and Maharaja Ranjith Singh. This is sufficiently testified by relics of antiquity, which, have from time to time been discovered in the district. Subsequent to the attacks by the Muslim General Muhallib bin Abi Suffra in 664 AD, from Khurrassan, Hindus had colonized the place for 200 years ago, calling it Sat Ram, and remained in possession until Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed it and them. Coins and other antiquities establish the settlement here of Hindus, Parsis, Budhists, and of races acquainted with Greek art, also of Muhammadans in later times. The timeline events have been investigated into and given in the book ‘Tarikhe Aqwame Bannu’ which have added to the history since all the doubts have been nullified with proofs in the said book. Further discoveries of relic’s antiquities from Til Kafor Kot, add to the presence of the Hindus in the area.

The ruins of Til Kafir-Kot lie a few miles to the south of the debauchment of the river Kurram into the Indus, upon a spur of the Khissor hills, which enters the Isakhel tahsil from the neighbouring district of Dera Ismail Khan. They occupy a commanding situation immediately overlooking one of the channels of the Indus. The outer walls composed of immense blocks of stone, some 6 feet by 3 wide and 3 deep, with the exposed side smoothly chiselled are of great strength. In the centre are the remains of several Hindu temples or sanctuaries, the domes of which are very perfect, with steps leading up to them. The carving, representing idols and other designs, both inside and outside, is in a good state of preservation. No pottery, bones, or coins, are believed to have been yet found among these ruins. In Mianwali there at Mari is a picturesque Hindu ruin crowning the gypsum hill there locally called Maniot, on which the "Kalabagh Diamonds" are found. Its centre building served as a Hindu temple. The ruins themselves have once been extensive. The temples are very similar in style to those at Til Kafir-Kot, but larger and better preserved in two cases. The massive fortifications are however what make Til Kafir-Kot chiefly remarkable. The stone used in building the temples both at Kafir-Kot and at Mari is a kind of travertine full of petrifaction of leaves, sticks, grass, etc. etc. It is said to be found in the neighbourhood of Khewra in the Salt Range.

The above, together with two sentry-box-like buildings near Nammal, and several massive looking tombs constructed of large blocks of dressed stone in the Salt Range, comprise all the antiquities above ground. There can be no doubt many remain concealed beneath the surface which accident alone will reveal. Thus the encroachments of the Indus, and even of the Kuram near Isakhel, often expose portions of ancient masonry arches and wells. The only other antiquity worth mentioning is a monster "bauli" at Van Bhachran which is said to have been built by order of Sher Shah Surri. It is in very good preservation, and is similar to those in the Shahpur district. Insignificance of Bannu in the past

Within historical times, Bannu had never been a theatre for great events, nor had its inhabitants ever played a conspicuous part in Indian history except during the Durrani and Sikh period and the second half of the 20th century (during the British time). The secret of its insignificance was that it lies off all the great caravan routes between Hindustan and Kabul. No doubt that the valley has been occasionally traversed by conquering armies from the west; but in fact such armies first debouched upon either by the Khyber or the Kurram route, which latter commences at the head of the Miranzai Valley in the Kohat district. Thus Timur Lang (Tamerlane) when in 1398, , marched via Bannu and Dang Kot on the Indus into the Punjab, came by this Kurram "route," and a century later (1505 AD) when Babur ravaged Bannu, his army had advanced by the Khyber Pass to Kohat and thence to Bannu. It therefore seems erroneous to write of Bannu as being a "highway" between India and Kabul. Under the circumstances it appears only reasonable to attribute the historical un-importance of Bannu due to its isolation. Mahmud of Ghazni ravaged the district, expelling its Hindu inhabitants, and reduced the country to a desert. Thus there was no one to oppose the settlement of immigrant tribes from across the border from Khurrassan.

Arrival of Tribes in Bannu Valley

The order of their descending from areas around Bannu was as follows:

1. The Bannuchis who in 1285 AD displaced the three small tribes of Angal, Mangals and Hannis, as well as a settlement of Khattaks, from the then marshy but fertile country on either bank of the Kurram.

2. The Niazis, who some hundred and fifty years later spread from Tank over the plain now called Marwat, then sparsely inhabited by pastoral Jats.

3. The Marwats, a younger branch of the same tribe, who within one hundred years of the Niazis colonization of Marwat area, followed in their wake, and drove them farther eastward into the countries now known as Isakhel and Mianwali, the former of which the Niazis occupied after expelling the Awans they found there, and reducing the miscellaneous Jat inhabitants to quasi-serfdom.

4. Lastly, the Darweshkhel Wazirs, whose appearance in the northern parts of the valley as permanent occupants, is comparatively recent, dating only from the close of the 18th century, and who had succeeded in wresting large tracts of pasture lands from the Khattaks and Bannuchis, and had even cast jealous eyes on the outlying lands of the Marwats, when the beginning of British rule put a final stop to their encroachments.

Bannuchis

Except Marwats and Wazirs, other families including the generations of the sons of Shithak that occupied Bannu, are called Bannuchi (Bannusi) irrespective of their race, religion and caste. The word Bannuchi does not apply to any particular tribe living in Bannu now, even not alone applicable to the generations of Shithak. During the Ghorids, Temurids and Mughals period, this name only applied to the Kivis, Surranis, Zelum and Haved (the sons of Bano, the first wife of Shithak). Shithak was the son of Karran, in the fifth lineage from Qais bin Abdur Rashid. In other words, the term Bannuchi means 'A settled person from Bannu, except Marwats and Wazirs'. Bannuchis are divided into six categories as under.

Native Afghan Bannuchis

This name is used for the generations of the sons of Shithak i.e. Haved, Zelum, Surrani and Kivis. They are known so since they had originally possessed this land in 1285 AD. They are about 40% of the total population of Bannuchis.

Colonized Afghan Bannuchis

This name applies to those Afghans who subsequently settled in Bannu with the Native Afghan Bannuchis. They are about 3% of the total population in Bannu viz Mughal Khels, Tughal Khels, Khattaks, Niazis, Mohammad zais etc.

Native Saddat Bannuchis

This name applies only to the saddats of Sheikhan, the descendants from Sheikh Shah Mohammad Rohani who assisted the Native Afghan Bannuchis during their efforts to subdue the valley of Bannu , in 1285 AD. They are about 10% of the total population of Bannuchis.

Colonized Saddat Bannuchis

This name applies to those Saddat families who subsequently settled in Bannu with Native Afghan Bannuchis or Native Saddat Bannuchis. They are about 7% of the total population of Bannuchis and scattered through in almost all the Bannuchis’ villages, i.e., some piran families in differnt villages, Quresh, Akhond, Mandori, Degaan etc.

Khidmatgar Bannuchis

This name applies to those persons who settled in different villages of Bannu as tradesmen and farm-labourers. Major inflow of such persons had been from Punjab during the Durrani and Sikh periods. Some among them settled here during the British era too. They are about 36% of the total population of Bannuchis, scattered through out in almost all the Bannuchis’ villages. The Bannuchis tenants or Khidmatgar (locally called Hamseya) are physically hard and rough bodied people with dark complexion who live on earnings from small sell businesses, labour work, in-house cattle breeding, and domestic chicken-raising; and rely on grains from land usually by getting one-third of the produce. They had been keeping oxen for plough purposes in the fields in the past; now majority of them relying on hired thrashing machines and tractor-plough.

Seeing the social and behavioral changes in khitmatgars, a recent survey about them reveals that after getting their feet firmly established on ground, the khidmatgars ignored due respect for their village chieftains or other ordinary malluks (or the mallukan families) which issue has been mainly due to purchase of land and housing-plots in the respective villages when tenancy acts were softened by Late Doctor Khan Sahib in 1939, not realizing in totality the worst impact of it on the Pakhtun communities. However, on the other hand, the Pashtun Malluks are selling off their land to them at random which effect has reduced the ownership of land in percentage of the aborigines, as compared to the land now owned by Khidmatgars. In the past, the tinga system through hamsayas was practiced at large in villages which system is gradually dying down due to weaknesses of the original owners of the villages. So much so that the khidmatgars have erected their own mosques and hujras or baitaks, avoiding going to the mosques and hujras of the malluks. Perhaps the literacy of the khidmatgars has been encouraged by the ‘Mallukan’; their health and hygiene has been observed as tremendously improved in them. They are stylish in wears equally as the Mallukans and their children do. Their house-keeping have dramatically changed in the past 30 years.

Ordinary OR Domiciled Bannuchis

This name applies to those people who are not from any of the above mentioned categories but they were settled in Bannu in different periods. For example, the third generation of the mahajirs from India is now called Domiciled Bannuchis. Non Muslims or non Pashtuns also fall in this category. They were initially settled in Bannu city during the British era and subsequently purchased some land in different villages too. They are about 4% of the total population of Bannuchis. for example the Abbasi, Faqir and Qasuria families who attained distinction among Bannuchis by virtue of their position in public sector and education status in the late 19th century as well as in the first and second quarters of the 20th century, are called ordinary or domiciled Bannuchis. Their influence is still fairly strong in Bannu and; and they are well respected by all communities.

As per their descending order from the mountains, the first to settle in Bannu valley were thus the Bannusi or Bannuchis. Their previous home had been in the mountains now held by the Darwesh Khel Wazirs, with head-quarters in Shawal. Sweeping down thence they soon conquered the country lying between the Kurram and Tochi rivers, and once firmly established, devoted themselves to agricultural pursuits. Their subsequent expansion was small and only extended to their present possessions on the left bank of the Kurram river. Weak Khattaks communities were already settled there, but were gradually supplanted by the more numerous Bannuchis, whose pressure was irresistible. As soon as their conquests were secured to them, the new colonists seem to have parceled out the country in a loose way amongst themselves, each group of families receiving once for the entire share to which it was entitled by ancestral right. It must not be supposed that first held by the wesh or communal tenure of the Marwats. The sons of their spiritual guide, a Syed named Sheikh Shah Muhammad Ruhani, whose descendants now own the Sadat Tappa (Sheikhan), have the credit of having affected the partition, and are, said to have been so strictly honest in this work that everyone was satisfied. They however reserved the best lands for themselves, as was only natural, considering their superior honesty and sanctity. For the next three hundred years the history of the Bannuchis is blank. So much is clear that first the Khattaks, and subsequently the Marwats, were at chronic feud with them, and that the Marwats were strong enough to check all attempts at expansion eastward of the fens of Ghoriwala; also that the fertility of the valley and the superstitious character of its inhabitants attracted to it persons calling themselves holy Syeds and leaned doctors (hakeems), and that all such were welcomed and given land; also that many of the old inhabitants remained as "hamsayahs" or dependants of their conquerors. Nevertheless each of the numerous clans, into which they still divide themselves, preserves to this day its table of descent from Shithak. Besides the true Bannusi, the descendants of Shithak, the hamsayahs group and the priestly and learned classes, all of whom are now loosely styled Bannuchis; there are several other dominant families, sprung from later colonists, who are also included in the collective term. In fact "Bannuchis" in its broadest sense now means all Muhammadans. By a stretch even Hindus long domiciled within the limits of the irrigated tracts originally occupied by the Bannusi were called ‘Bannuwal Hindus’. But locally and strictly the term ‘Bannusi’ is only applied to those claiming descent from Shithak. On the decay and disruption of the Mughal Empire, bands of adventurers settled themselves on unoccupied land, and taking part with one or other of the factions into which the Bannuchis were split up gradually, obtained a footing. The most notable case of the sort is that of the Mughal Khels of Ghoriwala, Yusafzai group, who conquered territory for themselves several generations ago and still preserve appearance, as the proof of their origin. Later on, during and immediately subsequent to the invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah adventurers from the Durrani armies, by inter-marriage with Bannuchis, secured here and there plots of land and even states for themselves. From the death of Timur Shah (1793) the influx of outsider, except as hamsayahs into the Bannu valley may be said to have come to an end. Stormy times followed his decease. The Wazirs had appeared on the scene, and, greedy for land, were annexing many a fair outlying field from the Bannuchis. Then the Sikh visitations commenced (1823-1845) and continued until annexation. In such troublous times the valley had few attractions for enterprising foreigners.

Socially, the normal state of the Bannuchis was always one of their prolonged feuds. There was hardly a village in the valley that was not broken up into factions. Many families even were similarly distracted by intense quarrels. The former violence of inter-tribal warfare, when a village was at war with other village through the length and breadth of the valley, the scuffle subsided under the firm hand of British rulers, but the spirit which prompted it was still untamed, and found in them free use of the dagger-stabbing and the poisoned cup to silence their enemies. So little had they learned in this respect, that if British rule had been removed from Bannu, not a month would have passed there; and they might have relapsed into the state in which Major Edwardes found them in 1848. With all their faults, the Bannuchis were quiet and submissive to the British rulers. As agriculturists they were industrious, above the average of Pathans, during the British era.

In stature, the Bannuchi were wrinkled, spare, and flesh-less, having little muscular development - results which probably were attributable to the use of distasteful water of the River Kurram for drinking purposes, and to the malaria, caused by ceaseless irrigation from the same source. The Bannuchi women were often fair-skinned, but always pale. In routine habits they were unhygienic except the Malluks’ families. The ladies used to wash their bodies only after feminine monthly periods. Rest remained away from washing their bodies for months and months. Water flew past their doors, but they rarely used it to wash either their persons or their clothes. Their villages were built of mud, the houses closely packed together, and very unhygienic. Formerly, every village had a high mud wall, but to procure the demolition of these was among the first achievements of British rule. The villages and hamlets had been very numerous; almost 583 villages on an area of 102 square miles. Had the order prohibiting the erection of new villages been removed, this number would have been probably doubled. In 1867 the District Officer did for a short time remove the restriction, and at once, in a few months, 229 new hamlets sprung up. Most of these, however, were subsequently demolished by order of the Commissioner of the Division. The lifestyle of Bannuchis has dramatically changed since 1970, especially by Khadan e Awal of each village...and to some extent by the hamseya as well.

Majority of the population among Bannuchis are ethnic Pashtuns and Saddat families who have been described in the preceding paragraphs. They are good looking people in colour, physique, and are much religious. The ladies, although mostly much educated among the Pashtuns and Saddat families, are usually tall in height and much faithful to their spouse. The ladies observe strict pardah (veil)it being one of the major custom of the society. The houses are high-walled from mud-buildings to modern concrete structures. Bannuchis are moderate to high level literate (merely after partition) and known as highly hospitable people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The recent development of schools and colleges in the area and the institutional development would add to the future prospect of the district.

Although skirmishes went on between Waziris and Bannuchis in the past but Marwats remained by the side of Bannuchis in all skirmishes. A treaty of peace was signed between the settled Wazirs and Bannuchis after a fierce 3-days civil war in 1968. Before this, two civil wars broke between these two tribes in 1810 and 1818 on land and water rights issues. Intermarriages are there between the tribes, especially between Marwats and Bannuchis.

Villages were 386 in 1906 (inclusive of Marwats and Wazirs) now expanded to 486 villages due to rise in population. Clans of Bannuchis are 120. They are called Banuzai, being the descendants from a women known as Bano, the wife of Shithak (born backdated 1030 AD). There are no Sikhs in Bannu nowadays. The road from Bannu to D. I. Khan was laid by H.B. Edwards in 1849 and further worked out by Major Taylor and Major John Nicholson. The Railway line was laid in 1905 during the First Waziristan War and completed by 1908. The Tanchi of Tanchi Bazar was erected in 1929 by TATA Construction Company. The name Banna is attributed to a lady Bano who was either the sister or daughter of Governor Rustom of Faras in 750 BC. It is a coincidence that the wife of Shithak was also known as Bano. A man who restored dignity to the Bannuchis, was one Dilasa Khan of Daud Shah who played havoc to the Sikhs from 1823 to 1847, before the British took over this land. Others of importance were Bazid Khan of Surrani, Namwar Khan of Fatima Khel, Jaffar Khan of Ghoriwala, Dakas Khan of Bazar Ahmed Khan, Asad Khan of Sikandar Khel, Mir Alam Khan of Mandan,etc.etc. To my knowledge, all clans appreciatively contributed to the history . No clan may be earmarked to have superiority on other clans. All contributed well. The major 182 villages of Bannuchi and Saddat clans at Bannu Khas are as under.

Villages of the Bannuchi clans

There are 120 sub-clans (or caste) of the Bannuchis (including the generations of Shittak). Total numbers of villages are 386 in Bannu which include the villages of Marwats and Wazirs as well. Bannuchis are descendant from one Shittak (or Shithak), a son of Karan who was the fifth son (probably an adopted one) of Kais bin Abdur Rashid. The generations of his (Karan) other sons are the Afridis, Mehmands, Khattkas, Masuds, Wazir, Bangash and Dilazaks etc. Shithak was born in the era of Mehmud of Ghazna and lived at Shawal. His seventh or eighth generations had forcibly occupied Bannu in 1285 AD. Their existing generations are 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd from Shithak. 'Tarikhe Aqwame Bannu' contains the detailed history of following individual villages of the Bannuchi clans from the day of occupation of the land in the villages till 1877-78. The pedigree tables of all the Bannuchi clans are annexed in the said book in volume-4 (not included here due to huge volume). The names are written in an alphabetic order.

Adehmi --- Aimal Khel --- Amandi --- Ambar Shah --- Amin Mughal Khel --- Badal Nejam Khan --- Badar Khel Mir Azam --- Badon Khel Mir Hawas --- Baist Khel --- Bangash Khel --- Bangi Khan Mughal Khel --- Bangi Khel --- Basya Khel --- Bazar Ahmed Khan --- Bazida --- Bazida Kokal Khel --- Bharat --- Birri Khel --- Boza Khel --- Bozi Khel --- Chak Daddan --- Dad Kachkot --- Dalo Khel Abdur Rahim --- Dalo Khel Naurang --- Dalo Khel Zalim --- Dara Shah --- Daud Shah --- Dayem Machan Khel --- Degaan --- Degan Shadi Khan --- Degan Shah Jalal --- Dhirma Khel --- Dhre Darheeze --- Faiz Talab Abbas --- Fatah Khel Kausar --- Fatima Khel --- Fatima Khel Khurd --- Fazal Haq Malwana --- Gaanduli --- Garhi Alam Khan --- Garhi Peeran --- Garhi Saeedan --- Garhi Sher Ahmed --- Ghani Machan Khel --- Ghoriwala --- Gul Ahmed Shah --- Haaved --- Haji Khel Anwar Shah --- Hassan Khel Essaki --- Hassan Khel Jaffar Khan --- Hassan Khel Shahdev --- Hassani --- Hathi Khel Bannuchi --- Hebak Musa Janai --- Hebak Sherza Khan --- Hinjal Noor Baz --- Hinjal Sherza Khan --- Hinjal Nawab --- Ismail Khel --- Ismail Khoni --- Ismail Khoni Khel --- Jan Badar Laand --- Jandu Khel --- Kachkot Asad Khan --- Kachozai --- Kafshi Khel Babu Jan --- Kafshi Khel Muzaffar Khan --- Kakki --- Kala Khel Masti Khan --- Kamkota Saqi --- Kandar Wala Feroze --- Khojari Babar --- Khojari Janan --- Khojari Khas --- Khojram Khel --- Khwaja Mad --- Kingar Janbadar --- Kingar Larh Mast --- Koori Sheikhan --- Kot Azad Mughal Khel --- Kot Beli --- Kot Daeem --- Kot Mehtar --- Kot Qalandar --- Koti Saddat --- Kotka Bazida --- Kotka Behram Shah --- Kotka Dakas --- Kotka Parez --- Kotka Sher Zad Khishni Kala --- Lalozai --- Landidak Barakzai --- Landidak Bazid --- Landidak Bharat --- Landidak Chalveshtgaan --- Landidak Gul Badin --- Landidak Gulzada --- Landidak Haved --- Landidak Khansoba--- Landidak Khwaja Mad --- Landidak Levut Wzir --- Landidak Madak Wazir --- Landidak Mama Khel --- Landidak Mamash Khel --- Landidak Mandev --- Landidak Mohammad Khan Qasuria --- Landidak Multani --- Landidak Naimat Garh --- Landidak Sardi Khel --- Landidak Shah Najeeb --- Landidak Shahdev --- Lochi Khel Abbas --- Lochio Khel Timar Shah --- Mad Azam Dhandha Khel --- Madha Khel --- Mama Khel --- Mamash Khel Nogarhi --- Mamash Khel Sadat --- Mamat Wazir --- Mambathi Barakzai --- Manak Khel --- Mandev --- Mandori Pethal Shah --- Mardi Khel --- Mashar Daud Shah --- Meera Khel --- Metha Khel Maleek --- Metha Khel Samund --- Methakhel Khan Soba --- Mian Khel Hakeem --- Mir Baz Barakzai --- Mirza Baig --- Momin Machan Khel --- Mula Khel --- Mula Khel Nasser --- Musa Khel --- Musa Khel Wala Khel --- Naar (contains many hamlets) --- Naqshband --- Narmali --- Nasim Akbar Shah --- Nezam Khan --- Nobizar --- Nurar --- Nusradin Sherdil --- Nusrat Shal Khel --- Parez Khoni Khel --- Pathi Ghulam Qadir --- Puk Ismail Khel --- Qasim Khel Inayat --- Sabo Khel Khattak --- Sadat Hassani --- Sadat Madak Shah --- Sadat Rehmat Shah --- Seru Bada Khel --- Shah Dev --- Shah Jahan Shah --- Shahbaz Azmat Khel --- Shamshi Khel --- Sharif Shah --- Shugi Machan Khel --- Shukrullah Hassan --- Sikandar Khel Bala --- Slema Sikandar Khel --- Sokari Hassan Khel --- Sokari Jabore --- Sokari Karim Khan --- Sokari Zabtha Khan --- Surkamand Mughal Khel --- Taji Khel --- Tateh Khel Feroze --- Thurkhewala Fazal Shah --- Thathar Khel --- Tori Machan Khel --- Torka --- Tughal Khel --- Turkhewala --- Wanda Khel Ghaffar --- Yarik Khel --- Zakar Khel Ibrahim Khel --- Zanda Ghaibi --- Zulqadir Mandan ---

The Niazis

The Bannuchis had settled down for nearly three centuries before the Niazai irruption into Marwat took place. The Niazais are Lodis, and occupied the hills about Shalghar which are now held by the Suleman Khels, until a feud with the Ghilzais compelled them to migrate elsewhere. Marching south-east, the expelled tribe found a temporary resting place in Tank. There, the Niazais Lived for several generations occupying themselves as traders and carriers, likewise their kinsmen the Lohani Pawandahs (Marwats) had been doing during that time. Towards the close of the 15th century, numbers spread north into the plain now known as Marwat, and squatted there as graziers, and perhaps too as cultivators, on the banks of the Kurram and Gambila, some fifteen miles below the Bannuchi Settlements. There, they lived in peace for about fifty years, when the Marwat Lohanis, a younger branch of the Lodi group, swarmed into the country after them; defeated them in battle, and drove them across the Kurram at Darra Tang in the valley beyond which they found a final home (Mian Wali). At the time of the Niazis irruption, Marwats seem to have been almost uninhabited except by a sprinkling of pastoral Jats; but the bank of the Indus apparently supported a considerable Jat and Awan population. The most important sections of the expelled Niazis were the Isakhel, Mushwanis, and a portion of the Sarangs. The first named took root in the south of their new country and shortly developed into agriculturists; the second settled farther to the north round about Kamar Mushani, and seem for a time to have led a pastoral life; while the majority of the Sarangs, after drifting about for several generations, permanently established themselves cis-Indus, on the destruction of the Ghakar stronghold of Muazam Nagar by one of Ahmad Shah Abdali's lieutenants. That event occurred about 1748 AD, which terminated the long connection of the Ghakars with Mianwali. They were dominant in the northern parts of the country even before the Emperor Akbar presented it in jagir to two of their local chiefs. During the civil commotions of Jahangir's reign, the Niazis drove away the Ghakars across the Salt Range, and though in the following reign the latter recovered their position, still their hold on the country was unstable, and came to an end about the middle of the 18th century. The remains of Muazam Nagar, their local capital, were visible on the left high bank of the Indus about six miles south of new Mianwali until 1857 AD, when the site was eroded by the river. The Niazis thus established themselves in Essa Khel about 500 years ago, but their Sarang branch did not finally obtain their possessions in Mianwali until nearly 150 years later. The acquisition of their cis-Indus possessions was necessarily gradual, the country having a settled though weak government, and being inhabited by Awans and Jats.

The Marwats

Closely following on the Niazis, came the Marwat immigration. Driven from Shalgarh, they too had first settled in Tank alongside of their Niazis brethren. Both clans acknowledge Lodi as their common progenitor; and whilst in Tank, there was goodwill between them. Time went on, and the Niazis spread into present Marwat area, which was then a nameless sandy plain. Several more generations passed before the Marwats, taking advantage of internal conflict amongst the Niazis, swarmed northward and drove them away east of Darra Tang. They erected their black tents on the banks of the Kurram and Gambila and squatted there as graziers. For some time they mainly confined themselves to pastoral pursuits. By degrees, as their numbers increased, groups of families went forth from the central settlements to seek new homes for themselves about the plain, but each within vague limits of the allotment of the section to which it belonged. Such groups in turn became centres from which other migrations took place. Thus in process of time, the whole plain became occupied, and a large proportion of the Marwats settled down into agriculturists, each community holding and cultivating its lands according to the ‘wesh’ tenure. During Mughal times, the Marwats, being little interfered with, and being strong and united enough to resist encroachments by surrounding tribes, enjoyed the singular good fortune of being left to themselves, and thus developed and worked out their olden communal institutions. Meanwhile the Mughal Empire, which had long been declining, received its deathblow from Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1756, so far at least as its Indus provinces were concerned,; and soon after the whole of what now is the Bannu district was incorporated into the newly risen kingdom of Kabul. Marwat area was never regularly occupied, but in good years, if the required amount of tribute was not forthcoming, a force was marched into it and exacted what it could. During such visitations, the material loss was not great, as those who led a pastoral nomadic life retired with their flocks and herds to the hills, and those who tilled the soil either remained and compounded with the royal tax-gatherers or fled to the hills. Thus beyond the partial destruction of his crops, no Marwat lost much, as the stay of the Kabul troops was never long, and the burning of his house only gave him the extra trouble of procuring a few ox-loads of reeds from the marsh and twigs from the jungle, and running up a hut with them again.

Like other Pathans, the Marwats are divided into numerous Khels, the most important of which are:

1. Musa Khel with sections Takhti Khel, Januzai and Pasanni

2. Achu Khel with sections Begu Khel, Isa Khel, and Ahmad Khel

3. Khuda Khel with sections Sikandar Khel, and Mammun Khel

4. Bahram Khel with sections Umar Khan Khel and Totezai; the latter with sub-sections Tajazai, Dilkhozai, Landi and Ghazni Khel, and lastly Tappi.

To the above may be added the Abba Khel Sayads, who are affiliated to the Dreplara Tappa, also the Michan Khels and other Sarang Niazis scattered throughout Marwat. Though all such are now to all intents and purposes called Marwats, they have been shown under their proper ancestral headings in the Settlement Report of 1877-78. The tribe thus collectively occupies the whole of the Marwat Tehsil which was territorially divided into three great tappas, during the British rule viz., Dreplara, Musa Khel-cum-Tappi, and Bahram. The latter is subdivided into two minor tappas, viz., Umar Khan Khel and Totazai.

Taken as a whole the Marwats are as fine and law-abiding a race as any to be found in Pathans. They are a simple, slow-witted people, manly, most favourably with the Bannuchis. In the past, they were strongly attached to their homes, and were very averse to travel or to service out of their own country. As of the climatic influence due to canal irrigation and marshes had affected the Bannuchis to their detriment, so here, a sandy soil and dry air had an opposite result on the Marwats, for hard fare and despite poverty, they had been healthy, happy and light hearted. They are Pathans of very pure descent, and as such are naturally proud and fiery. Their passions when once aroused are not easily soothed, but feuds among them are said to be now of rare occurrence. They are tall and muscular, and have almost ruddy complexions.

The women are attractive, fair and pretty. In manners they are frank and open, simple and yet manly. For natives, they are remarkably truthful. Their women enjoy great social freedom; they seldom conceal their faces. Upon them, however, fell the labour of water-carrying in the past, which by no means was light. Accompanied generally by a man as an escort, they had been going in troops of ten or twenty to fetch water from the Gambila, often a distance of ten or twelve miles. The Marwats were, at British annexation, nomad graziers, wandering about with their herds and camels, and lived chiefly in temporary huts of branches of trees, with a wall of thorns and a roof of straw. Even in 1877-78 when they had very largely settled down in permanent villages, the houses were constructed of reeds, twigs, and the branches of trees, the whole village being encircled by a hedge of thorns. This fact they had been assigning, and probably with truth, to the scarcity of water that had been rendering the construction of mud huts impossible. During the last quarter of 19th century, in dress, the only noticeable peculiarity was among the poorest classes, whose sole garment consisted of a single large woolen blanket, half of which was worn round the legs like a petticoat (laang) usually with no underwear, while the other half was thrown over the shoulders, a hole being slit in the blanket for the head to pass through. Chocolate-coloured turbans were also largely worn by the Marwat peasantry. In the first and second quarters of 20th century, the Marwat Malluks had been wearing fine texture white turban, white laang, long white shirt and pawrheyn. Large of them were attacked by a water borne disease (a long thin thread type warm that lived in their flesh of feet) while drinking stagnant water of ponds that used to be consumed by cattle as well.

Clans affiliated with the Marwats

The following clans are also commonly known as Marwats and live in the Marwat tract; and though not Marwat by origin, have by association and inter-marriages become so assimilated as to be practically identical with them. 1. Mula Khels descended from Hazrat Bilal, a Habshi saint. They have houses in every village in Marwat, and also two villages of their own. 2. Michan Khels who are Sarang Niazis descended from a saint called Michan. His descendants are considered holy and to possess charms against snake bites. Haji Murid, a descendant of Michan, is a saint of great repute, and his tomb is on the bank of the Kurram near Lakki. Michan himself is buried at Wana in the Waziri hills. 3. Mirza Khels of Wali who are really Khataks and Utman Khels.

Bitannis of Marwat

Two more Afghan tribes require mention, the Bitannis and the Bhangi Khel Khattaks. The former occupy the eastern and southern slopes of the hills between the Gabar mountain and the Gomal valley; and possess some small hamlets on the Marwat border. They have only appeared as permanent squatters inside British territory within the last 180 to 200 years, and their cultivation consists mostly of patches of stony land, near the mouths of the different passes leading into the hills from Marwat. The latter are a strong united little section of the great Khattak tribe, and seized or spread into the hilly country north of Kalabagh known as Bhangi Khel, about four hundred years ago. The Bitannis are rude people who emerged from barbarism. But those who had taken to civilized ways showed themselves to be keen-witted, and perhaps more energetic and desirous of making 'money than their Marwat neighbours. A portion of the tribe was located in British territory in 1866. Prior to that time they had been great raiders and cattle-lifters, and had acted as guides to Waziri marauders, who could only gain access to the southern portion of the district through the Bitanni passes; but of late years they had been very orderly. They did not take service yet under Government. They occupied the lower hills just beyond the border of Marwat from the southern slopes of the Gabar Mountain to the Gomal valley. Since the transfer of Mulazai to Dera Ismail Khan in 1875, the Bain Pass terminated the connection of this district with them. The British had mostly to do with Danna and Wurgara Bitannis. The latter were often termed a fakir kaum, and are the descendants of the clan which held the Bitanni hills before the conquering influx of the Danna Bitannis. The Dannas are divided into two clans, Boba and Bobak. Their united number inside, and immediately beyond the Bannu border is small. The Wurgaras may be numbered more. About seven-eighths of their whole numbers visited the plains in the cold weather.

Wazirs

The fourth and last great wave of colonists from the west was that of the Darwesh Khel Wazirs. The tribe is divided into two great sections, the Utmanzai's and the Ahmadzai's, and has for many centuries occupied the hills between Thal in Miranzai, and the Gabar mountain. Until about 280 years ago, their camps only descended occasionally into the plain during the cold season, and always clung to the mouths of the passes leading up into their hills. Latterly, their visits became annual; and between 1750 and 1775 AD, the Jani Khel and Bakka Khel sections of the Utmanzai branch, seized the Miri grazing lands, lying between the Tochi (Gambila) and the hills. The Muhammad Khels and Ahmadzai clan next took possession of the stony ground at the mouth of the Kuram Pass, and soon after other Ahmadzai's began to occupy the Thal beyond the left bank of the Kuram, driving off the Khattak and Marwat grazing camps that they found there. Still the visits of those savage highlanders only lasted during the cold months, and no great alarm was caused. Years went by. The strength of the Durranis hold on the country began to decrease, Bannu was given on lease of 400,000 Afghani currency some in cash some in the shape of gold, for a period of ten years (one lease period) by Shah Shujah of Kabul to Raja Ranjith Singh in 1802 which document was officially confirmed in 1808; and by about 1818 Bannu had become practically free when cut off from the Kabul throne. A short period of semi-independence followed, and finally the Sikh domination was established. Taking advantage of the general distraction, the united Darwesh Khel's commenced systematic encroachments on Marwats, Khattaks and Bannuchis alike, and on occasions sold their strength (manpower aid) to one or other of the rival parties in the country, they being greedy in nature. On one occasion they crossed the Kuram to attack old Lakki, the head-quarters of the Marwats, but were routed and pursued as far as Latambar. After that they confined their operations to the north bank of the Kurram, and extended their hold north and east to within a few miles of Latambar and Shinwa, both being Khattak villages. Once the Bannuchis became alive to their common danger, their walled villages and united front were sufficient to make good the defence of all but not their outlying fields in the Daud Shah, Surani, and Jhandu Khel tappas. Both sides too learnt that peace is more profitable than war, and now and again swore a truce, during which friendly intercourse was maintained. Thus in 1826-27, when Mr. Masson paid Bannu proper a visit, he found Bannuchis and Wazirs "on a good understanding" together.

Most of the Waziris settled in this district occupied grants of land in and upon the borders of the thal, which intervenes between the hills and the fertile centre of the Bannu valley. Before the establishment of British rule, the tribe was entirely nomadic in its habits, depending chiefly for support upon its flocks and herds. They had indeed begun in an intermittent way to encroach upon the Bannuchi lands, but none of them, prior to the British annexation, had permanently settled below the hills. It had always, however, from the very first day, been the policy of the English Government to allow them unchecked in their contact with the plains, and by grants of land to induce them to settle within the border. By such means, large numbers of the tribe had been weaned from a life of plunder, and learnt some of the lessons of civilization. It was found by the British that the inter-position of colonies of Waziris between the more settled portion of the plains and the hills tended to secure the peace of the frontier. Hence these mountaineers were tamed and converted into peaceful agriculturists.

The settlers in the plains have, on the one hand, lost none of the characteristic virtues of their tribe. In person they were tall and robust, they were united among themselves, possessed of many manly virtues, having a true regard for honour. On the other hand, they had been fair cultivators, industrious and thrifty and regular tax-payers. Most of them, in the past, had been off and on migrating to their own hills for the hot weather, returning in October and November in time for the sowings for the spring harvest. Besides the cultivators, there had been large numbers of the tribe who found active and lucrative employment within the border as carriers of salt and fuel. The houses, even in their permanent villages, were constructed of nothing more solid than grass and reeds, and large numbers of them lived in small gipsy-like tents (kizzdi), consisting simply of a camel-hair blanket stretched over two sticks.

Waziri Clans

Hathi Khel

This clan is divided into two main branches, Kaimal and Edal. The former has three chief sections, viz., Ali or Khaidar Khan, Musa and Pirba, and the latter four, viz., Bai, Bakkar, Isa and Kaimal. The Kaimal Khels outnumber the Edal Khels by about four to one. With the exception of the Pathol Khels, who are a branch of the Ali Khels, and mostly lived in the hills, the whole clan is now settled in the plain who rapidly assimilated to the Marwats. Of the different hamlets Chauki Azim (now known as Azim Kla) had been the largest in the past and even still nw. Hamlets and separate homesteads are very numerous, because each group of families is settled at pleasure on its own land. In 1868, when surveyed, 200 of the houses were mud-built and flat-roofed. All the rest were temporary thatch structures as could be seen in the sandy parts of' Marwat. The special hill home of the Hathi Khels is immediately behind their plain possessions, and is surrounded by Umarzais, Kabul Khels, and Khattaks. The Hathi Khels have always been well behaved, the most loyal, orderly and wealthy Waziri clan settled within the then British territory in the district. Though they now own little or no land in the Shawal direction, some of them during British era had been withdrawing during summer to that locality.

Sirki Khel

From first to last, this clan had been unfortunate. For some years after annexation of the area to the British Empire it was not agreeable to be ruled, in consequence of which some of its Thal area was given to (and otherwise absorbed by) its two powerful neighbours; the Hati Khels and Spirkais; since it never had any strong sensible chief or chiefs to push their interests. It has three main sections, Tobla, Bobla and Shuni, all of which hold land in the Thal. Nearly half of its numbers were in the hills in 1877.

Sperkai

The main divisions are Muhammad Khel, Sudan Khel, and Sada Khel, but the first has long ranked as a distinct clan, and the collective name now applies to the two latter. Of them the Sudan Khel division has four main sections of pretty equal strength, viz., Baghban, Bokal, Kundi and Bharrat. The Sada Khel division is small in numbers. Besides the above there are about thirty families of a people called Dhir affiliated in the clan, who seem originally to have been hamsayahs or dependents derived from some other stock. The Spirkai had been still largely going during the British era to their ancestral hills about Shawal for the summer. The well known Sawan Khan was the chief of this clan during the early British Era. He belonged to the Baghban section. His son Mani and grandson Jalandar Shah were the headmen during the Second Regular Settlement (1877–78). The clan is strong, well off, and did not give any trouble to the British. It had been the rival of the Hati Khels, during the last quarter of the 19th century, to whose prosperity and independence the leading men of Esparkai were jealous. Some twenty-five families (as of 1877-78) of Badin Khel, who were either a distinct Ahmadzai clan, or closely related to the Bizan Khels, had been holding land with the Spirkais.

Bizan Khel

On the whole, it is a well conducted clan. Its main divisions are Doulat, Iso and Umar Khan. The fourth called Moghal Khel had been mainly resident in the hills in 1977-78 but settled permanently in 1890 and afterward. The other three have long been settled in the plain. The Payindah Khels are a cognate clan, but not apparently descended from Bizan, the common ancestor of the sections named above. These Payindah Khels maintained themselves more by carrying salt and trailing than by agriculture. They hold some land within Spirkai limits.

Umarzai

Their main divisions are Manzar, Tappai, Boza, all holding lands in Bannu territory, and lastly the Sayad who settled down in Umarzai area after 1877. The clan owned part of the hilly country between the Kurram and their plain possessions. They had been going largely to the hills in the hot weather. Many of their members hold land in the Surrani and other Bannuchi tappas north of the Kurram, and cultivate such land directly or through Bannuchi tenants. The Umarzais had been great wood-carriers in the past and supplied to the cantonments with half the wood fuel required there for burning, bringing it in by the Gumbatti Pass. Collectively the clan had been rude to the British, thriftless and kept little in hand by its grey-beards, but among its members were a sprinkling of shrewd acquisitive men. During the 1870-71 border disturbances, the Umarzais sympathized with their kinsmen, the rebellious Muhammad Khels, and some of their young men fought on the rebel side. The whole clan probably numbers twice as many as the portion counted in the recent Settlement. For some years after annexation the Umarzais gave much trouble to the British, and were treated as outlaws until in 1852-53. Major Nicholson punished them, and after a time re-admitted them into Bannu territory.

Muhammad Khel

As before said this clan is lineally a branch of the Sperkai, but has long ranked as a separate clan. It is divided into four tarafs, viz., Muhammad Khel Khas, Sudan Khel, Shudakai, and some other miscellaneous settlers. The first is the most numerous, and has no fewer than five recognized sections, of which Ro, Kuda and Kauzi are the most important. The Shudakai taraf is an affiliated Khel from the remnant of some old hill tribe, which cannot trace descent from Spirkai. The clan in the third quarter of the 19th century had several strongmen in it of a turbulent disposition. In 1870-71 it rebelled, and gave much trouble to the British before it was re-admitted into Bannu territory. On the whole the Muhammad Khels had been the least lightly assessed of all Waziri clans by the British. Mostly they relied on selling fire-wood and mats in Bannu city and the cantonment, before partition.

Bakka Khels

The main divisions are Takhti, Narmi and Sardi. The first are both the most numerous and wealthy. Though very independent in manner, the clan had been found generally well conducted; and had shrewd, able representatives to support its interests during the British era. It had been assumed by the British pretty comfortably off. Its hamlets and homesteads are strong and well built. It is the most numerous Waziri clan settled in Bannu.

Jani Khels

Jani Khels closely resembles that of the Bakka Khels wherein the Mehsuds gradually supplanted them in the hills, and so the clan started becoming more and more permanent settlers in Bannu. It has three chief branches, Edia; the most numerous, Tor and Malluk Shahi. The clan has never given much trouble to the British, though at times when thwarted, the clan threatened Bannu Administration that they would withdraw to the hills. Both Jani Khels and Bakka Khels had been bringing quantities of fire-wood into Bannu in the cold weather during British rule. Now, the area is much troublesome for the local administration of Bannu.

Jats and Awans of Bannu

The term Jat is commonly used in Bannu to apply to all Musalman cultivators who are not Pathans, Biloches, Syeds, or Qureshis, and often includes Awans and Rajputs, so that the figures cannot be taken separately. More than 9,000 persons entered themselves as "Jat, Awan" in the Census of 1881, and were included under the head of Jats. There were around 4,000 Musalman Jats in Bannu proper, 7,000 in Marwat, and 43,000 in Isakhel and Mianwali, during the Settlement in 1877-78. Those in the two districts now have assimilated in speech and appearance to the Pathans amongst whom they live. The Marwat Jats are fine fellows; those in Bannu are much as the Bannuchis are, and with the Awans they make up the mass of the hamsayah "Hindkais" of the District. The Jats on the whole are an energetic thrifty race. They are dark coloured, and not so tall or well made, but still they can, when nutrition-wise properly cared for to become strong men. The Bannuchis and Waziris speak of all Jats and Awans loosely as "Hindkais." In many cases it is impossible to say whether a certain humsaya group should be classed as Awan or Jat. None of the Jats claim descent from one common ancestor; indeed few of them seem to know or care much about their past tribal histories, and many of them speak of themselves simply as Khidmatghars. Of the Jats in Bannu proper, whether strictly or only popularly so called, the greater part are said to have migrated from the east of the Indus, chiefly from Mianwali and from Pindigheb in Rawalpindi, early in the 19th century, having been driven from their homes in those parts by food shortage. They are most numerous in the neighbourhood of Ghoriwal and Shamshi Khel. The majority of them are tenants cultivating for Bannuchi landholders. There are a few in every village. They have now identified themselves in all respects with the Bannuchis, and had been the keen partisans of the chief (Malluk) under whose protection they had been living. The same remarks hold good with regard to the Marwat area. It is only, however, in the more fertile parts of the Marwat area that Jats are found. Some have lineage with the Jats of Isakhel and Mian Wali where several clans of Jats settled in the country together with the Niazis, who gave them the lands they now occupy. In Mianwali, Jats are found scattered throughout the country, but especially in the kachi.

Syeds of Bannu

During 1877-78, in a settlement report, of the 12,614 Syeds in the district, Bannu proper contained over one-half and Marwat about one-quarter of the Syeds. Those in Bannu proper are found in every village, but those in Marwat are mostly confined to two, viz., Abba Khel and Gorakka. As a rule, the Syeds are land-owners and not tenants; and they are bad, lazy land-owners they proved too. In learning, general intelligence and even in speech and appearance they are hardly distinguishable from the Pathans or Jats amongst whom they live. Here and there certainly honourable exceptions are to be found. The way the lands now held by them were originally acquired, in most cases was by gift. Though many of them still exercise considerable influence, their hold as a class on the people at large is much weaker than it was 150 years ago. A Marwatai now views most matters from rather a hard worldly than a superstitious stand-point. Many families or communities would now cancel the ancestral deed of gift under which some Syeds families enjoyed a fat inheritance. But for the criminal consequences which would result from turning them out neck and crop, the spiritual consequences would be risked willingly enough.

Hindus of Bannu

The Hindus were much equally scattered throughout all parts of the district except the Waziri tracts, in which there were very few. Of the 30,000 in the district in 1877-78, fully two-thirds were engaged in trade, the rest gained a living as agriculturists in different villages. The majority had been Aroras (Kirars), the rest being Brahmins and Khatris. They were much reserved to their communities, acquisitive (very necessary and useful it may be in their places in those days due to their position as minority), but possessed of few manly qualities and both despised and envied by the Musalman tribes of the district for the wealth and property they possessed. Of the Aroras, 11,275 were Uttaradhi and 10,580 were Dakhana as recorded at the Census of 1881. This strength was doubled when they left Bannu in 1947. They were chiefly guarded by Musslaman Malluks in the villages and by the District Administration in the walled city of Bannu. In 1947, about 50,000 Hindus souls migrated to India. They were given a peaceful send off by the local Malluks. Only one dozen families are now residing at Bannu. They were mainly known as Bannuwal Hindus and Lakkiwal Hindus among the tribes. They were learned class in the district who remained peaceful in Bannu throughout their stay. In Bannu, they had been speaking Hinko language but were well versed in Bannusi and Marwat accents. Those living in Mianwali used to speak the Niazis accent. Bannu city was occupied by almost 60% Hindus which percentage was reduced to 50% by 1940 AD since many of them shifted to villages where they purchased land once a ban on purchase of property by non-Muslims in villages was lifted by the Provincial Congress Cabinet under Chief Minister Doctor Khan Sahib in 1939. The ban was imposed by Sahibzada Abdul Quyyum Khan, the first Chief Minister of NWFP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in 1937/38.

In 1947, many Hindu families sold their land under compulsion of leaving their homes for migration to India. The Hindu property thus unsold by then was taken over by the Pakistan Government and a department known as Custodian Department looked after the property till the time much of the property was auctioned in 1954 to 1960 but a lot of it was given to the Mahajirs who migrated from India. The religious places of Hindus and Sikhs are still guarded by the District Administration.

Like Niazis who were once a part of District Bannu but driven out by the Marwats, the role of Hindus in Bannu who migrated to India due to partition, cannot ignored. The Hindus community (as well as some Sikh families) had a complete hold on the business line in Bannu except arms making, and 80 % of houses and shops at Bannu city were purely held by them. In fact, Bannu city was erected for their protection by Lt. Edwardes in 1847 thence completed by Major Taylor in 1848; and they doubtlessly attained distinction in Bannu by virtue of hard work. They left their immovable property under the assurances from the Malluks and the district administration that their property would be returned to them if they might not find their migration to India and subsequent settlement there, either impossible or hard. However, when ten years passed and none returned, the property at city was completely taken over by Custodian Department (raised for the purpose) and after letting some houses and shops given to the Mahajirs from India, the rest was auctioned under government auctioneers which properties are now possessed by different classes. The land in villages was possessed by the Malluks and then after 30 years declared as their property.

The Hindus were not touched or molested at Bannu at the time of partition, rather they were looked after well and transported in their transports to Bannu Railway Station. The wealthy families managed to go by Air from Pakistan but majority of the families travelled by trained and while entering Punjab, many families at the hands of the Muslim bandits, suffered badly. Very touching scenes were observed when Hindus kissed the soil of Bannu while moving off the land with tears in their eyes. Their places of worship are still guarded by the District Administration through the Custodian Department and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Pakistan. Even after their settlement till this date in India, they speak Bannuwal language at homes and love the language. In marriages they also play Bannuwal dhol and enjoy typical Bannuwal dances. However, here at Bannu, they are remembered with good words, people talk about their ways and manners, in places of meeting. Despite some incident that took place like the sad case of Islam Bibi, a newly converted girl to Islam who had fallen in love with a pir of Jhando Khel, in 1936; they all remained much respectful to the Bannuchi communities and maintained peace, wishing tranquility for the district in general.

Apart from their business line in grains; and sell or purchase of audible items like ghee, sugar, gurr and tea in the district; they even had been running the cinemas and private mechanized transport. Many of them were even tangewala (ekkawala). There were two cinemas in Bannu known as Regal Cinema and In-city Cinema, erected in 1930, run by Khanna family ( Hindu caste) and Ricky Singh family (Sikh caste) respectively. ‘In-city Cinema’ was initially known as ‘talkies’ but when in 1947, Ricky Singh embarrassed Islam and was named as Sheikh Saleem, the cinema was consequently named as ‘Saleem Theatre’. Regal cinema was owned by Bannu Garrison in 1947 when Khanna family left for India. It was subsequently leased out to Late Amanullah Khan and his brothers (Kachozai family). These two cinemas have been demolished recently by their owners due to the old brick structures that had gone dangerous after eighty years (or perhaps due to threats from Taliban), and now new commercial centers are being erected in place.

Till late in 1962, the Hindus of Miranshah and Bannu who opted to stay in Pakistan, had been collectively and regularly celebrating dosehra, dewali etc., with whom many Bannuchis also used to join them on such occasions at the specified parks. They had been distributing sweets on such occasions and sending these to the Bannuchi families living close to them. Typical bilateral relations of the mebers of the two religeons existed that remained combined for centuries.

After partition, as mentioned above, many Hindu families migrated to Delhi, Faridabad, Kanpur, Haridwar, Dehradun, Lucknow, Bareily, Rampur, Agra, Vrindavan and Bombay. Rampur (Uttar Pradesh) is having majority of Bannuwal communities.

The Hindus community dressed like Bannuchis with only a difference in Turban which they used to wear around their heads differently. Some Hindus in Bannu were well off and politically well placed. The most influential among them was Kanwar Bhan Bagai, a famous transporter, grain supplier and owner of many houses and around 100 shops in Bannu city in the second quarter of 20th century. He was the head of the Bannuwal Hindus and carried weight in his decision at the British offices.

More about the tribes in Bannu

Prior to the invasion of existing valley of Bannu by the Bannuchi tribe in 1285 AD, Karlanrhi Pathans, i.e., the descendants of Hanni and Mangal, who happened to be the step brothers of Aurakzais and Dilazak and the grandfathers of Warduk , had occupied this territory for nearly 150 years from around 1135 AD. The Bannuchis forced them to vacate the area and pushed them mainly towards areas in the existing Aurakzai Agency. The Bannuchis were equally considered as ‘wild wolves’ likewise others wild Pathans living in mountains, and a refusal to them could amount the Hannis and Mangals to a terrible fight at this land which was wisely avoided by them. The land was not given to Bannuchis as a gift; but they were simply overrun. The Hannis and Mangal were not that strong as they are now in Afghanistan, and their barbaric nature is still effective there. If one considers their nature then he may compare to them the nature of the Bannuchis as well who were definitely stronger to them. The Bannuchis, with their long hair spread over their shoulders, fleshy and strongly bodied with long axes in their hands, riding horses without saddles, could be taken as some vices parallel to the Changezi vices. They were not physically weak in the begging days of their capture of Bannu. Their physical weakness emerged later on, due to change in the consumption of drinking water.

In the line of obedience or disobedience to the invaders, as history know of Babur’s invasion, he had ordered to chop off the heads of captured Bannuchi fighters, and a ‘Kulah (or kalan) menaar’ of almost 4000 heads was erected by him at a place somewhere close to the existing Village Bazar Ahmed Khan; which reveals that Babur wanted this race to be vanished from earth, likewise he did with the Bangush of Buland Khel for their barbaric resistance to him. He wanted Sher Shah Surri to be captured and hanged since he openly cut a roasted lamb with his sword and not with a knife during a buffet given by him to his companion sardars and chieftains of Sarhind in India, after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi in the battle of Panipat. Babur never wanted a barbaric clan to face him in future again, hence his clear intensions of viciously killing the Bannuchis. As their key headmen were killed by Babur ,hence they were overwhelmed by the event, for many years ahead. Prior to this, Amir Temur had played differently while taking some selected Bannuchi and Niazi individuals to the gates of Delhi, merely by ways of friendly requests and monetary offers or otherwise temporary induction in his army …and nothing else than that. History was already known to the descendants of Babur duly written by their forefathers who never came to Bannu to subdue Bannuchis except Bahdur Shah-1 (son of Alamgir) who failed to subdue them. None kept the tribes of Bannu under their swords but with some sweet words only. The Sikhs were not believed in by them due to the event of previous experiences by them. Dilasa Khan, a sensible chief of the Bunnuchis, resisted the Sikhs by adding that they were not sheep and cattle to be sold or purchased and that anyone who looks at us with such intentions were mistaken.

The Niazis occupied the vast sandy area of exiting Marwat almost 650 years ago (somewhere between 1400 and 1430 AD). The land was then lying barren for centuries since drinking water was not easily available except the muddy water of River Gambila. The Bannuchis did not resist them but welcomed them as their neigbours. For 250 years, they maintained bilateral relations with the Bannuchis, sometimes giving manpower help; as we know that the Niazis came to Village Gandulye, with due request from heads of Sikandar Khels, soon after Babur’s Invasion when the manpower strength of the Essaki Bannuchis was weakened due to war effects. They lived in Bannu as armed helpers of the Bannuchis. No record of history depicts any scene of ‘Niazis disturbing the Bannuchis’. Babur could not subdue the Niazis since they all fled to the nearest existing Bhittani Mountains in the area ’. However, it is not known as why they did not ask help from the Bannuchis when Marwats came in to drive them out after series of battles.

The Marwats had driven out the Niazis around 1590 AD after some pitch battles in one of which Begu Khan, a strong Marwat Chief was killed by Sardar Sher Khan Niazi. Both the tribes were ‘laang wearers’, laang (leg wrapper) being a typical dress of them, and both tribes had the same blood from their ancestor namely Lohan. They, after the bloody battle of Lagharhwal, signed a pact of no aggression on each other, and implemented that for years ahead till this day; when the Niazis wished to live in area beyond Darra Thang. However, after 200 years, Marwats went disunited and were split into two rival factions by 1790 AD, which ultimately weakened them and were subsequently overwhelmed by the Nawab of Mankera and then by the Sikhs. The weakness of the Marwats ultimately affected their ties with the Bannuchis who were also split in two rival factions. Hence, the Bannuchis became a prey for an easy aggression from Punjab, unstopped and unchallenged by the Marwats.

In comparison to the Marwats and Bannuchis, the Waziri pastorals snatched much land from both the tribes which is possessed by them till this day. Their further lust for gain of land was stopped by the British since they had entered almost closely at the land of Jhando Khel to be snatched from them, despite their augmented good terms with the Bannuchis in a joint venture against any foreign aggression. In the past, they favoured anyone who allowed them to plunder the opposite side during a battle. This was practiced by them with the Bannuchis and Marwats clans, alike.

In the event of circumstances, to have a dominated manpower to assist them in a battlefield, each Malluk had a force of hamsayas who worked for them simultaneously as land-cultivators, baghbans and technical hands; without whom, they could not resist either their opponents or survive without earning from their green fields, or to live otherwise. In this respect, many famine Jats and Awans came from Punjab and Mianwali and remained hamsayas with the Niazis, Marwats and Bannuchis. Pirs and other Sadat families were welcomed for holding religious ceremonies and performance of other religious obligations. They equally spanned out in Marwat area as well, some holding independent villages (like the Abba Khel or Machin Khels). The Sadats of Sheikhan already existed between the Bannuchis since 1285 AD. They all achieved pieces of land from the Malluks. Such pieces of land were either purchased by them or gifted to them; except the Sadats of Sekikhan who had a promised share from the Bannuchis, in a joint effort of driving out the Mangals and Hannis from the valley of Bannu. The Hindus came as traders. They settled here from times beyond the Durranis period; the exact years of their influx is not known as King Babur has not even mentioned anything about them in his memoirs. They all merely worked as grain assessors between the Malluks and the Hamsayas; and purchased much land from the Bannuchi Malluks too in the event of their financial requirements. The Sikhs had the courage to get settled here during the British period. The Khattaks and Mohammad-zais families achieved land during the British Period, either as local servicemen or as small traders. Yousafzais (Mughal Khels) and Bangush (Ismail Khel and others), as traders and cultivators, got settled here between 1450 and 1500 AD and purchased the land of Ismail Khel and Ghoriwala which was then an area of wild bushes (kannas). They are mentioned as Keranis in Tuzke Baburi (the Memoirs of Babur).

It was and is doubtlessly difficult for an outsider to apparently distinguish between the categories of the Bannuchis as they all speak the same Bannuchi dialect; but a person with fairer to fairest and attractive complexion, would definitely be either an ethnic Pashtun or among the pirs; they being almost 50 % of the total population. They are patient, soft in dialect and medium to tall-heighted, not easily submissive, well dressed and well behaved people. Although one finds them much witty in their senses, their temperament is highly flammable due to warmth in their blood, when disturbed. They are not soothed easily. The ordinary Bannuchis may have disturbed complexion, height and body structure, which identifies their descent from other races; except some ordinary Bannuchis who have maintained complexion of their origin. Usually some are fair-coloured whereas majority of them have dark complexion. The meritorious services of some ordinary Bannuchi families cannot be ignored. They always stood unified to the Bannuchis in general, and at par.

As regards the khidmatgar Bannuchis, majority of them are Quresh, Jat and Awan races of different descend, inclusive of tradesmen; they usually carry dark complexion with lean and skinny physique merely preyed by the tides of time or hardship. Their living standards are not at par to the Malluks. However Khidmatgar Bannuchis remained aloof unless circumstantially compelled by Malluks and pirs to join them in a joint stand against any foreign aggression. These two groups collectively make the remaining 49% of the Bannuchis and are doubtlessly a mixture of ebb and flow.

Timeline History of Bannu Valley

The Kayanis, Achaemenian and the Greek Periods

The first known historical event at this land is attributed to the era of Kaykaus, the king of Persia, when Rustam of Iran, a great wrestler of that period, took over as the Governor of Zablistan. At that time, area up to Multan including was a part of Zablistan. Later on, Rustam rested the area of Bannu as a dowry upon his sister namely Bano who constructed a small fort and a small city in the present area of Kakki Bharat. The fort was called Azar Bano (Azar means a 'city' in the old Persian language). During the Achaemenian period, the present territorial boundaries of Bannu, Waziristan, Dera Ismail Khan, Dadikia (Kakars in Balochistan), Gandhara (Paktia to Attock including Kurram belt) and Aparithia (Afridis belt) remained as a part of the state of Thatagush during the era of `Cyrus the Great`, with its headquarters at Pashkalavati (now known as Charsada). After Darius, when Xerexes-I took over as the mighty king of the Achaemenian dynasty, he deputed Austees as governor of the said part. At that time, areas of present Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Waziristan were made as parts of a province known as Satagidaya, with its military headquarters established at Bannu. Maybe that the name ‘Satagidaya’ was a proxy name of Azar Bano or that Bannu was even then known by the same first name of ‘Bana’ since no authentic confirmation has been so far obtained in this regard. Herodotus, the first known Greek historian, has mentioned in his memoirs that the inhabitants of Satagidaya were Paktues (Pakhtoons?) and that they were Aryans cum Parsees, worshiping fire and sun. His memoirs, however, counter the present research on the Pakhtoons who are believed to have been of the Jewish origin (among the ten lost tribes of Israel) living with the Aryans on bilateral relations when they were deported to Afghanistan from Babul. Leaving all the presumptions on this topic for the readers to speculate as many historians presume that Pakhtuns are ancient Aryans or Jews; some believers still believe that they are descendants from Aryans who intermarried with the Jews.

In 327 BC, when ‘Alexander the Great’ conquered the present territory of Afghanistan , he marched on with two columns towards Gandhara. No doubt that the initial intrusion of the armies of Alexander the Great came through Bajaur area, the spanning out of his military columns in Gandhara beyond the existing territorial boundaries between Afghanistan and Pakistan was witnessed by the Khyberis and Satagidayees, subsequently, as a thunderstorm of steel worn equestrians from the Western lands. A major column led by him remained in Pashkalavati and Peshawar but a small flanking column led by his general namely Phillip marched towards Azar Bano fort; burnt it and then razed it to the ground. Subsequently, the same General (Phillip) was appointed as a Satrap at Taxila, by Alexander the Great; to look after the territory conquered by him. Phillip ruled Bannu till 324 BC. Soon, he was killed by a few rebellions. He was succeeded by his son namely Eudamius, who had the blessings of ‘Alexander the Great’.

However, at Pakhtunkhwa, when Alexander the Great was pelted with stones from mountains by the Khyberis and a shower of five to six feet long arrows came upon him from far distance in mountains, none of the attackers visible to the army, he was taken aback with the war tactics of the local people and asked his generals as to who were they?. One general replied that they are 'Pokh Tan' (hard bodied); hence the deformed word 'Pokh Tanuh' or 'Pakhtoon' has been used for them since then. The Khyberis had actually played hell to the columns of Alexander the Great and at one occasion killed Rakhsha ( the blue eyed dancer of Alexander) with an arrow when she was mounted on a horse riding by the side of him during march of the columns. To him, they looked steel bodied barbarians with eyes of eagle focused at him during an investigation, roaring like lions. Doubtlessly, they were no others but our forefathers. It was astonishing for them when a prisoner explained to him as how they did shoot the arrows. The bow was fairly wider with strong string of cow skin strongly fastened to both ends of the bow which was stretched with both legs and two hands and the legs then positioned at 45 degree angle. A second man used to place the 5–6 feet arrow on the bow and cautioned the first man to shoot. The arrow could go to 1500 meters down the mountains; and when hit, it even had been piercing a strong metal sheet or shield. The arrows were usually made of thin straight bamboos.

Mauryans Period

In 317 BC, Chandra Gupta of the Mauryan dynasty defeated Eudames in a battle and took over Gandhara and Satagidaya. The Mauryans ruled Bannu till 232 BC. Coins and other remains obtained by the Archeologists from Akra dunes in Kakki Bharat, Bannu, reveal that the inhabitants of Bannu were Buddhist during the Mauryan era. In 232 BC, after Asoka’s death, A Greek general namely Eunedius took over the control of Gandhara, Aparithia, Satagidaya as well as present Ghazni, Qandahar and Kabul. Nevertheless, these areas were captured again by the Mauryan king namely Brohidat who reigned till 222 BC. The Greeks who had control of a few parts of Afghanistan are historically known as Greek Bactrians.

Greek-Bactrians Period

In 185 BC, Greek Bactrian king Eutedium captured area from Bactria to the River Indus and established its capital at Bactria. In 180 BC, his son Demetrius took over as his successor who appointed Menandar as the governor of the area between River Kabul and River Indus. In 175 BC, another Greek-Bactrian general namely Eukratedius defeated Demetrius and captured the area between Bactria and Aracochia. Bannu was then under the control of Menandar who had appointed another Greek Bactrian general namely Appolodotus as the governor of Satagidaya and some parts of Gandhara up to Kabul. Later on, Bannu fell in the hands of Eucratides when Menandar had a battle with Appolodotes as the later had shown inclination towards his rival king—Eucratides. To meet with any aggression by Menandar, Eucratides erected a fort at the old site of the fort near present Kakki Bharat which was named after him as Eukra, later on known to the world as Akra and is still famous by the same name. This fort was manned by his son Heliocles who succeeded his father as king when Eucratides died in 159 BC. After the coronation, Heliocles appointed Pheleuzenes as the mighty governor of Bannu (Satagidaya), Tal, Parachinar and Hangu areas, establishing his seat at Bannu. In 152 BC, Heliocles was defeated and pushed towards Taxila by the Saka tribe after capturing Bactria . Upon this, Pheleuzenes declared his small kingdom as independent and neutral. In 135 BC, Le Syas, a successor to Heliocles, seized the said kingdom from Pheleuzenes and annexed to his kingdom, with his headquarters established at Taxila. He left fairly strong force at Akra to handle any expected aggression from Bactria.

Parthians, Sakas, Pehlavis, Ephtalites, Sassanis and Kidarites’ period

Although no significant events have been on record, the coins discovered from Akra reveal that Bannu went in the control of Parthian King Mithradates I and remained under the Parthians till 88 BC when it was captured by Maues, a chief of the Saka tribe, after a fierce battle at Bannu. In 77 BC Maues died. His generals remained at daggers-drawn with each other that resulted in bloodshed among the Sakas. Finally, Azes-I succeeded in defeating all other chieftains in a fierce battle and was crowned as king in 57 BC, exercising control over Gandhara, some parts of the present Afghanistan , Balochistan, Punjab and Hind. His son Azilises succeeded him in about 40 BC; followed by his son Azes II whose coins have been discovered in abundance from the mounds of Akra.

In 5 BC, the Pehlvai and the Parthian tribes came in power in Sistan and Aracochia whose chief namely Gondophares defeated Azes-II in 24 AD and deprived him of his kingdom. However, it has not been ascertained whether Bannu was under the control of the Sakas during the last days of Azes-II or not. It is also presumed that Bannu might have gone into the hands of the chief of Ghazna who was from the Pehlvai tribe and was paying a regular tribute to the Parthian king namely Venos Parthy. The last king of this dynasty namely Pakorus was defeated by the Kushani chief namely Kujula Kadphises at Taxila in 65 AD.

The Kushans

The Kushan Empire was formed in the early 1st century AD under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria around the Oxus River (Amu Darya), and later based near Kabul, Afghanistan. The Kushans spread from the Kabul River Valley to defeat other Central Asian tribes that had previously conquered parts of the northern central Iranian Plateau once ruled by the Parthians, and reached their peak under the Buddhist emperor Kanishka (127–151), whose realm stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic Plain. The Kushans were actually one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, a possibly Tocharian, Indo-European nomadic people who had migrated from the Tarim Basin (in china) and settled in ancient Bactria. During the 1st and early 2nd centuries AD, the Kushans expanded across the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Delhi and Sarnath (a town in Uttar Pradesh) and near Benares. Around 152 AD, Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram Mountains. They captured territories as far as Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkant, in the Tarim Basin of modern-day Xinjiang, China. A direct road from Gandhara to China was opened which remained under Kushan control for more than 100 years. The security offered by the Kushans encouraged travel across the Khunjerab Pass and facilitated the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.

They used Kharoshti language and their accent was the same as other Gandharis. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sassanid Persia and Han China. While much philosophy, art, and science was created within its borders, the only textual record we have of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages, particularly Chinese. The Kushan control fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sassanids who targeted from the west. The last of the Kushan and Sassanian kingdoms were overwhelmed by the Hepthalites. Among the Kushan kings who ruled Bannu for almost 200 years, are given under.

Kujula Kadphises (ca. 30 – ca. 80)

The conquests of Pakhtunkhwa, including Banna by him probably took place sometime between 45 AD and 65 AD, and laid the basis for the Kushans dynasty. As the empire was rapidly expanded by his descendants, the following kings continued their rule till 230 AD. The coins

Vima Taktu (ca. 80 – ca. 95)

Vima Kadphises (ca. 95 – ca. 127)

Kanishka I (ca. 127 – ca. 140)

His territory was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now Peshawar in Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan) and Mathura (a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh). The Kushans also had a summer capital in Bagram (then known as Kapisa).

Vāsishka (ca. 140 – ca. 160)

He was a Kushan emperor who seems to have a 20 year reign following Kanishka. His rule is recorded as far south as Sanchi (near Vidisa), where several inscriptions in his name have been found.

Huvishka (ca. 160 – ca. 190)

His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire. In particular, he devoted time and effort early in his reign to the exertion of greater control over the city of Mathura.

Vasudeva I (ca. 190 – ca. 230)

He was the last of the Kushans and the end of his rule coincides with the invasion of the Sassanids as far as northwestern India.

The coins of all the above kings of Kushan were found from Akra and now preserved in Peshawar and Lahore museums. The replicas of the coins thus found were similar as depicted in the images. Perhaps they had a strong hold in the country and Bannu was one of their trade centres.

The Kidarites

When Kushan King Vasudeva died in 225 AD, his kingdom was disintegrated and then fully captured by Ardashir Sassani, an Iranian king. Bannu also went under the control of the Sassanian dynasty till 365 AD after which the said kingdom was assaulted by Kidara-II, the chief of the Kidarite dynasty who, in 368 AD, took over the control of Gandhara and its surroundings, including Bannu (then locally called as Akra). The coins of Kidara-II and his two successors namely Pero and Behram (Brahma c. 370) have been found from the dunes of Akra during the British era. Between 427 AD and 457 AD, the Kidarites had a few fierce battles with the Ephthalites (White Huns) and subsequently lost their territorial control on many parts of the kingdom including Bannu. The then chief of the White Huns was Toramena who was succeeded by his son Mihiragula in 502 AD, with his capital at Sialkot.

As to the history of Kidarites, it was a nomadic clan and supposed to have arrived in Bactria with the great migrations in the first and second half of the 4th century. The Kidarite kingdom was then created either in the third half of the 4th century, or in the twenties of the 5th century when they led west along the Silk Road, encroaching upon Khorasan and the frontiers of the Kushan state around 320 AD. They may have risen to power before conquering Peshawar and Bannu and other part of Pakhtunkhwa, then turning north to conquer Sogdiana in the 440s, before being cut from their Bactrian nomadic roots by the rise of the Hephthalites in the 450s. The Kidarite king Grumbat, between 353 AD and 358 AD, attacked in the eastern frontiers of Sassanians king Shapur II's empire along with other nomad tribes. After a prolonged struggle they were forced to conclude a peace, and their king Grumbat accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans. The southern or "Red" Kidarite vassals to the Kushans in the North-Western Indus valley became known as Kermikhiones, Hara Huna or "Red Huns" from 360 AD after Kidara II led a Bactrian portion of "Hunni" to overthrow the Kushans in India. At this time the Kidarites successfully controlled the length of the Oxus from the Hindu Kush all the way to the Aral Sea.

Many small Kidarite kingdoms seem to have survived in northwest India up to the conquest by the Hephthalites during the last quarter of the 5th century are known through their coinage. The Kidarites are the last dynasty to regard themselves (on the legend of their coins) as the inheritors of the Kushan empire, which had disappeared as an independent entity two centuries earlier. The Kidarites were the first "Huns" to bother India. History records them as a branch of the Euphthalites. They had family lineage with the European White Huns.

The Shahiyas Period

With the death of Mihiragula in 542 AD, the dynasty collapsed in 568 AD when the Sassanids attacked his kingdom. The area of Bannu eventually went under the control of the Sassanian dynasty till the end of the 6th century. Subsequently, it was taken over by the Turk Shahiya dynasty either through a battle with the Sassanian kings or otherwise due to the submission of the local inhabitants to the Turk Shahiya. The Turk Shahiyas were also later on known as the Kabul Shahiyas and their kings titled as Rutbil or Zunbil.

The Muslim Army Invasion

Mohallib Bin Abi Suffra, a Muslim general, in 664 AD, invaded Banna from across Ghazni and marched on to Til Kafir Kot (then known as Alqaiqan) touching the boundaries of Multan. He was told by Abdur Rehman Bin Samra (The Muslim Governor of Khurrasan) not to go beyond some place between Til Kafir Kot and Multan. His forces burnt the eastern side of the Akra fort during the battle. However, the Rutbil or Zunbil paid regular tribute when they were allowed to retain their dominion of Banna as tax payees.

Ghaznavids Invasion

Mehmmod of Ghazna, while attacking Dheli Sultanate passed through Bannu territory each time, it being the shortest route from Ghazni to Lahore. However, he did it once the Kabul Shah was defeated by him at Bannu. He was joined by thousands of Pashtuns on his way to defeat Raja Jay Pal and actually lost 4000 Pashtuns while clearing Akra contingencies that were deployed by the Hindu Shah; ultimately destroying Akra fort and razing it to the ground. Since then, Akra remained in ruins till this day. It appears that his successors had some influence on Bannu as well.

Ghorids

Then came the Ghorids who, after subduing the area, passed through this area to the gates of Delhi. However, upon the death of Shahab ud Din Ghori, the area went under the control of Taj ud Din Yeldoz who was overwhelmed by Iltamash, the last effective ruler of the Mamluk Dynasty of Delhi. His rule on Bannu was only for 3-5 years. The coins of Iltamash have been found from Akra.

As far as the occupation of Bannu by the first three Pakhtun tribes - (Hanni, Angal and Mangal) is concerned, when Ghorids Empire extended to Dheli and beyond; the three Pakhtun tribes living at Shawal, occupied the vast territory of Bannu which was lying barren after the defeat of forces of Raja Jay Pal at the hands of Ghaznavids. They were basically descendants from Karlanrhi Branch of the Pashtuns; Hanni and Mangal were the step brothers of Dilazak and Orakzai. They were later on (after 100 years or so) joined by Khattaks from Shawal who settled in the fertile land of Surrani, However, not compromising with the other three tribes at Bannu, the Khattaks drifted to Latambar, Karak and beyond to Attack and the present area of Akora, when the influx of Bannuchi came over their heads. The Bannuchis came down from Shawal and forcibly ejected Hanni, Angal and Mangal from the soil of Bannu in 1285 AD and occupied the land; since then, the Bannu territory remained in their possession till this day. This was the time when Khiljis were busy in overwhelming major part of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Khiljis

The Khiljis, who were themselves Pashtuns, overwhelmed the newly inhabited Bannuchis easily. No coins of the Khiljis Dynasty Rulers have been found from Bannu. However, one thing appears logical that during the reign of Khiljis, existing Marwat area was occupied by the Niazis who remained in peace terms with the Bannuchis clans.

Temurids

Amir Temur subjugated Multan and Dipalpur in 1398, and left Delhi in such ruin that it is said that for two months not a bird moved wing in the city. Timur gave the north Indian territories to a non-family member, Khizr Khan, whose Sayyid dynasty replaced the defeated Tughlaq dynasty of the Sultanate of Dehli. Delhi became a vassal of the Timurids but obtained independence in the years following the death of Timur. It is said that while attacking Delhi, he moved through the territory of Bannu. The Bannuchid did not resist him but allowed him to pass thrugh the valley. May be that some groups of Bannuchis accompanied him to the gates of Delhi but there is no cetaininty as such. However, one thing is clear that Amir Temur had military support of a few hundred horsemen from the Niazis whom he took to the siege of Dheli.

Lodhis

After Temurids, the valley of Bannu remained under the Lodhi Dynasty for almost 50 years till the time Babur raided the area in 1505. Nothing is known as to the living standars of the Bannuchis and Niazis.

Mughals

Babur invaded Bannu in 1505 and brutally massacred Bannuchis who had physically resisted his aggression. On his return from India he never passed the valley again. However, his successors could not hold this land strongly; and even when Bahadur Shah-1 (the son of Alamgir) entered Bannu from Kabul who consequently suffered badly at the hands of Bannuchis and Daurs. During the era of Akbar the Great, around 1590 AD, the Marwat tribesmen expelled Niazis from Bannu and possessed their land around 1590 AD after a terrible fight. How the Mughals ruled the trans-Indus portion of this district is not known. No forts containing foreign soldiery seem ever to have been established in their time; nor does any governor or revenue-collector appear to have ever resided amongst the Bannuchis. This is surprising as they were a civilized community possessing a highly developed system of canal irrigation and tillage, at least so far back as the reign of Akbar, if not 300 years earlier from today; for Babar in 1505 observed (as is mentioned in Tuzke Babari).

"The Bangash River (Kurram) runs through the Banna territory, and by means of it, the country is chiefly cultivated." Around Bannuchis clans, the population was thin who were mainly pastoral groups earning from the grazing flocks of sheep, goats and camels, hence forts and governors were not required to subdue them. The probability is that, as in later times, the people were allowed the comfort of their self-government provided they paid a fixed annual amount of tribute - for Bannuchis in the shape of grain or cash, and for others in kind of offer of sheep, goats and camels, and perhaps also horses and men for service to the rulers. When payment was withheld a force would come and levy what it could. That unfortunate Prince Dara Shah, son of Shah Jahan, is said to have once visited the valley when en route to Kabul and the largest canal on the left bank of the Kurram, Shahjoya (probably King's Son), is said to have been enlarged and extended under his patronage. Cis-Indus, an open country and less warlike races made the rule easy. Accordingly, Ghakar feudatories of the great Mughal held sway there until towards 1750 AD, and until the Durranis invasions swept away forever in 1808, the last vestige of royal authority remained in those parts.

Durranis Rule in Bannu

The Marwats still remember to have marched to the sack of Delhi under the banner of Ahmed Shah Abdali. Thus the modern history of Bannu may be said to date from the Durranian invasions of India. Nadir Shah Irani’s great invasion took place in 1738. In that year a portion of his army entered Bannu by the valley of Dawar, and the Bannuchis and Marwats had to pay him a heavy tribute. Ten years later, a Durani army under one of Ahmad Shah's generals entered the valley by the same route; and crossing the Indus at Kalabagh drove the Ghakars out of the country, and razed Muazam Nagar, their stronghold, to the ground (the Gakars, by then, had still ruled in the cis-Indus tracts of this district and were having nominal allegiance to the Emperor of Delhi). For the next seventy years, Ahmad Shah and his successors to the throne of the newly created kingdom of Kabul, maintained an unstable hold on its eastern provinces, among which was this district, collecting tribute in the western valley by an army sent periodically to shake down it at the sword's point and in the eastern through local chiefs, to whom a large share was remitted as the price of their goodwill. Even then, the presence of royal troops was often required to compel them and their clansmen into submission to the royal rulers. As the king's authority grew weaker, they usually avoided payment of taxes. Finally the valley of Bannu was given on lease to the Sikhs by the Durranis in 1802-1808. Since then, the valley was geographically cut off from Kabul.

Sikhs Period

Off and on, Sikhs rulers had been sending their Kardars to bannu to collect dues but each time they were refused. Malluk Dilasa Khan of Village Daud Shah physically resisted the Sikh contingents each time, arguing that Bannuchis are not cattle to be sold by one ruler to another. When Edwards took a Sikh contingent and camped at Bannu in 1847 during his first visit, Malluk Dilas Khan came to his camp with 50-60 armed equestrians (horsemen) and without salutation or getting down from his horse, addressed him in words to the following effect;

“Had you not been here with them, the Sikhs would not have been so easily camping there ... and simultaneously they would have not found me so easy here too.”

It is said that Malluk Dilasa Khan (a patriot Bannuchi), out of sheer anger for the Sikh rulers due to their pitiless aggression on Bannuchi villages during the period from 1823 to 1845, used to fasten apprehended Sikh soldiers behind yokes (in place of bulls), each to cultivate a 10-kanal land in Village Daud Shah and then released with kicks on their butts.

In the general scramble for territory which commenced early in the 19th century amongst these quondam vassals, but now independent princes, Nawab Hafiz Ahmad Khan of Mankera managed to annex Isakhel and part of the cis-Indus tract as well; but in 1821 he resigned the latter to the Sikhs, after standing a short siege in his fortress of Mankera, prudently declining further contest with Ranjit Singh, "the lion of the Panjab". With a keen eye for his own overdoing and coming events, the wise Nawab had, three or four years before his withdrawal to trans-Indus, taken advantage of the distracted state of Marwat to assist one of the two factions into which that country was divided. The "black" or Abezarite party had lately gained a decided superiority over the "white" or Nawazite party, which in its distress was unpatriotic enough to call in some foreign aid. The Nawab dispatched his troops, accompanied by a revenue-collector named Diwan Manak Rai, and with their assistance the "whites" overthrew the "blacks" in a pitched battle at a place called Lagharwah, between new Lakki and Darra Tang, on which the cunning Diwan informed both that his master had ordered him to take possession of the country for himself. From that date Marwats lost their independence: and for the next four years the Nawab's troops, during each spring when the crops were ripe, ravaged the lands of the "blacks" and extorted a large share of the produce from the "whites". On one occasion the Diwan had acted boldly while drunk, to advance to Akra in Bannu valley, and requisition the Malluks or village headmen for supplies and tribute; but they shut themselves up in their villages, and defied him and his master, on which the disappointed Diwan had the discretion to retire, vowing future vengeance in words “Shall see you crawling on your knees to beg me for life; the Bannuchis replied from their towers “ No way” Such were the events of that time.

The Nawab annexed Isakhel in 1818, and overran Marwat in the following year, but was not left long to enjoy the fruits of either conquest by the ravenous Ranjith Singh, who had no sooner gained the Indus for a frontier, than he determined to advance to the Suleman Range himself. In 1823, he crossed the Indus at the head of a large force, marched through Isakhel and Marwat without opposition, and pushed on to the outskirts of Bannu. After a stay of a month or two, he retired without attempting to plant a garrison in the country at all. For the next twelve or thirteen years, the troops of the Dera Nawab and of Maharaja Ranjith Singh harried the Marwat plain alternately, until, in 1836, the Nawab’s short-lived semi-independence was finally extinguished, and the Sikhs had it all to themselves. The Marwats never offered any combined resistance to the Sikhs, but on each visitation either fled to the hills, carrying their flocks and herds with them, or remained and paid what they could of the kalang (arbitrary money) and grain assessment put on each village or tappa. Resistance would have been useless, as their villages were mere collections of huts constructed of twigs, osiers, and reeds, either open or encircled with a thorn hedge.

Not so the Bannuchis, who from 1823 to 1845 were every second or third year invaded by a large Sikh army, which never entered their valley without fear and trembling; and although it generally succeeded in squeezing out of them a considerable revenue, never quitted it without having suffered severe loss at the hands of some Malluks. Thus on one occasion, Malluk Dilasa Khan, head of the Daud Shah Tappa stood a siege of several days in his mud fort, and repulsed the Sikhs after inflecting upon them a loss of over two hundred men. Now the Bannuchis as a tribe were called a nation of rebels compared with the Marwats; but they had nearly four hundred compact villages, each a fort in itself surrounded by a thick mud wall, strengthened with numerous towers behind which they fought well. Added to this, they were adepts at night assassination, and on the entrance of the Sikhs into their little pandemonium, they by common consent suspended their own feuds for the time, called their Waziri foes "brothers," and attacked with one accord the Kafir (infidel) enemy, whenever they could within limits of safety to themselves. From first to the last, no attempt was made to occupy the valley permanently, and in open Marwat even it was not until 1844 that a fort was erected; a Sikh garrison was located in it and the country consigned to the kind mercy of a kardar or revenue-collector, the known Fateh Khan Tiwana.

It was far otherwise in the eastern valley where no serious opposition had ever been experienced by the Sikhs. Their connection with the cis-Indus portion of that valley commenced towards the close of the reign of Timur Shah, the feeble son and successor of Ahmad Shah Abdali who was the celebrated conqueror of Delhi and destroyer of the Marhattas. Before Timur Shah's death in 1793, the Sikh troops, had on several occasions, overrun the greater part of Mianwali, and levied contributions and tribute from its villages; but it was not until after the fall of Mankera (1822) that the area of Marwat was completely annexed and settled. The trans-Indus portion, that is Isakhel, continued subjection to the Nawab of Dera until 1836, when it was formally incorporated into the Sikh kingdom. But for the ten or twelve years preceding that event, the Nawab's sovereignty was more a shadow than a substance; for in their expeditions to Marwat and Bannu, the Sikhs used to march through Isakhel whenever they required it as a highway, and treated the Nawab and his government with slight courtesy. Soon after the close of the first Sikh war, the Council of Regency at Lahore Darbar, which had been appointed, under the control of a British resident, to administer the Punjab during the minority of the Maharaja Dullip Singh, drew the attention of their adviser, the late Sir Henry Lawrence, to what they were pleased to term the "outstanding revenue" of Bannu. After due inquiry into the state of affairs in that quarter, the Resident sanctioned the dispatch of a strong Sikh force, accompanied by a British officer, to compel payment, if necessary, but if possible "to conciliate the Bannuchis; to subdue them by a peaceful and just treaty; and reduce the nominal revenue, which was never paid, to a moderate tribute in acknowledgement of sovereignty." The British officer selected to accompany the force was the late Sir Herbert Edwardes, then a subaltern (Lieutenant). But as the cold season came to an end, his army crossed the Indus and after a short stay of six weeks in the valley, returned to Lahore, arriving at that capital in May 1847. Although little revenue had been collected by him, the Expedition was by no means infertile of important results, as a thorough reconnaissance of the country had been made, discipline and obedience had been forced on an unruly soldiery, and a suspicious people had learnt to place confidence in the authority and good faith of an Englishman. In the cold weather of the following year (1847–48), Lieutenant Edwardes returned, and crossing the Kurram at Lakki, marched up its left bank into the Waziri Thal, where he was joined by a column from Peshawar, under Lieutenant Taylor. The junction being effected, the two officers pitched their camp at Jhandu Khel in Bannu proper. By that time all the chiefs of Bannuchi clans had come in and tendered their submission, and were with the camp busy watching the course of events and each other. But the Bannuchi priesthood at first remained angrily aloof, awaiting the action of the Wazir jirga (representative council). After some hesitance the Waziris too submitted, and so the Syeds and Ulamas became regretful, and promised allegiance to the young Maharaja. Lieutenant Edwardes' next step was to commence a broad high road right through the heart of the valley to the open Marwat country beyond, and to select a good site for a crown fort, which should command the heads of as many canals as possible. Having chosen his site, he laid out the lines of his fort, and allotted a portion of the work to each of his Sikh regiments.

Hitherto, the Bannuchi peasantry had been unconvinced that the occupation of their valley was seriously intended; but as day by day the walls of the fort rose higher and higher, they became disheartened, and felt that their days of freedom were numbered. This thought annoyed some of the most intolerant towards mere desperation; and plots for a general insurrection, supported by an invasion from Dawar led by Malluk Dilasa Khan began to be agitated. The old tactics of way-laying stragglers beyond the camp and shooting sentries in dark nights, which had the secret approval of the priesthood, were resorted to, and Lieutenant Edwardes himself twice narrowly escaped from becoming a victim to the assassin's dagger. Meantime, a rough revenue survey was going steadily on, and the outer walls of the fort continued to grow higher and higher, until it seemed safe to launch the bold order that the walls of the four hundred strongholds of the valley should be pulled down by the very hands which had erected, defended and kept them in repair for the last five to twenty years. Forth went the order, "Throw down to the ground the walls within fifteen days, or I shall punish you," and down went the walls. The Bannuchis thus riveted their own chains, and evidently proved them as loyal subjects of the Maharaja, but their loyalty all the more was distasteful. It was then spring time, and Lieutenant Edwardes had still to visit Marwat and tracts south of it, so he handed over charge to Lieutenant Taylor. At first, Bannuchis and Wazirs were constant in their attendance on their new Sahib, restless to get in themselves with him; and their new Sahib was working day and nights trying to make the yoke of subjection sit on their shoulders as lightly as possible. It seemed, indeed, as if the change from wild captivity to orderly rule had been accepted by the people more as an advantage, for which their forefathers had sighed in vain, than as a sad need of time.

The dream of peace was all of a sudden rudely broken. The murder of two British Officers (Vans Agnew and Anderson) at Multan was the signal for a general uprising of the Sikh soldiery, to whom the new order of things framed by the two Englishmen was particularly irritating. Diwan Mulraj raised the standard of rebellion, and Punjab was seen in flames. Acting under instructions from Lieutenant Edwardes, who was on the outbreak of the rebellion at Multan, boldly marched to attack Diwan. Lieutenant Taylor placed Fateh Khan Tiwana, in command at Dullipgarh fort, and started off to Multan to assist his chief in his fruitless effort to besiege that stronghold with much disaffected troops and raw country levies. When the news of the rebellion of the Diwan, and of the risings of Sikh soldiery in different parts of the Punjab reached Dullip Garh fort, its Sikh garrison rebels laid siege to the inner fort, in which Fateh Khan Tiwana and his Muhammadan levies had shut themselves up.

After holding out for ten days, Fateh Khan Tiwana, finding that further resistance was impossible, as his supply of water had failed, caused the gates to be opened, and rushed out with his sword in hand on the enemy, by whom he was immediately cut to pieces. After sacking the fort, the Sikh marched off with a number of captive local chiefs who had thrown in their lot with the British Commanders (Lieutenant Edwardes and Lieutenant Taylor), to join their brethren in arms on the Jhelum who had fallen slain under the well directed fire of British guns at Gujrat. On their departure, Muhammad Azim Khan, a son of Dost Muhammad Khan, the Amir of Kabul, came down and occupied the empty fort of Dullip Garh. His beginning only increased the lawlessness which prevailed, as he was not strong enough to force the people into submission, and the chiefs who had invited him down (viz a viz Mir Alam Khan Mizali Khel of Mandan) were in a weak minority, and found that they were generally looked upon with suspicion by other chiefs of the Bannuchis clans.

British Period

Meanwhile, the Lakki fort which was built four years earlier to subdue the Marwats by the unfortunate Fateh Khan Tiwana, whose death has just been mentioned, was in the hands of a portion of the rebel Sikh garrison, and remained so for some months, until Major Taylor having meantime achieved his British troops in hand assisted by the local helpers who went with them to Multan, was able to return from Multan. Advancing by Isakhel, he captured the Lakki fort after a siege of a few weeks. He then pushed on for Dullip Garh (as the Bannu fort was called then), from which Muhammad Azim Khan and his Afghans supporters (Mir Alam Khan of Mandan) retired, without risking a fight. Within ten days after the final overthrow of the Sikhs at Gujrat; on 21 February 1849, the Bannu valley was quietly re-occupied, and the Bannuchis after having experienced with the sweets and bitters of freedom in the events of a few months, of Barakzai and English rule, welcomed Major Taylor back as a deliverer.

In the Mutiny of 1857, at the two stations of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, two regiments of Punjab Infantry, two of Punjab Cavalry, two Punjab Batteries, one Sikh Infantry regiment, one very weak police Battalion, and 180 police horse were located. Many of these troops were instantly ordered away to Peshawar, Jhelum, &c., and for two days, until the arrival of the 3rd Sikh infantry from Dera Ismail Khan, the station of Bannu was guarded only by a battery of Punjab Artillery and the local inhabitants of the country, "as an experiment, which might have been dangerous if prolonged

The rapid march of the troops to Delhi caused a temporary panic amongst the traders of Bannu. Captain Coxe closed the gates and talked to the people and removed their fears. A fresh cause of anxiety was caused by the arrival of the suspected 39th Native Infantry from Jhelum. Captain Coxe felt their presence a source of imminent danger until 600 or 700 Multani horse had been raised and collected at Dera Ismail Khan. The 39th were quietly disarmed on the 14th of July 1857 without the presence of other troops. Three days before this, Captain Renny, Commanding the 3rd Sikh Infantry, informed the Deputy Commissioner of a plot among the Hindustanis of his regiment, 113 in number, to murder all their officers. These 113 men were disarmed the same evening, and were subsequently dismissed from the service. The plot could not be brought home to them though there is are little doubts that the plot had been actually laid. Another conspiracy was reported amongst the 39th Native infantry at Dera Ismail Khan with the object of seizing the fort. Timely information saved it.

When the news of the mutiny of the portion of the 9th Irregular Cavalry reached Captain Coxe, he marched to the Indus with a party of Multani horse, and travelling 60 miles in 17 hours, raised all the country to act against them if requisite, and sent Mr. Cowan, Extra Assistant Commissioner, to follow them up. His force, co-operating with Captain Hackin's party, was instrumental in effecting their destruction. The frontier tribes were turbulent during this period as had been their habit, but the presence of a moveable column sent by the Chief Commissioner restrained them from ravaging the British occupied territory.

At the annexation of the Punjab in 1849, the trans-Indus portions of the present districts of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan were formed into one district, under the latter name, with headquarters at Dullip Nagar (Bannu). Major Taylor thus became the first Deputy Commissioner of the district except Mianwali, which became a sub-division of the late Leiah district. Change of Boundaries

On January 1, 1861, the old Leiah division was broken up, and the Derajat division formed with Bannu for its most northern district. Previously the trans-Indus portion of the new district comprising the tehsils of Bannu, Marwat, and Isakhel, had belonged to the Dera Ismail Khan district, with Dullip Nagar (Bannu), as its head-quarters and the cis-Indus portion, comprising the sub-division of Kachhi or Mianwali, to the old Leiah district. In 1862, Pakhar, a tract lying along the eastern base of the Salt Range, and the Mianwali-Thal villages of Harnoli and Wichwin were added to Bannu, whilst the eighteen villages of the Nurpur ellaqa were taken from it, and annexed to Shahpur. Since then only one change of importance had been made, viz.. in 1875, Mullazai and a strip adjoining up to the water-shed of the Bitanni Range, until then a part of Marwat, were transferred to the Dera Ismail Khan district. In 1874, Dhulla Azmat and seven other villages were transferred from Mianwali to Isakhel.

Until the commencement of 1861, when Bannu was erected into a separate district, the border administration absorbed most of the Deputy Commissioner's time. Still a strong and just rule was enough in itself to largely promote the expansion of cultivation and the rapid development of natural resources. During the greater part of the incumbency of Major Taylor, the first Deputy Commissioner, the Umarzai Wazirs were in rebellion; yet he found time, among the cares of his other duties, to enlarge and extend the Kachkot canal, and commence the reclamation of the Nar tracts, which until then had been debatable jungle land, claimed alike by Marwat and Bannuchis. This jungle was divided into blocks of 50 to 500 acres each, and given to local chiefs and Pathan military officers, who had been useful to him and Major Edwardes in the stormy times of 1847-49.

The next Deputy Commissioner was Major John Nicholson, from 1852 to the cold weather of 1855; and he, during a three-and-a-half years' incumbency, reprimanded the Umarzais, completed the Nar reclamation schemes, partially reclaimed another waste tract called Landidak, and made a first Summary Settlement of the Bannu Pargana. His administration though severe was popular, and during all but the first year of it, the border was peaceful, and crimes of all sorts were reduced to a minimum. The value of his strong rule and "English Justice" was seen at the time of the Mutiny troubles, for during that period, with the exception of some petty border disturbances, Bannu remained greatly calm; and the Niazi Pathans and the Awans under their respective chiefs enlisted in numbers and did good service for the British rulers, both only locally and at Peshawar, and in the neighbourhood of Delhi. Throughout the whole of that dark time as well, Captain Coxe (the Deputy Commissioner) was carrying out the second Summary Settlements of trans-Indus Bannu, and the country making great strides in peaceful improvement.

With the opening of 1861, Bannu became a separate district, and nothing occurred to seriously retard its general progress towards a fair share of prosperity. The border differences with Afghanistan had broken out, but their effect was mainly local. Between 1868 and 1871 partial depression and hardship was experienced by the local inhabitants due to drought; but the drought only affected un-irrigated uplands, and during it all who cultivated canal irrigated and even alluvial Indus lands, were highly prosperous.

The British official report of 1883 defines Bannu to the effect that at annexation, Bannu proper was divided into twenty-one tappas or circles, each loosely ruled over by a tappa Malluk or chief, and each a little semi-independent state in itself. Amongst these twenty-one chiefs were two primi inter pares who wore recognized as the respective heads of the two great factions to one or other of which every Bannuchi belonged. In each tappa again, were from ten to thirty or more separate walled and towered enclosures, within which resided the descendants of the founders (the Malluks or their supplanted ones,) the supplanted ones known as hamsayahs. The walls and towers had all been partially dismantled by Lt Edwardes, but were still sufficiently high for purposes of defence against musketry fire. In every "village" one man was recognized as malluk, subordinate to the tappa malluk, and all the dues paid to either were, as a rule, divided by the Malluks among those of their immediate kinsmen who supported them. The limits of both tappa and "village" were those of the holdings of men resident at the time within them, and wore consequently subject to occasional variations. Though might was right, the intense bigotry and superstition of the people subjected their desires in a great measure to the guidance of their Ulama; the general law of the land may be said to have been sharia corrected by assassination. All Bannuchis lived by the plough and spade, save the despised Hindus who had a monopoly of all trading and banking. Cultivation was fairly skilful and general, except on the confines of two hostile villages, where the peasant could only sow and reap at the risk of being shot from the boundary watch tower of the adjoining village. Notwithstanding the perpetual feuds of individuals and communities among them, prescription and the necessity of a mutual vocal jirga agreement had established a common custom between "villages" and even tappas respecting canal irrigation, and this custom, though broken at times by civil commotion or other causes, always in the end re-established itself.

To the north and west of Bannu proper were the Darwesh Khel Wazirs, who from contact with the civilized Bannuchis and from the pressure of their own increasing numbers were already passing from the pastoral nomadic to the settled agricultural state. Still these Wazirs were at best three-quarters savages, living in black tents, kezhdi, or slight booths of matting and grass, clothed according to the season in common woolen garments or sheepskin, and filthily dirty in their hygienic conditions. South of the Wazirs and Bannuchis were the Marwats, who, though they had suffered evenly from the grinding exactions of Sikh domination and their own rebellion, were still a fine, united, and mainly agricultural race. A considerable minority of those residents near the hills still lived in tents, and led a pastoral life; but with such exceptions the whole tribe was agricultural, living in sectional communities each on its own allotment and each strictly governed by its own board of elders. Most families resided in wattle-booths surrounded by thorn hedges, and it was not until after the mutiny that such fragile structures began to be replaced by mud-walled and rafter-roofed huts. In Isakhel, at annexation to the British Empire, the various communities there, with the exception of some of the Khattaks, were well housed thriving agriculturists, possessing flocks and herds as well; and possessed more land than they could utilize. At the time much of the bed of the Indus was a jungle of Shisham trees and tiger grass, in which the sport-loving Niazis of both banks used to have great drives after pig, hog-deer, and other game. Here and there the jungle had been cleared and settled on by a small compact group of families, half grazing groups-half cultivators. Across the Indus in Mianwali, the social state of its inhabitants was much as in Isakhel, except that in the south, cultivation was more backward; population was very thin and a nomadic pastoral life being easier than that of the settled cultivator.

The country about Bannu Khas between the Kurram and Tochi rivers is held by the Bannuchis. The remainder of the Bannu Tehsil, north-east of the Kurram and south-west of the Tochi is in the occupation of Wazirs. Marwat is held almost entirely by Marwats. Niazis hold the north and Jats the south of the Mianwali Thal and Kacha. The jats of Marwat and Bannu came from there and settled as hamsayas with the Bannuchis and Marwats.

Rise of Bannuchis, Wazirs and Marwats against the British

In the beginning of 1936,one Hindu girl namely Ram Kour (also known as Ram Kouri) of Village Jhandu Khel Bannu, fell in love with one Amir Noor Ali Shah (also known as Amir Noor), a Sayyed from the same village. The affections between them were so deep that on the night of 4 th/ 5 th March 1936, Ram Kour eloped with Amir Noor Ali Shah to village Puk Ismail Khel, Surrani, and took shelter at the house of Noor Ali Shah's maternal uncle. On the same day, i.e. on 5 th March 1936, Ram Kour went to the village mosque of Puk Ismail Khel and embraced Islam at the hands of Moulvi Sakhi Din Shah. Their Nikah immediately followed it. Two persons namely Nimble and Mir Ali Khan lambardar of the village were witnesses to the Nikah ceremony. They both remained there at the house of Amir Noor Ali Shah's maternal uncle for a few days. In the meantime, Mansa Devi, the mother of Ram Kour, registered an FIR at Domel Police Station alleging Amir Noor Ali Shah etc. for abducting the girl. The SHO of the police station did not take abrupt action as he had confirmed through his own sources that the girl had eloped with Amir Noor Ali Shah at her own free will.

Amir Abdullah Shah, the elder brother of Amir Noor Ali Shah started negotiations with the mother and uncle of the girl and dissuaded them from pursuing the case in the court of law. Both the parties reached at an understanding that if the girl was returned to her mother, the case would be withdrawn. Subsequently, an agreement was signed between Amir Abdullah Shah and Mansa Devi and it was mutually agreed upon that Amir Abdullah Shah would return the girl to her mother, on 23 March 1936. Accordingly, when Amir Abdullah Shah asked the willingness of Ram Kour (then known with Islamic name of Marjana alias Islam Bibi), the girl flatly refused to go to her parents and told Amir Abdullah Shah:

"I would prefer to die if I am not allowed to go with my husband; I, under no circumstances will go back to my parents or reconvert to Hinduism".

Amir Noor Ali Shah also stood by her and Amir Abdullah Shah had no option other than to support Amir Noor Ali Shah and Islam Bibi and face the consequences. Accordingly, he did not return the girl to her mother and persuaded Amir Noor Ali Shah to take Islam Bibi to South Waziristan and cross the border to Afghanistan where he would be safe from the clutches of the British law. Amir Noor Ali Shah and Islam Bibi decided to leave for Tank, on 24 March 1936. Mst. Jamala, the stepmother of Noor Ali Shah, along with her minor son Qamar Ali Shah (aged 3½ years), also got ready to go with them. In the meantime, on 24th morning, the mother of Islam Bibi made a report at City Police Station Bannu for the recovery of her girl. Amir Noor Ali Shah, Ram Kour alias Islam Bibi, Mst. Jamala with her minor son Qamar Ali Shah and their relative namely Haleem Khan, got into a car (which was hired by them up to Tank) at a place 1½ miles away from Bannu City on Bannu-D.I.Khan Road. When the car reached Ghoriwala Police Station, it was stopped and searched by a police party. They and all other occupants in the car were arrested and brought to City Police Station Bannu. The same evening Noor Ali Shah, Islam Bibi etc. were sent to jail.

The conversion of Ram Kour to Islam and getting married to a Muslim was proclaimed throughout Bannu. Hindu communities favoured Mansa Devi whereas Muslim community stood by the side of Islam Bibi. The Hindu community was led by Rai Bahadur Kanwar Bhan Bagai, Kanwar Rai and the Hindu lawyers, whereas, Muslim community was led by Faqir Abul Hassan, Nawab Zafar Khan Marwat and Muslim lawyers. Communal riots between Hindu and Muslim were expected to rise. Hence, FC and army troops were made alert in Bannu. The Hindu community extended all possible support to the Hindu Lawyers, i.e. Chaman Lal, Melawa Ram, Hukam Chand and Ladha Ram. Whereas, the Muslim community supported Mohammad Jan Khan (Bar-at-law), Mohammad Nawaz Khan Kundi Advocate, Habibullah Khan Meena Khel Advocate, Maqsood Jan Khan Mira Khel Advocate, Sardar Luthfullah Khan Pleader and Eid Akber Shah Advocate, in pursuing the case in the court. 7 April 1936 was fixed as the date of hearing in the court of I.D.Scott, Assistant Commissioner Bannu.

On 6 April 1936, a large crowd of about 2,000 Muslims gathered outside the bungalow of Captain E. H. Cobb, Deputy Commissioner Bannu, raising slogans of 'Allah-o-Akber' 'Islam Zinda Bad'. They demanded the return of Islam Bibi to the Muslim community. Till sunset, they took siege of his bungalow but dispersed with a unanimous decision that on the following day, the bungalow of DC would be encircled again. On the same day, an application was submitted to DC Bannu by some Muslim notables of Bannu through the Defence Council composed of lawyers, namely Luthfullah Khan, Maqsood Jan Khan, Habibullah Khan and Mohammad Jan Khan, stating that Ram Kour had converted to Islam hence she should be given in the custody of some responsible Muslim notable. They further demanded that the case of Islam Bibi should be transferred from the court of Mr I.D. Scott and Captain E. H. Cobb, the Deputy Commissioner, should himself carry out the trial as the District Magistrate.

On 7 April 1936, just an hour before the beginning of trial, another application was submitted to DC Bannu by five Muslim religious leaders of Bannu, namely General Sir Guli Khan of Qamar Killa, Moulvi Mohammad Aslam of Village Shahbaz Azmat Khel, Qari Abdul Ghaffar, Moulvi Mohammad Ayub of Village Bazar Ahmed Khan and Mullah Mir Kazim of Village Jhandu Khel. In this second application, they had requested that Islam Bibi should be kept in the custody of any Muslim notable since she had been placed in the custody of Dr. Benjamin (a Christian lady). On the same day, I.D Scott, Assistant Commissioner Bannu, instituted the court and proceedings in the case (case No.1/2 of 1936) started. When the court was in progress, a letter was received by DC Bannu, from the Faqir of Shewa, North Waziristan, apprising him of the dangerous consequences that might arise if the case would not be decided according to Shariyah. A large crowd of Muslims was also trying to reach the District Courts Bannu on the day of hearing but the Frontier Constabulary closed all the roads leading to the court premises. None, except the Muslims and Hindu lawyers, the District Court servants, the prosecution and the defence witnesses in the case, were allowed to enter the court premises. Islam Bibi was brought to the court in a van, in the custody of a large police party. No serious incident occurred. However, the District Administration felt very tense atmosphere in the District. The same day, Home Member Sir George Cunningham and Khan Bahadur Rana Tala Mohammad Khan Commandant FC, reached Bannu and in the afternoon called for the Muslim notables of Bannu so as to dissuade them from interference in the case. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Bannu handed over the control of the city to the Army. A squadron of light tanks took position on all the vital points inside Bannu City. A show of force of army units was also carried on main roads of Bannu city, followed by imposition of Section 144 in District Bannu for an indefinite period. The Deputy Commissioner Bannu issued instructions to the Assistant Commissioner Bannu to carry out day to day proceeding of the case and then submit the complete proceedings to him before 20 April 1936. He also looked into the application that was submitted to him by the Muslim notables and informed both the communities that after the completion of the proceedings, he would himself issue the judgement in the case. Accordingly, Mr. I.D. Scott completed the proceedings by 15 April 1936. Captain E. H. Cobb went through all the proceeding and then at the request of the Muslim community decided to re-examine Islam Bibi since her statement carried weight on the case. Deputy Commissioner Bannu, Captain E. H. Cobb, after analysing the tensed atmosphere in Bannu, issued court orders that during the trial, Islam Bibi should be retained in jail, in the public interest. On 29 April 1936, he himself went to Bannu Jail to record her statement in the presence of some Muslim and Hindu notables of District Bannu. In her statement, Islam Bibi told the court that she had embraced Islam at her own and would not go back to her mother. She wished to return to Amir Noor Ali Shah. The statement was read over to her in vernacular that she signed as correct. Deputy Commissioner, after recording of her statement, issued an order that since she did not wish to go back to her mother hence she should be sent to the house of Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan, Member legislative Council and Honourary ADM, a trustworthy and most respectable person of Village Bazar Ahmed Khan. At a later stage of the trial, the proceedings were carried out in the bungalow of Deputy Commissioner Bannu. On the day of decision by the court, Islam Bibi was brought to the court by Taj Ali Khan s/o Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan in his car.

On 25th April 1936, the court gave decision in words to the following effect.

“It has been conclusively proved by the Prosecution witnesses that Mst. Ram Kour alias Islam Bibi was a minor girl of 15 years 4 months and 8 days on March 5, the date on which she was kidnapped from the lawful custody of her mother without her permission, as she will attain the age of 16 years on October 27, 1936, having been born on October 27 th, 1920. There is only the evidence of the minor girl that she went of her own free will being in love with Amir Noor Ali Shah accused. The question of the minor's attitude however is immaterial to the charge under Section 363 I.P.Code if the minor is kidnapped without the consent of her lawful guardian. I find him guilty of the charge and I convict him accordingly under section 363 I.P.C and sentence him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 2 years.”

The court also punished Abdullah Shah, Makhar and Haleem Khan for period of one to two years rigorous imprisonment they being involved in assisting Amir Noor Ali Shah in kidnapping the girl or hiding her away during the period of her absence from her parental house. After the announcement of the judgement of the court, Islam Bibi was escorted to the house of Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan for safe custody till further orders, whereas Amir Noor Ali Shah, Makhar and Amir Abdullah Shah were transported to Haripur Jail, Hazara. Late on, when all petitions at the Court of Civil Judge Bannu (Gul Mohammad Khan,District Judge) as well as subsequently at the court of Judicial Commissioner Peshawar were dismissed in favour of Mansa Devi, Captain E. H. Cobb, alongsith Superintendent of Police Bannu and 200 policemen, went to Village Bazar Ahmed Khan on the night of 20 th / 21 st August 1936, and laid a siege to it from all sides. No one was allowed to leave the village. Commander Bannu Brigade was also made alert to deal with any unforeseen situation arising during the takeover of the girl from the house of Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan. At 10:00 p.m. Deputy Commissioner Captain E. H. Cobb and Superintendent of Police Bannu knocked at the house of Khan Bahadur Ghulam Haider Khan, who along with his son Taj Ali Khan, came out of the house and were taken aback seeing such a big police force with the Deputy Commissioner who told him that the girl should be handed over to the Superintendent of Police Bannu on the spot without any confrontation by him or his men otherwise the entire village would face dire consequences. The girl was handed over to the police party after half an hour without resistance. Soon after Islam Bibi was recovered from the house of K.B Ghulam Haidar Khan, she was handed over to her mother (Mst. Mansa Devi) and uncle (Harnam Das) at the bungalow of Deputy Commissioner Bannu. Rai Bahadur Kanwar Bhan Bagai, a leading Hindu and famous transporter of Bannu, took Islam Bibi, her mother and uncle to Hoshiarpur in his personal car on the same night.

Mr. Taj Ali Khan did not leave the matter and went to Hoshiarpur to contact Islam Bibi when a commission was detailed by the Civil Court Bannu to take statement of the girl since it was stated before the court by the Hindu notables that Islam Bibi had re-converted to Hinduism and did not want to be returned to Amir Noor Ali Shah. However, the girl who was produced before the commission at Hoshiarpur was not Islam Bibi and some other girl who pretended to be Islam Bibi had appeared before the Commission. This was seriously objected by Mr. Taj Ali Khan and Mst. Jamala who told the commission that the girl was someone else and not Islam Bibi. However, they returned to Bannu unsuccessful. They told the Bannuchi notables at Bannu that Islam Bibi did try to contact Malik Taj Ali Khan but the Hindu community did not let her do that.

In August 1937, some of the Hindu notables were heard saying that Ram Kour alias Islam Bibi could not sustain further physical tortures at the hands of the Hindus; and when all efforts to re-convert her to Hinduism had failed, she was poisoned to death by the Hindus at Hoshiarpur. The Hindus cremated her dead body. Her love story has become a part of the folk songs of Bannu. These events followed the rise of the Faqir of Ipi against the British Raj.

In 1945, Amir Noor Ali Shah left Bannu, to search for Islam Bibi; hoping that she might be alive. He did not return. His whereabouts are not known. It is believed that had been in tomb of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz (in India) as Mujawar. He never contacted his brothers or relatives. He would be over 90 years of age if still alive.

The verdict 'enraged' the Muslims - especially the Bannuchi, Marwats, Wazirs and Daur tribesmen. Faqir Ipi's kinsmen, the Daur Maliks and mullahs left the Tochi for the Khaisora Valley to rouse the Torikhel Waziris. The enraged tribesmen mustered two large lashkars 10,000 strong and battled the Bannu Brigade, with heavy casualties on both sides. Widespread lawlessness erupted as tribesmen blocked roads, overran outposts and ambushed convoys. The British retaliated by sending two columns converging in the Khaisora river valley. They suppressed the agitation by imposing fines and by destroying the houses of the ringleaders, including that of the Faqir of Ipi. However, the Pyrrhic nature of the victory and the subsequent withdrawal of the troops was credited by the Wazirs to be a manifestation of the Faqir's miraculous powers. He succeeded in inducing a semblance of tribal unity, as the British noticed with dismay, among various sections of Tori Khel Wazirs, the Mahsuds and the Bhittannis. He cemented his position as religious leader by declaring a Jihad against the British. This move also helped rally support from Afghan tribesman across the border and in the southern districts especially Bannu District.

The Faqir of Ipi

Mirzali Khan (known as Faqir of Ipi) was born in 1897 in Shankai Kairta, which is located near Khajuri Post in North Waziristan Agency. His family was from the Bangal Khel clan of the Haibati Madda Khel section of the Tori Khel Wazirs, which belongs to the greater Utmanzai branch concentrated in North Waziristan. His father was a religious man, named Arsala Khan. Mirzali Khan first went to religious schools on the British side of the border, and eventually, to a place near Jalalabad, where he became a Murid (pupil) of the Naqib of Chaharbagh, at the time the most famous and influential religious leader in Afghanistan. In 1923 Mirza Ali Khan performed the Hajj in Mecca and thereafter settled down in the village of Ipi, situated near the British military road connecting Bannu and Razmak. He was then known a peaceful religious preacher. There he gradually acquired the reputation of saintliness among the clan of Daurs, but not attracting as yet the attention of the authorities as a potential agitator.

About 40 to 50 thousands British and Indian troops were reported to be in the field trying to capture him. His own force of armed tribesmen, probably not exceeding one thousand men, armed with rifles and a few machine-guns, and occasionally one or two pieces of antiquated cannon were fielded against this much larger British army equipped with modern artillery, tanks and aircraft. The Faqir of Ipi was always short of ammunition, had no radio communication, and relied upon a traditional network of informants and messengers for his intelligence while the British had much more sophisticated communications and intelligence capabilities developed in World War II. When he died in 1960, The Times of 20 April described him as "a doughty and honourable opponent... a man of principle and saintliness... a redoubtable organizer of tribal warfare...." But only with a tinge of irony could the obituary claim that "many retired Army officers and political agents... will hear the news with the tribute of wistful regret".

Soon after the Khaisora campaign a general uprising broke out throughout Waziristan, realizing the futility of confronting the British Army directly especially with their advantage of air power, the tribesmen switched over to guerrilla warfare. Squadrons of the two air forces (RAF and RIAF) tried many tactics including scorched earth retaliation involving the burning of standing crops with jerry-cane petrol bombs and the killing of cattle with strafing attacks. This situation continued till independence of Pakistan in 1947. The creation of Pakistan in 1947 significantly dulled the Faqir's insurgency. As the government was Muslim led, the religious grounds for the insurgency had been lost. This did not stop the Faqir from causing problems for the Pakistani government until his death. On 4 November 1954 his lieutenants namely Mehar Dil and Khalifa Gul Nawaz, voluntarily surrendered themselves in person to the Commissioner Bannu, and this, in effect, brought the Waziristan insurrection to an end.

The Faqir of Ipi died on April 16, 1960. He was a sufferer of asthma during his last days and went so sick that it was not possible for him to walk even a few steps. People from all over the southern districts of the province used to come and see him and ask for his blessing. His funeral prayers or Namaz-I-Janaza was held at Gurwaikht led by Maulavi Pir Rehman and attended by thousands of people. He was buried at Gurwaikht.

(A book titled "The TIGER OF WAZIRISTAN' written by Jahangir Khan Sikandri (a known author from Bannu), has been briefly translated in Urdu version as well and the text included as part of his book Tarikhe Aqwame Bannu, a brief of which has been highlighted above. The author accessed Niaz Ali Khan (the nephew and gadhi nasheen of the Faqir of Ipi) whom he met in person in 1992 and inquired from him as well as from those lieutenants who were alive by 1992 about the actual facts and figures of the 2nd Waziristan war, which he has elaborated in his book with references. The British India Administration had almost erased name of Faqir of Ipi from the list of gallant persons so that he might not attain historical reputation ahead; however, it could not be ensued by them longer.)

THE LEADING FAMILIES OF BANNU

Clarification as To the Categorization of Families in Bannu

Some families in Bannu have been classed as leading families, front-line families and progressing families, with difference in them defined as under.

The leading families are those who attained distinction in Bannu prior to the Durranis domination of the area, politically and social recognized by other sister clans as well, and thereafter continuously recognized as leading families by the British as well. Some of these families acted and are still acting as front-line families too. They are only a few in numbers in all the three tribes.

The front-line families are those who by virtue of their political status after 1900 AD, and were even accepted as leaders among the three tribes, who from time to time exercised political influence as well as status de tribes. They are a few among the Marwats and Bannuchis and none among the Wazirs.

The progressing families are those who by virtue of their hard work either raised themselves to a political distinction among their clans or in the community; or otherwise had obtained distinct service positions in the government sector;, or exercised a partial political influence, since 1947 till this date.

Many tides and waves that came upon the leading families of Bannu either turned them gradually into ashes or otherwise made them to exercise painstaking in uplifting the standard of their lives. None in Bannu came up with a golden spoon in his mouth but what he exerted for was achieved by him. The present weakening of the families as compared to the past are related to the generic lessening of their manpower due to genetic problems OR carelessness, lake of education, spending of luxurious life in their limited available land inherited by them, excessive hospitality as lambardars of their villages, and internal prolonged feuds. Many of them do realize that the importance of time, wealth, education and mental and physical exertion to achieve their goals in social and political life were not achieved by them or their ancestor; some mainly blaming their forefathers who spent lavishly in their youth. Yet, one thing is worth mentioning here that they somehow did not walk on the manly footprints of their forefathers who gained through exertion and not through merrymaking and that they ate what was left to them and still eating those what were earned by them. The preaching of ulemas to their forefathers that they should not educate themselves or that they shall not accept government services as firangis were kafirs, was an unseen blow on their heads the taste of which is being suffered by their existing successors.

Every drop of rain falling on ground does not flourish fertility and every pond of water is not used. So is the case of some human beings in Bannu who though prosperous cannot be taken as important as integral parts of the society since they never attributed to the collective cause for the district. Families do matter and blood counts in analyzing the personality of a man. It is said that many attain dignity by virtue of indignity in hidden ways. But there are persons in this part of the district who died of starvation but never left the essence of honour that had been the principal base of their life. In this regard, one name comes up, i.e. the great Dilasa Khan of Daud Shah, a man of great honour, who died in isolation but never threw down his sword on ground in the face of the Sikhs and then before the British. Likewise, many appeared on the soil of this land who preferred to die an honourable death in silence and did not expose the insanity of some environmental issues that flourished around him or suddenly taken over by insanity.

Every man who is financially strong cannot be taken as a man of principles and dignity, although his apparent status may be an appealing one. Indignity does not make a prolonged dignity of someone but a prolonged dignified way of living and dealing makes a person an integral part of the written history. An individual cannot make a family alone; many in lines are considered together inclusive of his sons and grandson. Some men in history, at the soil of Bannu, had acquired distinction by their personal merit. Their places were filled by their sons; however, some of them had neither the strength nor the individuality of character which rendered one man worthy of being a chief over his fellows. And this went on even if the chief was not intelligent or otherwise lacked resources. He, once imposed, was accepted by the respective community because he was successor to his father.

The following paragraphs show as to how the different sections of the tribes, had and have, their ways of living.

Khans of Bazar Ahmed Khan

The Dakas Khels, Durrab Khels or Mir Zaman Khels of Bazar Ahmed Khan may be termed as Royal family. Untill a fews years ago, they went into internal feuds, by killing each other due to internal jealousy that erupted among them from time to time. The founder of the family was Ahmad Khan, an Isakki. He wrested much land from the Sokkaris and the Hinjals, and built himself a walled village thereon. His patronage of traders induced Hindus to settle in numbers under his protection, hence his village became known as Bazar Ahmad Khan. He died about 1740. Of his immediate successors, Shah Bazurg, a grandson, is best known. By killing his relations and seizing their property, he made himself secured in the chieftainship. All his descendants are known after him as Shah Bazurg Khels. In Sikh times, his grandson Dakas Khan attained power in the same way, and his name is still respected by both Bannuchis and Marwats. He died of vomiting after taking food in 1842 due to catching cholera (but most probably due to poisoning by the Sikh kardars who had been keeping a constant watch on him as he was reported to be assisting Dilasa Khan of Daud Shah in confronting the Sikh contingents). Then Khan Suba, a vicious cousin of him, killed Dakas Khan’s eldest son Mir Alam, and seized the tappa. But the Sikhs espoused the cause of Dakkas Khan's widow. As however, his surviving children were then infants and a man was needed to rule the tappa, the usual struggle ensued amongst the ambitious members of the family, and finally Lal Baz Khan, a cousin, emerged as victor, after assassinating his most dangerous rival. During the Second Sikh War, Lal Baz gave to the British much hearty assistance. Whilst his brother Darab Khan was fighting for the British at Multan, he himself was taken prisoner by the Sikhs on the capitulation of the Bannu fort in 1848. In reward for his services, the tappa Malluki was confirmed to him together with the perpetual cash jagir assignment of one-quarter the revenue of his tappa, in which was included the connected tappa of Saddat (Sheikhan). On his death in 1854, Faizullah Khan, his son, succeeded to his allowances, and on Faizullah's death without male issue in December 1874, a younger brother, Mir Abbas Khan, succeeded and held a two-third cash share of the tappa. The other third was held by Mir Akbar Khan, second son of Dakkas Khan.

In 1850, Lal Baz Khan and his brother Darab were given land in Nar. The family has been very handsomely treated by the British. Mir Abbas Khan was a loyal, well-intentioned man, but of little influence and not much intelligence. Mir Akbar was a prominent man. The family was then much divided. However, some individuals, honoured in history by their valour as freedom fighters, others known for their services to the British, and a few famous for their hard work in achieving a political standpoint as well as financial up-rise; the sub clan has numerous appreciations into their credit in the history of the Bannuchis. In the line of such achievements, some lost their wealth whereas other gained much than what they had in the early days.

The contribution of the family in general towards Bannuchi societies, and uplifting its own social values, has been appreciable. Some leaves dried and died down unseen; other leaves jealously plucked and smashed; yet some leaves sprung unhurt; such were the feudal events in the families of the three branches of Shah Buzarg Khel, from 200 years to down ten years ago, from today. Now, the intensity of crushing each other has almost stopped, none knowing as to when it may erupt again; which would definitely be most unfortunate. As is said, “God is one but Shah Buzarg Khels are three” still applies to them. Perhaps, none outside the village ever tried to make a compromise between them which feuds were carried forward since 1800 AD till this day. Although they have maintained their political and social status over other Bannuchis throughout the British Period and till this time; as well as preserved genetically their initial complexion of both their women and men through internal marriages and as a perpetual gift of God, they are called the most handsome men and women since the time of Shah Buzarg who was a man of white complexion with blue eyes, during the early days of the Durranis period in 1750. To him, their descendants still resemble in one way or the other, attributing to the existing complexion of Shah Buzarg Khels. Their clean habits are unquestionable, yet their homes are getting congested day by day due to increase in population in the limited streets of Village Bazar Ahmed Khan.

Khans of Sikandar Khels of Essaki

The Sikandar Khels of Essaki (famously known as Sikandris) are descendants from one Sikandar Khan, son of Essakai. He and his Essaki kinsmen together with Kivi Khels, confronted Babur in 1505 AD but were pushed towards Haved as they could not bear the strong push of the Babur’s forces who were outnumbered, well equipped,and trained. Sikandar Khan was then aged 18 or above as head of the Essakai troops. Essaki was alive at that time but much old. Once the threat of the Mughal Invasion passed, he returned to his clan and erected the hamlets that were burnt by the Mughals.

In the lineage from him, in the 12th generation, was Nawaz Khan son of Hathi Khan, the head of the Sikandar Khels during the Durranis last days of their hold on the Bannuchis. He had himself many sons and only five or six survived beyond childhood who succeeded him as heads of different branches, the families now named after them. Famous Malluk Asad Khan was his nephew who attained reputation as a vicious warrior. While young, Asad Khan resided at Shahbaz Azmat Khel and was married to the daughter of Nawaz Khan.

Sikandar Khels were supporter of Tor Goondhi(the Jaffar Khan Goondhi)during the Durranis period but simultaneously were not against the Shah Buzarg Khels as well who happened to be their immediate distant cousins and hidden well wishers. One day, Malik Dakas Khan passed through Shahbaz Azmat Khel while out on deer hunt when he saw a pretty girl of in the village, peeping out from the doorsteps of her house. Impressed from the beauty of the girl and out of his pride of superiority over others in the region, he fired a shot or two in the air (An authoritarian act) desiring the girl to be his future fiancée. His act was not liked by Janai Khan son of Nawaz Khan who witnessed the occasion, and out of sheer anger pulled the horse of Dakas Khan making him fall to the ground. Upon this, the companions of Dakas Khan drew their swords and rushed to assassinate Jinai Khan who pulled out his sword as well. But, Nawaz Khan interfered and shouted at Dakas Khan uttering in the the words to the effect that would he (Dakas Khan) heartily accept a similar repercussion in hid village if any of his sons goes there? Nawaz Khan advised him nenver to do that again, telling him that his sons and nephews knew as what was an honour or a dishonor, and that he was a guest then but would not be considered a guest again, thus telling him to pass the village mannerly before any bloodshed would occur and to deeply think over what he had done.

Dakas Khan felt the intensity of the repercussion and remained speechless. He told his men not to react, and silently left the place along with his horsemen many of whom were instigating Dakas Khan that Janai insulted him. However, what happened towards peace at that time was his wise step, but, he planned enroute to kill Jinai Khan someday; which he actually did afterward when Jinani Khan was taken unaware by the paid vagabonds of Dakas Khan near Chishuna vial that was being desilted by the 'tinga' men of Jinani Khan; and was stabbed to death. It happened in 1809. The body of Jinai Khan, in the face of his men, was submerged by the men of Dakas Khan under the heavy earth-load at a bund (locally known as Gaandy) situated nearby on chishina vial and vanished, laughing and giggling at the Sikandar Khels. The attackers had covered their faces with turbans hence all of them could not be recognized by the men of Jinai Khan. His dead body was brought to the village and burried. Malluk Asad Khan and the sons of Nawaz Khan placed their swords at the grave after burial, witnessed by everyone,and lifted the swords again, a symbol of declaration as to who will take his revenge; it was symbolic declaration, customary in those days. In repercussion to the death of Jinai Khan, Asad Khan subsequently killed 22 suspected vagabonds of Dakas Khan. The atmosphere remained tensed between the two villages for a few months until 1810 when Dakas Khan at the head of 200 men surrounded his house in Bada Khel where he was residing with his sister Khishni and brother Amin Khan. Khishni Malluka, masked with turban, came out as head of 100 men, with swords and guns in their hands, and challenged Dakas Khan. Dakas Khan was taken aback at the apparent valour of the girl and pulled out his force from Bada Khel, fully silent on his way back. That day, Asad Khan had gone to Ghoriwala. Before a repercussion by Asad Khan for which he was preparing asking manpower from his neibouring pro-Goondhi Malluks, Dakas Khan sent his ladies and close relatives headed by the pirs of Sheikhan, to propose Khishni for him. They carried the sword of Dakas Khan that symbolized that Dakas Khan surrendered to him and wanted friendship. The pirs threw their turbans in his feet at Bada Khel to accept the proposal in the name of brotherhood. Cunningly, the pir threw their pug (turban) in his feet. They held his feet firmly, begging him to give the decision on the spot as Asad Khan had asked them to give him some time (which reply, perhaps, they had guessed as an indirect refusal). Their on-spot acting worked and Asad Khan, without asking any of his cousins or Nawaz Khan himself, accepted their humble request. So were the customs in those days. The event annoyed Nawaz Khan who was in the next village and remained speechless to Asad Khan; as the answer was that what he did was right; and that 22 heads were chopped off by him in the event of revenge and had to do more but the surrender was customary to which, as malluk, he could not rebut. Khishni was eventually married to Dakas Khan in 1816 (after 6 years) which developed his alliance and relationship with Dakas Khan. After the event, Asad Khan had separated his land from Shahbaz Azmat Khel and built his hamlet permanently at Bada Khel because his cousins had felt a deep insult to them at his hands and that he considered it fit to remain aloof from them. Malluk Asad Khan, by all means, carried a true hatred for Sikhs and extended his manpower assistance to Malluk Dilasa Khan of Daud Shah; and when confirmed at once occasion by Sikh General Sochit Singh about his rebellion, his fortified hamlet was surrounded by a large force, however, subsequently, the siege was lifted when Dakas Khan assured him the submission of due taxes and a fine by Asad Khan that valued worth Rs. 18000 at that time. Malluk Asad Khan was a fine horse-rider and tendered for expensive horses; once his horse ‘Duldul’ was sold by him for Rs. 1000 when an ordinary horse valued Rs. 40 at that time. He refused accepting any jagir from the British despite pursuance by his nephew Malluk Tar Gul Khan who succeeded him in 1880 AD when Malluk Asad Khan died issue-less. Malluk Tar Gul Khan had very cordial relations with the British Administrators but died a natural death in 1918 after making his sons and grandsons appointed at respectable government posts through a local British administrator.After his death in 1918, he was succeeded by his grandson Late Malluk Qaman Zaman. Many of the family members are highly educated and enjoyed high posts in Central Superior Services of Pakistan, as well as in armed forces, engineering, medical and judiciary services; but others have remained average in education. The Bada Khel families are reasonably unified.

The families in Shahbaz Azmat Khel and Aimal Khel village are emerging in education, financial and political status too; some attained distinguished posts in armed forces, education departments; engineering, medical and judiciary. Sikandar Khel as a whole is a highly respectable sub clan of Essaki who are distinguished in the area for their standard of education, political influence, and avoidance of grave confrontation among themselves and with others in the district. The village community of Shahbaz Azmat Khel is centralized and thickly packed.

Khans of Ghoriwala

Hasan Khan, the progenitor of the Mughal Khels was an adventurer from Yusufzai, who settled in Bannu early in the 15th century. His son Urmar Khan moved to Ghoriwal, and by degrees worked himself into position of a chieftain, his followers being mostly Jat and Awan e.g. Hindkais. Fourth in descent from him was Mughal Khan, who has given his name to his small but powerful clan. He was a great man, had six wives and many sons, and greatly extended the limits of his tappa. His grandson Jaffar Khan (locally known as Jauppar) rose to power by first subjecting all his relations to his will, and then the neighbouring tappa of Ismail Khel, over which Allahdad, a distant cousin of his, became the chief. On the outbreak of the second Sikh war, Allahdad and Jaffar took opposite sides, the former against, the latter for the British. Jaffar Khan raised two hundred men for the British for service in Bannu, and sent his eldest son, Sardad, at the head of twenty-eight sawars to assist at the siege of Multan. For these and other services, Jaffar Khan was rewarded the perpetual jagir assignment of one-eighth the revenues of both the Ghoriwal and Ismail Khel tappas. He also received a grant of land in Nar. He died somewhere in 1852, and was succeeded by his eldest son Sardad Khan who was made a police zaildar in 1863, but deprived of the office owing to his incapacity in December, 1871.

The Mughal Khels went jealous of each other after the death of Jaffar Khan, despite their 13 large villages spanning out in complete Ghoriwala belt. Many among them are coming up again. They have maintained their political status in the district but to a little influence. This leading family is at the verge of a collapse if not controlled by its elders timely. Physically, they have maintained their complexion, customs and social standards. To upkeep their status in the society, many of their past elders overspent money and sold much of their ancestral land to others in their villages.

Khans of Bazid Khel

The ancestor of Bazid Khel was one Bazid Khan. The history of this man and of his sons is altogether remarkable. He began life without a friend, acquired a name for reckless bravery, and in time carved his own way to the headship of the tappa, since known by his name. He is said to have killed over one hundred men by his own hand, before he attained "great honour." He died in 1864 at the age of 100, after having ruled his tappa for forty ears. He had in all eight wives, and twenty sons, besides many daughters. Of those sons, ten pre-deceased him, meeting their deaths in various ways. Of those who survived him, one was killed inadvertently by a British officer, one (Arsala Khan ~ aged 27) was killed by Waziris, one was murdered, one was hung, one transported for live for the murder, one blew himself up accidentally, and only five were left.

On Bazid Khan's death his son Khan Soba succeeded him. He blew himself up in 1870 accidently when fire broke in his weaponry and ammunition store, and was succeeded by Asad Khan, his half-brother, a man who received the order of merit during the mutiny of 1857. He was assassinated by some of his half-brothers in 1875, and subsequently Khyder Khan, his full brother, became the tappa Malluk. Thence, due to internal differences among the grandsons, the family lost their virtue of respect or support from the rest of the Bannuchi Malluks. The Bazid Khels, went into internal feuds when Jan Khan and his brother Ayaz Khan killed their stepbrother, the then tappa Malluk i.e. Malluk Asad Khan, a son of Bazid Khan. Jan was sentenced to death by the Bannu Administration in 1875 for the said murdur and his other Ayaz Khan transported for life imprisonment. The internal feud remained for almost 75 years and gradually diminished after Independence of Pakistan. The family as a whole is much re-unified due to efforts of their recent past and existing leading family members. Bazid Khels are soothed and prosperous people of the area with a sound political standing.

Kachozai Family

The Kachozais (locally pronounced as Ketheyzai) are merely known by virtue of the distinction of Mushki Khels among them, a major branch of Kacho. Their ancestor Malluk Zer Dast Khan Mushki Khel attained close seat to the British administration at Bannu in the second quarter of 19th century. Previously, he remained at dragger-drawn against Sikhs. The Mushi Khels are further divided in different sections but more dominating are now the descendants of Hathem Shah and Nobath Shah; the family of late Col. Amanullah Khan and his brothers now leading in services, dignity, education and social status; others being socially moderate though educated and well placed in government services. They are soothed and trustworthy people with fair complexion, standing aloof from local political activities but linked with the rest of the Bannuchis in routine matters. Many among them had been doctors, lawyers, army officers, CSS officers, bankers, businessmen and small scale industrialists who attained distinction through virtues of dignified services and hard work. They came up briskly at the beginning of the 20h century and are further progressing with zeal and dedication; irrespective of any greed or jealousy. There is no desperation among the Kachozais and the two large families have remained reasonably respectful to each other, till this time.

Ex Khans of Jhando Khel

Shermati Khan of Jhandu Khel, was head of the Jhandukhel tappa during Sikh times. He was succeeded by Zaffar Khan, his son; and on his death in 1867 by Dost Muhammad Khan, the eldest son of Zaffar Khan. The Durranis and Sikhs used to allow the head of the tappa a large barat, and in 1864 Government similarly sanctioned a perpetual grant of one-eighth of the revenue of his tappa to the family. The tappa confronted the lands of the Sperkai Wazirs, between whom and the men of Jhandukhel had been an old standing feud. Dost Muhammad was very poor, as were most members of his family, many of whom were hostile to him. His descendants have not marked much in the history till this day.

The Jhando Khel family is altogether smashed up nowadays who are spending a substandard life due to poverty that overwhelmed them during the early days of the British time. It was an outstanding sub sub clan during the Sikhs period. Some are emerging now again although it appears hard for them.

Khans of Mirzali Khel Mandan

The Mirzali Khels of Mandan whose recent ancestor namely Mir Alam Khan, once the undisputed haakem of Bannu for a few months in 1849-1850, spent his life in self-exile when he was not warmly received by John Nicholson at his office and he stubbornly left for Khost (Afghanistan) where he died and was buried since he had refused to come back; his family was ill-treated by the British in repercussion to his past deeds and hatred for the British. However, politically, they have maintained their status during Khilafat movement and Tehrike Pakistan Movement. A seat for provincial assembly was attained by the Mirzali Khel family in the past. Now their unification as a family is divided due to political differences among leading members of the Mirzali Khel sub clan. Overall, their social set up is undisturbed even by the tides of time.

Mirzali Khels may be considered as the second royal family of the district who were deprived of the said status by the British, owing to their past inclination towards the Sikhs rulers and the refusal of submission to the local British rulers by the then famous Late Malluk Mir Alam Khan. The sub clan is partially unified.

Pir Families of Bannu

The only clans that remained moderately untouched by waves and heat of time and political tides, had been the pir families of Daud Shah, Mamash Khel, Bazar Ahmed Khan and elsewhere where they were clustered in majority. They remained aloof from feuds although some fell in tussle with the Pashtun Bannuchis for the time being but resisted further scuffle with them. These pirs have maintained their social status since the birth of their ancestors and are pure descent from their origin till this time. They have preserved their physical softness, complexion and colour due to their marriages within their own clans or sub clans. Many attained dignity during the British time and purchased a considerable land from Pashtuns and Hindus when land was cheap. On the other hand, many of pir families in the villages gradually collapsed in their social life-standards when they too relied on the confined orthodox living values that were left to them by their ancestors.

The piran of Bazar Ahmed Khan are descendants from one Akhond Sher Mohammad Banvi who was contemporary of Kaka Pir of Daur and Abba Shaheed of Marwats; and were highly respected by the Bannnuchi and Daur clans, better known for conciliatory deals in feuds and spread of goodwill among all Bannuchi clans. They were blindly respected by their followers, and expanded their influence beyond the territories of Bannu. The pirs of Bazar Ahmed Khan are gradually emerging as well educated persons.

The piran of Kakki were distinguished sometimes ago in the resolution of feudal matters but they have lost that role after the death of their elders; yet still do possess a levelled respect among Bannuchis; many of whom are traders, doctors, engineers and lawyers. They are now collectively emerging in politics too but still weak as far as their political followers are concerned as they are avoiding adherence to any group or party, hence partly unified; still do they fall in the second or third line of success at the election polls. The pirs and syeds of Sheikhan Saddat are neither under water nor above water but floating at the surface of water with the windy tides of time, in the district. They could not come abreast in shoulders to other pirs in the area due to internal feuds among them in the past that desperately overwhelmed their progress. These are of fine complexion, mostly involved in trade and business.

The piran of Mamash Khel and the Piran of Haji kla are mostly respected in the society for their impartiality in local feudal matter and successful conciliatory role thereafter, the Mamash Khel being more inclined towards achievement of higher education and some do have reasonable strong hold on the local politics; many of them spending calm but prosperous life. The Pirs of Nurar are having similar status in the society, among whom late Pir Sakhi Zaman was much respectful man.

The pirs of Bannu, all as a whole class, are people of fine complexion and pure in descent from their ancestors. It is doubtlessly the most respectable class in Bannu who have maintained their hereditary role, blood purity, speech, living standards, morality and are seekers of education from Past to present. They are fast observers of Purdah (veil, Hijjab) and are soothed in temperament. They are not descent from one ancestor but were influx from different neibouring states of India, Majority of them from Iraq and Tashkent.

Khans of Mira Khel

Among other Bannuchis, the recently emerged new families are the Mira Khels and Ismail Khels. The Mira Khels emerged in active politics since 1930 and achieved once a seat to the provincial assembly viz a viz late Attaullah Jan Khan who remained Minister for Transport at the provincial level a few years ago; and after his death, his sons succeeded him. He was a person of fine character, unstained politician and a sincere devotee to the Bannuchis. His family has altogether stamped a remarkable print at the pages of history since 1930.

Khans of Ismail Khel

The other in the area is the Ismail Khel family who link themselves to the Bangash of Buland Khel in Kohat, and their family member, Ghulam Ishaque Khan, who held different civil services posts since 1945, finally took over as the President of Pakistan; and was famously known for his honesty, discipline and hard work. He wan as an important national figure, his devotion, dedication and meritorious services to the country are unquestionable; and that he took many national secrets with him to the grave. He was a harmless person in his routine dealings, and remained a simple, self-made, passionate, strictly law abided, God-fearing, and a moderately religious man who always achieved honour and dignity for himself, his family members and the country. Whatever principles and norms he had, after all, he was doubtlessly a representative from the land of Bannu to the highest position in the country,i.e. President of Pakistan. The other prominent Khan was the Khan of Village Hathi Khel Bannuchi, i.e. Malik Shawal Khan. He had Hathi Khel Bannuchi, Thughul Khel and Ismail Khel under his control for some time.

The other closely related members of his family are well placed in civil society and public sector and do render their loyalty to the Bannuchis, in all spheres of life. However, others in the same clan have gone either normal or badly affected the weary tides of time.

Khattak Family of Kotka Ghulam Qadir of Bannu

This Khattak family achieved status of a ‘frontline family’ after 1900 AD. The Khattaks family of Kotka Ghulam Qadir settled in Bannu since the third quarter of the 19th century when the father of famous Late Khan Bahadur Mohammad Quli Khan Khattak, purchased some land at the village and educated his sons to distinguished positions in the government services during the last era of the 19th century and the 1st quarter of the century of 20th century. The father of Khan Bahdur Mohammad Quli Khan was an ordinary person serving at Pannell High School Bannu. Mohammad Quli Khan and his two brothers from their Bannuchi mother were distinguished persons of Bannu in those days. Mohammad Quli Khan was himself married to two Bannuchi girls, as well as his other two brothers namely Bahadur Khan etc. who intermarried in Bannuchi families.

Mohammad Quli Khan attained distinction as Political Agent during the British time in the first quarter of the 20th century when he peacefully recovered the kidnapped Miss Ellis Mollis from the hideouts of Ajab Khan Afridi in Tirah (the Afridi region in Khyber Agency). He sent his elder son Late Lt General Habib Ullah Khan for education studies in engineering to the United Kingdom but he opted to be an army officer hence he was commissioned in the Indian Army. He fought at Burma against the Japanese during the second world war as a Major and earned distinction in the Indian Army. After his retirement, he became a famous Industrialist of the country. He owned Bannu Wollen Mills, Janana de Malocho Mills (Kohat) as well as Gandhara Industries Karachi, apart from other small industries in the country. He was the first Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army who belonged to this family from Bannu. Their elder brother Late Mohammad Aslam Khan Khattak was first among the seven Indian Muslim students in Oxford University London who proposed the name ‘Pakistan’ for the existing country. Late Mohammad Aslam Khan Khattak, was a known industrialist who also remained on different post in Pakistan, including his position as Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, Ambassador to Iran, as Governor NWFP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and as Federal Minister of the Interior Affairs.

Bannuchi language is their in-home mother tongue and they were proud of speaking it, still spoken at large among them. The family members in all their line of relationship, as mentioned above, rendered meritorious services at the provincial and national level. They are briskly progressing ahead in all fields of life. The family is highly unified.

Faqir Family

This family achieved status of a ‘front-line family’ after 1900 AD. Rajput by caste, whose ancestors belonged to Drawar, a place 40 kilometers away from Bahawalpur towards India-Pakistan Border; their forefathers converted to Islam at the hands of the Gillanis of Iraq during the early days of the British Raj in 19th century; and they subsequently migrated to Bannu as ordinary servicemen. Due to their close ties with the British in running the local administration, they attained dignity by virtue of hard work and their acceptance of values of the local customs and traditions; among them, one Faqir Abul Hassan was a one-time indisputable leader of the Bannuchis in 1930 to 1940. He and his brothers educated their sons at Islamia College Peshawar and other colleges in the country, who thereafter attained distinctions in public sector, thenceforth followed by their sons as engineers, doctors, police and army officers and members of the judiciary system; and many of them successfully went through Public Service Commission and Central Superior Services of Pakistan. They are peace loving people living among the Bannuchis adhering to speaking the Bannuchi language and carry out other local customary obligations. They are morally strong people by virtue of their blood and habits. Their meritorious services at the local, provincial and national level are not debatable. Some of them are living abroad. They have acquired property in some villages in the district; one village Nar Faqir Maasoom purely is inhabited by them. They are highly unified, and are people of very fair complexion, possessing high moral character and fully tuned to the customs and traditions of the Bannuchis; they all simultaneously extended full alliance to the Bannuchis tribe.

Abbasid Family

This family was a leading but a a frontline family after 1900 AD till 1947 AD due to their influence in the British offices. The Abbasid families are the offspring of one Mohammad Bakhsh, a descendant from Hazrat Abbas (the Uncle of Prophet Moahmmad PBUH) in the 43rd generation. Mohammad Bakhsh was a well-known judiciary council (munsif) of the British India at Bannu. He purchased much land from the Mandazais, and later on purchased the complete land of Garhi Sher Ahmed Khan from the Khandane awal of the village. The sons of Mohammad Bakhsh were educated and earned distinction in the district by virtue of their zeal and dedication to their services in the Public sector their unified efforts with the Bannuchis. They all merely intermarried among the Bannuchi clans, i.e. Sikandar Khel and Mirzali Khel families and the Faqir family of Bannu.

Among them was a distinguished Late Barrister Mohammad Jan Abbasi (c. 1887 -1965), the first Barrister at Law of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who remained a prominent figure of the Indian Congress and suffered rigorous imprisonment at the hands of the British India Administration during the Tehrike Khilafat movement. He was the first directly enrolled captain of the British army, taken from Bannu, during the First World War, after his higher studies in Law from London.

There had been and still are mainly among them as Engineers, army officers, small scale traders and importers of agricultural machinery to Bannu. They bear patience in their dealing and are considered good law abiding citizen of the district. The families are unified, and are people of very fair complexion, fully tuned to the customs and traditions of the Bannuchis.

Durrani Family

The family members are dascendants from one Durranai of Village Mewa Khel who was ordinary Malluk in 1877-78. Malluk Sadullah Khan, the grandfather of the said Durranai Malluk had armed clash with Ram Singh Chapey Wala, a Sikh general of the Sikh contingent who landed at Bannu for the collection of a levied tax from the Surranis; and when the Sikh garrison at Dullip Garh revolted against the British placed Commander Fateh Khan Tiwana, he sided him to safeguard the British Interests imposed by Major Taylor at Bannu who at the head of 200 Bannuchis kinsmen had headed towards Multan to fight the Mulraj and other Sikh rebels in 1849. Although the resistance by Sadullah Khan was unsuccessful against General Ram Singh due to the armed manpower pressure from Mir Alam Khan Mandan who was on the Sikhs side, the British in the event of his sincerity to the British Officer during his absence, and later upon the orders of the said officer (Major Taylor), restored some land Jagir on him in the surrani area. Malluk Sadullh Khan had no children so the jagir was, later on, invariably possessed by Malluk Durranai.

The family remained loyal to the British until 1930 when Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan, during the Spin Tangi Operation by the British forces, was charged with killing of two militia men and taking away their personal weapons which weapons were recovered from his house after two days during a police party’s raid on him. Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan was apprehended and taken to the police line from where he skipped off the captivity and deserted to the Gumbathi Mountain. He remained there as an outlaw and later on joined as a faithful general (lieutenant) of the Faqir of Ipi, in 1936/37. During those years of absence from his family, Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan did not stay at an ease and moved off the mountains due to fear of apprehension at the hands of the British Militia. What he could get, that he ate including the leaves of wild plants in the mountains. In his absence, his land was confiscated and his house razed to ground by the Bannu Administration. The wife, little son (Ghulam Khan) and a daughter of Gul Nawaz Khan spent a miserable life of fear at the hands of the Bannu Administration who used to come and invade his house, off and on. When the joining of Gul Nawaz Khan with the Faqir of Ipi was ascertained by the Bannu Adminstgration, they troubled the family more by one way or the other, at times taking away their stored grains. At some occasions, the raids were so frequent that the family of Gul Nawaz Khan had to move to the hide outs in mountains and stayed with him in the wild terrain. However, the family returned after a few months, left Mewa Khel and shifted to the surrounding villages, seeking shelter with their close relatives.

Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan was subsequently involved in swift attacks on British India military convoys, between 1937 and 1946. When the British India Adminstration of Bannu felt the pressure of Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan on them, they stopped teasing his family afterward. Then his son Ghulam Khan was a lad of 16 years. It was just before his attack at Dossali post in Waziristan when Faqir of Ipi appointed him the commander of Bannuchi freedom-fighters (ghazis), and then was he titled as Khalifa. Gul Nawaz Khan successfully thundered upon the post with shots from an indigenous-made cannon (still preserved in Gurwekht) fixed by him at a place almost 800 meters away. The gun exploded with the sixth fire but he fortunately got saved from the splinters. He also raided the village of Kachozai twice at night by throwing grenades in a few houses to teach a lesson to the inhabitants some of whom had turned against him. However, later on, he avoided further attacks on them. Faizal Ustajee, another Lieutenant of the Faqir of Ipi fighter from Surrani was his close friend as well as one other feloow named Mehr Dil Khattak and they remained together to invade the British troops anywhere in Bannu area. Faizal Ustajee was killed at Zer Ghaar in Daur area in 1946 when surrounded by Militia force. The death of Faizal Ustajee was soon avenged by him from the people who had acted as informers for the Bannu Adminstration and the Political Agent of North Waziristan. He continued at large as an outlaw despite a heavy cash reward announced on his head by the British.

When the Waziristan War was over, long afterward, Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan along with Mehr Dil Khattak, at their own accord, submitted to the Bannu Administration in 1954 at the offer of return of his immovable property to him as was in person promised by the then Chief Minster Late Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan through a message to him. However, either by ways of delay in his want for the return of land or the routine delay from the government side in returning the land to him as a reward for his voluntary submission to the newly sprung nation, the property was not restored to him. The same year his son Ghulam Khan was married to a lady from Waziri clan and a year later Akram Khan Durrani was born in Village Mewa Khel.

Ghulam Khan (Father of Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani) shot his rival inside Session Court Bannu in 1956/58 who had assassinated his real uncle, the brother of Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan and a few others, then a few years ago. Ghulam Khan was sentenced to death at Bannu Jail leaving behind his widow and minor Akram Khan who was then of two years age. In 1965, Khalifa Gul Nawaz Khan died a natural death. Some other families of this Surrani sub-sub clan, who are spread in a few villages, also devoted to good causes and services during the cration of Pakistan. The sub clan as a whole is reasonably unified. The family has no lineage with the Durranis of Afghanistan. They are pure Bannuchi descendants from Surrani clan.

Ex Front-line Hindu Bannuwal Families

The Hindu families who were one-eighth of the population of Bannu Khas (almost 6% of the whole population of Bannu) were mainly Aroras, Khathris, Hujas,Khannas,Bhatia, Gandhis, Chawla, Sehgal, Bhagai and to some extent others small profile families of Hindus. Some front-line families of pre-partition time are given as under.

Bhatia Families

The Bhatia families were mainly traders of grains and other audible like ghee, sugar and tea in Bannu. They and the Khathris also had sweet shops in Bannu Bazar, especially making delicious ladhu and perhey from dall-e-mash, and were financially very sound. They had always achieved status in the Bannuwal Hindu society through their hard work. Very polite in their dealings with the Bannuchis, they were much respected and trusted. The two families resided in abundance in city and different villages of Bannuchis clans. Cleanly appearing in their white cotton dresses, they usually lived with their beard fully machine-trimmed (but not clean shaved), hence were known for their apparent features. They appeared in the class of normal Hiduwal Bannuchis. Their ladies were of fair complexion as compared to other Hindus.

Among the families, was one Bhagat Ram Chand Bhatia Ji and his son Roshan Lal Bhatia Ji, who were much wealthy as compared to others in the family of Bhatia, dealing in grains and audible items. They migrated to India with movable property but reported to have been molested at the hands of some Muslim bandits near Lahore while being transported by train. Others in his family were transported to India by air. They entered India (Farid Abad) empty handed and suffered hardship till the time their grandson namely Sh. Ram Saran Bhatia Ji achieved distinction through hard work in the industrial zone, who now owns “DELITE GROUP OF HOTEL INDUSTRIES” at Haryana (Farid Abad). Another name of the Bhatia family famously known is Sh. Bansi Dhar Bhatia ji and his father, both were businessmen at Bannu; shifted to Rampur (Uttar Pradesh); the famous actor, writer and movies director Sh. Ravi Bhatia, born in 1963, is his son.

Khathri Families

Kathris were mainly agriculturists and lived in villages around Bannu city. Many of them had cloth shops and sweet shops in Bannu city. In numbers, they had come second to Bhatia family. They had considerable influence in Hindu families.

Bhagai Family

This was a small but very well linked up family, most trusted by the British for their political influence in their own Biradari. Kanwar Bhan Bhagai was one time MPA in 1945, who was also a famous transporter of Bannu. He was the richest person among Hindus in Bannu.

Khans of Sperkai Wazirs

Sohan Khan was the Wazir who was powerful and useful to Major Edwardes on his first and second visits to Bannu. He is said to have been a man of gigantic size and strength. For his hearty services in early days with Lt Edwardes, he was rewarded with a chair and a pension of Rs. 600 per annum. On his death in 1854, his son Najib Khan succeeded him, and received a grant of land in Nar. Najib died in 1866, leaving a young son, Jalandar Shah. Mani Khan, a younger brother of Najib, acted as head of the family and clan, and in 1872 his father's pension was revived in his favour. Jalandar Shah was a fine man and asserted himself as rightful head of the family. He and Mani Khan were recorded as headmen of their clan with equal shares, and each received a lungi inam of Rs. 50. Mani Khan's influence was much inferior to that of his father; till owing to the blunt shrewdness of his character, he had more influence than any other Waziri chief. Of late years in his life his hill campaigns against the Mehsuds had not been successful, and they wrested much land from him. The grandsons of Swahn Khan had been enjoying monetary and moral support from the British and from the Government of Pakistan as the chiefs of Ahmedzai Wazirs. They proved to be extreme peace-minded persons and much influential in the area although some of the Sperkai families had self-made feudal tussle with them for want of their equal or parallel identification in the local political sphere. From the other families of importance, came the brothers and sons of Late Sher Ghulam Khan (Police Inspector).

Khans of Hathi Khel Wazirs

Azim Khan Hathi Khel had the wisdom to obtain a sanad from Major Taylor in 1850 for land on the Waziri thal, and to occupy himself in bringing waste under cultivation, whilst half his tribe remained contented with their position as graziers. On his death in 1868, his son Nezam Khan continued in his father's footsteps, and the consequence was that he was then a most prosperous man and a big landowner; his holding being 3,568 acres, of which 3,192 acres were cultivated. He was given a chair in DC Office Bannu in 1876, and received a lungi inam of Rs. 125. He was Mani Khan's rival, and to some extent an enemy. To him and his father belonged the credit of heading the tribal movement which converted the Hathi Khels from a collection of half-savage shepherd highlanders to well conducted plain-settled agriculturists.

Notwithstanding the standards of a front-line family of the past, the names of some families would need to be mentioned as ‘progressing families’ or politically risen families, having due respect in their clan. In this regard, Alamgir Khan Wazir and Sher Azam Khan Wazir exercised reasonable influence in the area with their clean record of families’ background, and attained dignity in the clan by virtues of hard work. In the line of progress and prosperity, the Late Dost Mohammad cannot be ignored who himself and his sons attained distinct positions in bureaucracy and progressed reasonably well ahead.

One other fine character of the clan namely Engineer Farid Khan Wazir belonging from a tiny area in Domel; a symbol of the clan with humanitarian values; a God-fearing person, who spent life of simplicity in the weary tides of time and hard living of the past; and thus became a highly educated person from USA in the field of engineering. He subsequently emerged as a purely self-made person, who in the events of struggle for attainment of a dignified prospect; raised his family members, brothers and their sons in a less course of time, by virtues of noble ways of achievements.

Other families in the line of progress are numerous who are availing prosperity through their lust for education, agricultural up-rise in their domains, achieved provincial and federal government and semi government services as loyal servants to their employers, trade and business, services in the armed forces, airlines, banks, judiciary, bureaucracy, and almost all other provincial and federal public department; whereas some individuals are working abroad as labour or technical experts.

The clan is over-populated with its numerous sub-sub clans spanned out in the vast area that was possessed by them from Bannuchis, from time to time during the Durranis and Sikhs eras. They are vices of hard-work symbolism who were given due care by the British, to remain loyal to them and simultaneously shoot up their agricultural pursuits, through the weary tides of time. Although the clan remained soothed till 1930, they did resist the British Administration during Spin Thangi Operation when their values were challenged as an uprising clan in expressing their loyalty to the general cause of the Paktuns in their sole acceptance of political status at the then national level; Hathi Khels, among other clans of the Wazirs, was a then unified clan with self-patience, eager to achieve progress without blood spoil, and without any further greed of wealth or usual humanly driven exploitation. The inequalities of their level to the Espekais who possessed lesser land, made a social rivalry between them that has now ceased with the course of time.

The Khans of Begu Khel Mawat

Khan Mir Khan, the chief of the Begu Khel section of the Achu Khel branch of the Marwat tribe was a great grandson of Begu, the founder of the family, and was also the head of the "white" party in Marwat, better known as the Gundi Nawazan. Begu and a contingent of 120 Marwat horsemen served under Ahmad Shah Durrani in the campaign which closed with the destruction of the Maratta army at Panipat near Delhi in 1761. After his return he led some attacks against Niazis in Isakhel, in the last of which he was killed. Nawaz Khan, his second son, was elected to succeed him. All Marwat were at the time divided into two hostile factions. As the eruption of the feud between the two goondis, it is said that a murderer had some years before been given an asylum with the Achu Khels. This led to other murders of revenge until at last the blood feud became so ramified that every clan and every family of note in the country became involved in the great quarrel. The leaders of the one party were the Nawaz Khan (also known as Khooni Nawaz, i.e. Murderer Nawaz), and another man of the same name, a Maidad Khel, the father of Sahibdad Khan. On the other side the leader was Abezar Khan, a distant cousin of Begu Khan's son, and one who aspired to be chief of the whole Achukhel clan. Thus arose the two great parties which divided Marwat, and which gave rise to the saying "God is one, but Marwats are two". The one party was known as the "whites" or Gondi Nawazi and the other as "blacks" or Goondi Abezar. Nawaz, son of Beu, spent his whole life in trying to wear down the Abezar party. Beaten in several fights, he was so unpatriotic as to invoke the aid of the Nawab of Mankera. The Nawab's army routed Abezar's in 1819 and from that year the Marwats lost their independence. A few years afterwards the Abezarites allied themselves with the Wazirs, who were ready to assist either side when there was a prospect of plunder, and many fights ensued, in one of which the Wazirs suffered heavily and were pursued across the Kurram to the hills. When the rule of the Sikhs superseded that of the Nawab, the Nawazites sought favour with the new power, and in 1843, assisted Fateh Khan Tiwana to build the Lakki fort. Nawaz, son of Begu, died two years after. Even during the British time, the local measure of length in use was that of his arm from elbow to tip of the longest finger, and the length of the hand more, and is known after him. It was thirty-one inches long. Abusamad Khan, a younger son, was elected to succeed him, and held the chieftainship until his death in 1864, when Khan Mir Khan became head of the family. Begu Khels have remarkable history of the past and many Begu Khels, nowadays, are well placed in the society and in government services.

Khans of Essak Khel Marwat

Abezar Khan from Isak khel branch of the Achu khels had intense rivalry with Nawaz, son of Begu that cost the Marwat tribe their independence. Abezar and Nawaz were contemporaries. Both lived to old age, and both died within a year or two of each other on the eve of annexation of Marwat ellaqa to the British. Abezar's father, namely Almar, may be regarded as the founder of the house. This Almar was a fine, honest character, and had such influence that he united all Marwat to fight the Khattaks. On Abezar's death in 1847, his son Sarwar was recognized as head of the clan. He died in 1860 and was succeeded by his son, Arsala Khan. He was a quiet, simple man, partially blind from cataract, and was greatly respected by the Marwats. He and Khan Mir Khan, as heading the rival parties in the country and being hereditary enemies, have no intercourse together, though their villages adjoin each other. Both families sent representatives to assist at the siege of Multan, but neither family, nor indeed the Achu Khel clan generally, was heartily with the British until the battle of Gujrat annihilated the Sikh army. Their Luke warmness to the British gave Hakim Khan and the Sikandar Khel clan an opportunity of distinguishing themselves in 1848, when Major Taylor besieged the Sikh garrison in the now dismantled Lakki fort.

Khans of Maidad Khel Marwat

The Maidad Khel family had for many generations supplied chiefs for the Bahram Khel branch of the Marwats, but the tenure of chieftainship was always very uncertain, and the hold of any individual in the clan was never strong. Power depended entirely on personal qualifications, and the clan was from the first split up into two opposing parties. One was Nawaz Khan, who with his Begu Khel namesake gave the name Gundi Nawazan to their party. This Nawaz was a man of great ambition, and ruled by art more than by force. Lately, he attempted to consolidate his hold on his clan by entertaining a band of foreign mercenaries, and began building himself a fort in the hills about a mile and a half up the Kharoba nala. Before the work was completed, he was assassinated by a youth whose father he had murdered. This was in 1835. On his death Langar Khan, a distant clansman, rose to power, and held it until he died in 1856, when his son Wali Khan and the late Nawaz Khan's son, Sahibdad Khan, were jointly made heads of their clan. In 1878, Wali Khan was deprived of his barat of Rs. 195. That of Sahibdad was Rs, 405 which remained paid to him and his successors during the British time.

Khans of Ghazni Khel Marwat

The Ghazni Khels remained part of one of the two ‘gundis’ in their local influence in the Marwat area; and not before but in the first quarter of the 20th century, they attained fame when Faziullah Khan emerged as a politically blessed person who lead the Ghazni Khels in politics and local influence, much stronger than ever before. Prior to him, long ago in the Durranis and the Sikhs period till 1847, the Ghazni Khels remained in the same level of social livings as other Marwats did appear at that time. From the routine living in houses of twigs and Camel skin tents during the Durranis period to the existing state of prosperity as many of them enjoy so, they have emerged as a distinguished Marwat sub clan through hard work and not by any virtue of indignity. Saifullah Khan then emerged a stronger politician of the area in 1945 and onward, after succeeding his father, Faizullah Khan. Saifullah Khan was married to the daughter of Khan Quli Khan, a known political agent of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Saifullah Khan attained political distinction in 1956-60 when elected to the National Assembly of the country, thenceforth succeeded by his existing sons, famously known as ‘Saifullah Khan Brothers’. They exercised strong influence in the whole Marwat area. The other families in line at Ghazni Khel also attained considerable status, property and dignity as well. Ghazni Khels are model people of fine complexion, soothed and much prosperous in Marwat area and some of them are termed as the ‘makers of the modern Marwat’.

Khans of Meena Khel Marwat

By virtue of caste, the Khans of Meena Khel are Sikandar Khels of the Marwat who spent nomadic life during the Durranis period much in the same level as the other Marwats appeared at that time. Not much ago but during the early days of the British Period, Hakeem Khan Meena Khel emerged an an influential person in the Sikandar Khel Clan when he was duly supported by the local British administration for his since alliance to them. He owned much land, some of which was inherited by him, some land forcibly occupied after depriving his kinsmen and other larger part of the land was gifted to him by the then British rulers of the district. The sons of Hakeem Khan emerged briskly and lately in 1932, the clan was lead by Khan Habib Ullah Khan who was a distinguished lawyer and landlord of Bannu, then MLA, who also became Minister of Interior Affairs during Ayub Khan’s Regime; as well as was elected as Chairman of Senate in 1972.

The other Meena Khel's Khans have attained dignity and status of importance in the Marwat society in line with the said descendants of Hakim Khan and his sons; one famously known as the Mohammad Khan family, having social influence in Lakki area. The Meena Khels are much unified. Perhaps, it is by the virtue of the Meena Khel Khans that the rest of the Sikandar Khels in Marwat area, have been introduced well in the society, who actually are landlords but of little political importance, yet they stand aloof with separate identity as Sikandar Khels. Sikandar Khels are politically moderate among Marwats unlike Ghazni Khels. They bear fair complexion. The Sikandar Khels of Marwat are different in caste from the Sikandar Khels of Bannu.

Families of Khwaja Khels Marwats of Naurang

This family achieved status of a ‘progressing family’ after 1900 AD. In fact, the Khwaja Khels of Naurang emerged in the last quarter of the 19th century when their forefathers purchased the land now possessed by them, from the sons of one person namely Naurang (orderly of John Nichoson); and shifted in this tiny village from the main Village of Khwaja Khel. The recent generations of the family attained respectable posts and positions since two decades before the creation of Pakistan, by virtue of their lust for education and through hard work in the weary tides of time. The family has maintained social links with their blood relations in the main village of Khwaja Khel. They are reasonably unified and possess soft corners in their hearts for each other, yet the different sub branches of the family are erecting own mosques, which has ultimately bricked a wall of dissociation among them, perhaps due a mere run for overwhelming each other, which issue, on the other hand, has created intensification in their routine achievements. However, in overall, their meritorious services of the past towards uplift of the Marwat tribe cannot be ignored. Late Ghulam Ishaque Khan (The ex president of Pakistan) was married to a lady from this family.

THE OLD CUSTOMARY SOCIAL LIFE THAT EXISTED IN BANNU

Villages & Houses of the People

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In Bannu proper the villages were very numerous, well built of mud, and thickly inhabited; with cultivation right up to the houses and hardly any open space could be found. They were formerly all surrounded with walls till Edwardes had them thrown down in 1848. Water courses from the numerous canals were very often taken through, middle of the villages, and stagnant pools were common. Mosques, chauks and hujras were studded thickly along the main street of the village.

In Marwat the villages were far apart standing in the open, mud built, and generally large strong villages, without outlying hamlets near the frontier, although these were numerous in the eastern part. Along the Indus, on the contrary, outlying hamlets or wandas were common, and the houses were commonly built of kanna grass, and roofed with kank or kunde (bulrushes).

Chauks, Hujras, & Places of Public Resort

Chauks and hujras were institutions, peculiar in the area. The chauk was commonly a mud built platform in some central place and adjoined the mosque. It was always well littered with dirty looking cots, chillams, and hukkas. In all cases it belonged to a lambardar or a few leading men. To own one gave a man great influence. It used to be the lounge and place of gossip of every idle man in the village, who belonged to the same party or faction as its owners. As an institution its functions were those of the political club at home, partly social, partly political. Since 1865 the formation of new chauks without the permission of the Deputy Commissioner, had been prohibited. The hujra was a guest chamber attached to the chauk or mosque. The hujra is mainly a Bannuchi institution. The service of both chauk and hujra used to be performed by the kotewal (Bannu proper), the dumms and the sweepers. Other expenses were rated on those frequenting such places, or were borne by the owners. In villages, where dharat was levied, the income there from used to be on the lighting of the hujra, and of the mosque. Where there were hamsayahs, the supply of quilts and food for travellers was obligatory on them: where there were none, the traveller was cared for by the villagers in turn or by the lambardar (Malluk). In both areas the duties of hospitality fell chiefly on the lambardars or other leading families. The community at large was neither bound by rule nor expected to assist. Clothing

Zamindars wore much the same clothing all the year round. In the cold weather a sheep's wool blanket was added, and by those who could afford it, a cheap sheep-skin pelisse (postin or nuncha), or camel hair cloak (chogha or chakma) used to be worn on normal garments. Amongst the better classes, English cotton cloth was largely worn, but the ordinary zamindar only possessed a turban of it, and perhaps a gala suit as well. As a customary rule every article of clothing was either home-spun or at least woven in the district. To this rule there was one exception.

The Marwats of the sandy tracts growing very little cotton, having few sheep, and their women being employed in fetching water, had to buy most of their clothing in the bazar.

The principal articles of a man's dress were a turban, a long loose tunic (angrakha or kamis) and for the Bannuchis and Wazirs loose trousers (suthan) drawn tight about the ankles. A sheet was also worn as a plaid over the shoulder or as a waist-cloth. Except in the Bannu Tehsil, a coarse sheet (manjhla) wrapped round the legs with the ends tucked in about the navel served instead of drawers. The poorest classes everywhere wore the sheet as a covering to their legs. In Marwat too and elsewhere trans-Indus a not uncommon dress for labouring men, when afield, was a long coarse woollen blanket (dhusa) or simply (kambal) with a slit in it for the head. The rest fell down on either side of the body, to which it was kept close by a waist belt of rope leather or a strip of cloth. Leather sandals (Bannuwal sapluye) were commonly worn in the two tehsils. Grass sandals (Mazariye sapluye) were in use amongst the poorest Wazirs, Marwats and Khattaks.

Travelling zamindars generally took off their shoes and walked bare foot. It was hardly necessary to particularize the dress of the women. It generally consists of a sheet, a bodice with petticoats attached or separate, and suthan drawers. Poor women often wore the manjhla sheet instead of drawers. They as a customary rule had to go about bare foot. Bannuchi women used to conceal their faces when outside their own house-yards. Others did not, except when personal modesty or prudery induced them to do so. When clothing was dyed, the colour was either indigo blue or that of brick dust (majith). Marwat-turbans in the border tracts were of the brick-dust colour, and most of the drawers of the men and bodices of the women were of Indigo colour. As a customary rule, cotton articles were not dyed, until they were, for some time, in use. Dyeing made a worn and dirty article of dress look more respectable and cleaner than it really used to be.

Food

Agriculturists had two regular meals in the day, one in the forenoon, the other in the evening. The women shared all food with their male relations. What remained over from either meal was generally preserved and eaten cold. Thus in the working seasons men had cut four times in a day. The quality and variety of the food depended on what were the staples of each tract. Marwats who had camels could make ghi from the milk - a fact of which they were proud, believing that from camel's milk elsewhere little butter or ghi could be made. As could be expected, the occupants of irrigated lands fared much better than any others. The Bannuchis lived best, the Marwats worst in the district. As a customary rule each household consumed food raised on its own holding. The Bannuchi had been eating maize (dediye), barley (reta) and wheat (nuhghan) supplemented with butter-milk (shomley or shlembay), ghi or vegetables. In the cold weather they frequently also ate meat. In hot weathers, the Marwats had been eating cakes of wheat and gram-flour mixed, or of barley. In the cold weather bajra was their principal food. Their cakes were mostly eaten dry. A sort of gruel or porridge called ogra made from bajra and moth boiled together was often eaten hot in the cold months. Little ghi or butter-milk was consumed except in villages adjoining the Kurram or Gambila. Vegetables were only procurable in irrigated tracts. Young gram leaves were largely consumed in the spring that made an excellent pot-herb (sag). Onions too were largely eaten by Bannuchis, Marwats and Wazirs. The Wazirs lived much in the same way, but being rich in sheep and goats they fared rather better.

Nowhere in the district did the people thought of vegetable food necessary for health. The Wazirs in particular cared little about it. It is generally admitted that the quality and quantity of the food then consumed was better than it was a few years ago. As to the non-agricultural labouring classes, they had been eating the cheapest edible grain of the season, and it was mostly eaten dry. The upper classes, those who employed labour, lived well and on much the same articles as men of their class did elsewhere.

Cooking Utensils

The cooking utensils were always few and simple. The Bannuchis had the best, most households possessed besides earthenware vessels, an iron girdle (tawa or teba), a copper cooking pot (degchi), and a shallow drinking bowl, also of copper (katora). Elsewhere the numbers of metal utensils were smaller. The iron girdle was seen everywhere except in Marwat, where a sandstone girdle (tabai) was in use till late in the 1st quarter of the 19th century.

Games & Sports

Within their means, the peasantry was fond of games and sports. In default of guns, dogs were everywhere kept with which jackals and pigs were baited. Some few kept hawks as well. Of manly exercises two deserve particular mention, viz., tond pegging (nezabazi or chapli) and a rough sort of cross tig called tond and doda about the Indus, but in Marwat area ainda was played. On every occasion of rejoicing, men who owned horses assembled and rided at pegs, shoes or sandals. The Wazirs generally rided at an old grass sandal stuck against a peg, hence the name chapli. Elsewhere an old shoe often served for a peg.

As to ainda, it was essentially a young man's game. Sides were made up, and preliminaries arranged. Next a youth used to go out some forty yards, and then faced the two homes or bases. He was pursued by a couple from the opposite side, who endeavoured to catch and throw him, whilst he aims at escaping between them, hitting them in passing on their breasts with his hands, and so getting home uncaught. Heavy falls often occurred as pursued and pursuers used to run at a full speed. The game was played all over the district, but the men of Isakhel and Mianwali were fondest of it.

In Kabadi, some imaginary line or drawn line used to be drawn and men of one side challenging those resident on the other side. The players used to be naked, with the exception of a loin cloth. Among them very fine specimens of manhood were to be seen. The sort of dance and chorus singing called dris was perhaps hardly a game. It consisted of singing and dancing to the music of a musician placed in the centre of a group of men or women on some festive occasion, such as a marriage.

Lifting weights was a common trial of strength among men. Large stones or a part of the trunk of a tree, with a handle excavated therein, were to be seen ready for the purpose at most chauks and baithaks. Wrestling was little practiced in the district except here and there among boys. Of children's games, there were many which need not be specified. The people everywhere were extremely fond of swinging. Altogether the peasantry in their idle moments could be described as a happy people fond of amusement.

Family Customs

Inheritance

The tribal and family customs of the district have been briefly summarized at pages 215 to 223 of Mr. Thorburn's Report.

Since the time when Edwardes first came to Bannu, tribal customs regarding rights in property had gradually changed and assimilated to those amongst other Musalman communities, who had lived longer under a settled Government. The key to the then estate of the customary law of the different tribes in the district would be found in their relative degrees of freedom from barbarism and priest-rule. Thus most of the tribes, the Wazirs and Bitannis, scorned the idea of a woman having rights in property was as much chattel as a cow was, and that if she, when widowed, wanted to retain any interest in her late husband's property, she had to marry the brother of her husband; and that a man to be entitled to hold his share of land had to be an able-bodied fighting man. And yet when cases went into court, our courts, as a rule, did not uphold such 'customs,' and the settled Wazirs were then inclining to accept the general rule of the district, that a widow, so long as she remained a widow, and there had been no sons, had a life interest in her deceased husband's property, and that all sons, whether strong or sickly, had equal rights of inheritance.

Disputes as to the devolution of property used generally to be decided at home by a board of 'ancients,' or "grey beards", who in their judgments followed custom, which was analogous to that of the Wazirs. But whenever the parties could not agree they went into court. As often as not they had previously determined that each would be bound by the Shara law, although neither of them had any conception of what that law ordained. If Shara was not followed, the court decided the suit according to its own lights of what ought to be the custom, and its own lights naturally caused it to decide that all sons would share equally, that widows would retain a life interest in their husband's property if he left no sons, and so forth.

The extent of the patria rotestas with reference to inherited property was a question which had to be answered by the court. Could a father alienate his whole inheritance, though male issue had been alive? If not all, how much? The Bannuchis at first unanimously declared they could give away all to whomsoever he had chosen, such being the Shara rule. Asked for examples of the exercise of such a power, not one was forthcoming. Had any man so alienated half his land? No cases known. As with the Bannuchis so was with the Isakhels and others. Thus reasoning from a aeries of negatives, the people over and over again were driven to admit that their first replies were erroneous, and the court had to record answers to the effect that no custom on the point existed, but that all were of opinion that on disputes arisen, if such and such a rule were adopted, an equitable custom would grow up.

Betrothal & Marriage

As a rule, boys and girls were not betrothed until they attained puberty, and marriage soon followed betrothal. An exchange arrangement was generally affected, in which case no money was paid to the guardians of the girl. When there was no exchange, a present of from Rs. 30 to Rs. 120 or even more had generally been given before the girl's guardian consented to the proposed match. Respectable people, however, did not always insisted on any money payment being made, and there was always some little mystery as to the amount, and some little shamefacedness experienced had a transaction become publicly known. From 100 to Rs 150 could cover the average betrothal and marriage expenses incurred by a boy's guardian. This amount increased after 1947.

Few but well-to-do families spent much over Rs. 100 except when they had literally to buy the bride. The provision of the jahez was the only expense which fell on the bride's guardians. It consisted of cooking household utensils, also a bed and bedding, and a ring, and some small bangles, the whole cost of which was from Rs. 13 to Rs. 20 only. The ordinary peasant all over the district used the husband of one wife. Many grown-up men, particularly Marwats, were bachelors, not having the means to marry. It was only agriculturists of position, such as village headmen, who afforded the luxury of a second wife. The number of wives a man possessed was a good indication of his circumstances. Marriages were registered by the patwaris in district in their diaries. The practice afforded great help to the British rule in cases.

Burial Expenses

The amount to be spent in alms or to the mullahs was often prescribed by the dying man himself, but it was improbable that his heirs would as a rule obey his injunctions did he name too large a sum. From Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 was the ordinary expenditure on the occurrence of a death; thus, shroud and alms-giving at actual burial Rs. 10 or Rs. 15; cost of food bestowed on the fourth day Rs. 4 ; again on the ninth day Rs. 2; and lastly on the fortieth day Rs. 4. From Rs. 10 to Rs. 12 had been covering all the expenditure well, on a day labourer's or poor tenant's burial. The heirs of an agriculturist who left a fair property and was not in debt had to spend from Rs. 30 to Rs. 100, especially if the deceased was a man of local note. The burial expenses of children and of women were much less than those of an adult male.

Mosques and Imams

In Bannu proper mosques were very numerous, not fewer than one to every 34 houses; elsewhere they were less so. Except amongst the Wazirs, nowhere in the district did a hamlet exist without one or more mosques. When huts were being run up in a new location, the mosque was one of the first structures erected. It was always the handsomest building in its quarter, and kept thoroughly clean. The wood work on its front had frequently a good deal of ornamental carving about it, and the roof was studded with the horns of the wild goat (markhur) and sheep (urial) of the neighbouring hills and of ravine deer. Every mosque was wakf, but the heirs of the original builder had alone the right of management, if they had chosen to exercise it. The residents of each quarter, and each faction had their special mosque, and few but they and the strangers attended, though of course, being the house of God, no man was excluded. Travellers were allowed to use it as a rest-house without distinction as to religion. Except in the cold weather the services were conducted in the courtyard facing the building. When it was cold and wet, they took a place inside in the body of the mosque itself. No one could hear the prayers repeated without being struck by the grave respectful conduct of the worshipers. The office of imam or priest was not hereditary, but the son generally succeeded his father. The imam was dismissed at any time at the will of his employers, and any grant of land assigned to him as such was resumed from him. In the two areas such assignments fell under the term kannah, or service grant. Some such grunts were resumed during the Settlement, and some were being in the possession of ex-imams, who had for many years ceased to officiate as priests, were declared to have become their absolute property. The imam performed duties and was very liberally paid. On each domestic occurrence at which he attended, he received a fee, and if, besides performing the funeral rites, he had himself to wash and lay out the corpse, he received the dead person's wardrobe and from ten to twenty of the clothes thrown over the bier by friends and relations. He also received tithes (lashma, ashra), which were in practice but a small dole (or one ozzha) out of each grain heap. He also received wazifa, which was a quarter of a cake per house, at each family meal. With this he fed himself and the dissiples "searchers-after-knowledge" whom he had been instructing. It is said that imams frequently sold the greater part of their wazifa. As a school master too he could make something. Altogether he used to be well of. As a rule he was very exacting in collecting his dues, which were mostly fixed on the Bannuchis. There were few mosques in the district so well endowed, or managed by such liberal patrons as to have attached to them any special staff of servants; hence the rule was that the imam did nearly everything himself excep sweeping, which was done by a village sweeper. In Bannu proper "searchers-after-knowledge" who were in the majority of cases lazy beggars from a distance, and were both a tax on a village community and a nuisance to the administration, relieved the imam, of a good deal of menial work, and generally the ablution arrangements were looked after by the wives and daughters of some members of the worshipers.

Languages and Dialects of the People

Pashto is spoken throughout the whole of the Bannu and Marwat tahsils. It is very difficult to acquire a colloquial knowledge of Pashto in this district, because, though all follow the soft pronunciation, yet Wazirs, Bannuchis, Khataks and Marwats each pronounce the vowels somewhat differently and make use of many words peculiar only to themselves.

Mr. Thorburn writes: "I remember soon after I came to the district when a Yusafzai Orderly translating something I had said to a Bannuchi villager. When the man had done, the Bannuchi shook his head helplessly, and said, “speak Pashto as I don't know Hindko." This case well illustrates the great divergence there can be between two dialects of Pashto.

Village Communities and Tenures

Wesh or Khula Wesh Tenure in Marwat

Wesh or Khula Wesh (mouth partition) was a form of that primitive collective tenure of land which seemed to have had almost universally arisen when nomad communities first became inactive. In time the collective form of "ever shifting severalty" gives place to one or other of the many existing tenures of fixed individual severalty. It has done so in most civilized countries, except in many parts of Russia and in some parts of India. In Marwat the system still survives, and shows signs of prolonged vitality in thirteen villages. In them, all of most of the territorial bocks (wands) into which each village is parcelled, were held as communal property, which is periodically divided per capita, the position of each share or mouth (khula) being decided by lot. After the expiry of the term of a wesh a majority may, within any reasonable time, demand a new partition, in which case a redistribution of the land is made. During the Regular Settlement the proprietary body of one large village (Abba Khel) commenced a Khula Wesh of themselves after measurements had been completed. And as it appeared that a strong majority were anxious for the partition, the Settlement Officer allowed the village to proceed, and had to prepare his maps again. The villages of Matora, Landiwah, and Mulazai also agreed to have new weshes early in the Settlement, and hastened them in order to get them over by measurements. The village of Zangi Khel also carried out a wesh during Settlement, the claim of the party, a strong minority, who opposed it, having been first heard and dismissed. Litigation during the Settlement, precedents, and verified statement of custom established that when the term of a wesh had expired, whenever a considerable majority demanded a new one it was needed to be conceded; also that in wesh villages land could not be sold, and that when mortgaged, the mortgagee was at the next wesh entitled to receive fresh shares to the number of those he held, or, if that was impossible, he had to be equitably repaid his mortgaged money. Conversely it had been established that on expiry of the term, a minority could not enforce a new wesh, and that before the custom could be declared extinct from desuetude, not less than the number of years fixed as the term, dating from the expiry of that period, had to elapse without a wesh. The Supplement to the Punjab Government Gazette dated 27 November 1873, contains some details on this subject, also pages 124 to 134 of Mr. Thorburn's book ‘Bannu or Our Afghan Frontier’. In some villages in Marwat, in which the practice of having general communal wesh has died out, a closely analogous custom still exists in individual families under the name of badlun or "exchange". It was simply that of periodically exchanging of certain ancestral lands. The term ranged from three to twelve years and was often indefinite.

RELIGION

99.5% of people in Bannu are Sunni Muslims.

RAILWAY

Bannu was the terminus railway station of Bannu-Mari Indus Narrow gauge (762 mm or 2 ft 6 in) railway line. This railway line was closed in 1991.

REFERENCES

• Tarikhe Aqwame Bannu (Author: Jahangir Khan Sikandri)

1. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
2. "Information about Serai Naurang, Lakki Marwat".