Orakzai
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Orakzai (Urdu: اورکزئی) is a Pashtun tribe settled in the Orakzai Agency of Pakistan. It consists of eighteen subsects. Most of the members are situated in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
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[edit] Location
The Orakzai are a Pashtun tribe on the Kohat border of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. The Orakzais inhabit the mountains to the north-west of Kohat district, bounded on the north and east by the Afridis, on the south by the Miranzai Valley and on the west by the Zaimukht country and the Safed Koh mountains. Due to limited resources and fertile land, many Orakzai have settled in Pakistan's major urban centres such as Hangu,Tall, Peshawer, Islamabad, Sialkot, Wazirabad, Lahore, Abbottabad and Karachi.
[edit] History
[edit] Origins
The Orakzai tribes take their name, which literally means the lost son (Wrak Dzoy), from a romantic legend about their ancestor, Sikandar Shah who was a prince from Iran. He was exiled or lost, and after many adventures he married and settled in Tirah. 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(citation). 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.
The Kohat Gazetteer of 1883-84 records
| “ | 'The Orakzai tribes are said to have been converted by the Tirah Saiads about the beginning of the present century . The Bangashes of Samizai were probably converted a little earlier ,[1] | ” |
[edit] British Era
They had been estimated at 28,000 fighting men by government of British India, but this estimate must have been largely exaggerated, as the country could not possibly support the consequent population of over 100,000. They have been the object of various British military expeditions, notably in 1855, 1868, 1869, 1891, and the Tirah campaign of 1897.
[edit] Notable people
- The current governor of NWFP Lt. Gen. (retd) Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai is from the Orakzai tribe.
- Dr Tanvir Orakzai, PhD, currently working in Singapore.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Gazetteer of the Kohat Distrct 1883-84 published by Sang e meel publications Pakistan page 69
[edit] Source
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
