Bajaur

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Bajaur (Urdu: باجوڑ) is an Agency (district) of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Smallest of the agencies in FATA, it is also largely inaccessible due to its hilly terrain. The population is approximately 600,000.^[1] It borders Afghanistan's Kunar province. There are three main tribes in Bajaur, Utman Khel, Tarkani, & Mamoond but the biggest tribe of them is Utman Khel, as per population as well as by area. The Uthman khel are at the southeast of Bajaur, while Mamoond are at the southwest, and the Tarkani are at the north of Bajaur. Its border with Afghanistan's Kunar province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistan and the region.

1 Geography
2 History and Current Events
3 Local Politics
4 Notes
5 See also

[edit] Geography

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

An interesting feature in the topography is a mountain spur from the Kunar range, which curving eastwards culminates in the well-known peak of Koh-i-Mor, which is visible from the Peshawar valley. It was here, at the foot of the mountain, that Alexander the Great found the ancient city of Nysa and the Nysaean colony, traditionally said to have been founded by Dionysus. ^[2]

[edit] History and Current Events

During the Soviet Invasion in the 1980s, the area was a critical staging ground for Afghan and local mujahideen to organise and conduct raids. It still hosts a large Afghan refugee population sympathetic to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a mujahideen leader ideologically close to the Arab militants. Today, the United States believes militants based in Bajaur launch frequent attacks on American and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. There have been some unconfirmed media reports about the possibility of Osama bin Laden finding refuge in the area. An aerial attack, executed by the United States, targeting Ayman al-Zawahiri, took place in a village in Bajaur Agency on January 13 2006, killing 18 people.^[3] Al-Zawahiri was not found among the dead and the incident led to severe outrage in the area. On October 30, 2006, 80 people were killed in Bajaur when Pakistani forces attacked a religious school they said was being used as a militant training camp. ^[4] There are many unconfirmed reports that the October attack was also carried out by the United States or NATO forces, but was claimed by Islamabad over fears of widespread protest similar to those after the US bombing in January 2006. ^[5] Maulana Liaqat, the head of the seminary was killed in the attack. Liaqat was a senior leader of the pro-Taliban movement, Tanzim Nifaz Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) that spearheaded a violent Islamic movement in Bajaur and the neighbouring Malakand areas in 1994. The TNSM had led some 5,000 men from the Pakistani areas of Dir, Swat and Bajaur across the Mamond border into Afghanistan in October 2001 to fight US-led troops. In what is thought to be a reprisal for the October strike in Bajaur, in November a suicide bomber killed dozens in an attack on an army training school in the North West Frontier Province. ^[6]

[edit] Local Politics

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