Orakzai

Orakzai is a Pashtun tribe native to the Orakzai Agency and parts of Kurram Agency located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Clans

The Orakzais are divided into eighteen main clans, prominent ones being the Ali Khel, Mulla Khel, Akhel, Ismalizai, Lashkarzai, Massuzai, Alisherzai, Daulatzai, Muhammad Khel, Abdul Aziz Khel, Zemasht, and Sturi Khel (or Alizai).[1]/Uthman Khel/ Feroz Khel

Location

The Orakzai belong to the Tirah valley located in FATA. The Orakzais inhabit the mountains to the north-west and north-east of Kohat district, bounded on the north and east by the Afridis or Khyber Agency, on the south by the Bangash or Miranzai Valley and on the west by the Bangash country and the Safed Koh mountains.[2] Due to limited resources and fertile land, many Orakzai have settled in Pakistan's major urban centers such as Hangu, Thall, Parachinar, Tirah, Peshawar, Attock, (Nowshera-Amangarh) Islamabad, Battagram-Allai, Wazirabad, Lahore, Abbottabad and Karachi and uttar pradesh lucknow (India).

Religion

The Orakzais are mostly Muslim following Sunni, Shia Firqh. There are also some Sikhs living along with the Orakzais who arrived as traders a century ago.

History

Origins

The Orakzai tribes take their name, which literally means the lost son (Wrak Zoi), he was a lost and adopted by karalan, and after many adventures he married and settled in Tirah.[3] One branch, the Ali Khel, has been traced to Swat, whence they were expelled by the other inhabitants and it is not improbable that the whole tribe consists of refugee clans of the surrounding races.[2] They cultivate a good deal of the Khanki and Kurmana valleys in the winter, but in the hot months retire to the heights of Tirah, of which they occupy the southern half called the Mastura Valley.[2]

Mughal era

Dost Mohammad Khan, Nawab of Bhopal belonged to the Orakzai tribe

The Orakzais served in the Mughal army. The Bhopal State of India was established by Dost Muhammad Khan, an Orakzai commander in the Mughal army. His descendants, the Nawabs of Bhopal, were of Orakzai ancestry.[4]

British era

The government of British India estimated that the tribe had 28,000 fighting men. They were the object of various British military expeditions, notably in 1855, 1868, 1869, 1891 and the Tirah campaign of 1897.[2]

Modern times

In October 2008, with Taliban influence growing in their area, an Orakzai tribal gathering was called to establish a militia to fight the Taliban, part of a growing trend among tribes in the North-west to oppose a mullah who thought to impose sharia . A teenage suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the meeting, killing 85 and injuring more than 200. Following the attack, tribal elders vowed to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda.[5] In 2010, Orakzai made headlines as the site of a stoning.[6]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nps.edu/programs/ccs/Docs/Pakistan/Tribes/Orakzai.pdf
  2. 1 2 3 4 Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Orakzai". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 144–145.
  3. ↑ "Census of India, 1901, Volume 17, Part 1" by India Census Commissioner, Edward Albert Gait. Published by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1902. Pg 149.
  4. ↑ Shaharyar M. Khan (2000). The Begums of Bhopal: A History of the Princely State of Bhopal. I.B.Tauris. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-86064-528-0.
  5. ↑ Orakzai suicide blast death toll reaches 85 The Daily Times (Pakistan)
  6. ↑ http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/114313/World/pak-taliban-militants-stone-woman-to-death.html


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.