MOHMAND AGENCY
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MOHMAND, a Pathan tribe who inhabit
the hilly area to the north-west of Peshawar, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA) of Pakistan. They are one of the strongest tribes on the border (Pak-Afghan
border). The area of the Mohmands may be defined roughly as bounded on the East by
district Charsadda of N.W.F.P. ; on the North by Bajaur Agency; on the West by Kunar
(Afghanistan); and on the South by Khyber Agency; about 1200 sq. miles. The tribe are Afghans by descent, and are more akin to the Yousafzai than any of their neighbours. The aspect of the Mohmand hills is exceedingly dreary, and the eye is everywhere met by dry ravines between long rows of rocky hills and crags, scantily clothed with coarse grass, scrubwood and the dwarf palm. In summer great want of water is felt, and the desert tracts radiate an intolerable heat. This, coupled with the unhealthiness of the lowlands, probably accounts for the inferior physique of the Mohmands as compared with their Afridi and Shinwari neighbours, who in summer retire to the cool highlands of Tirah and the Safed Koh. The crops in the Mohmand hills are almost entirely dependent on the winter and autumn rains, and should these fail there is considerable distress. There is scant rainfall and little irrigated land, a factor responsible for the large demographic movements of the Mohmands to the fertile lands of Charsadda and Mardan. Mohmand Agency is the most heavily populated Agency. The agency was created in 1951 before which the Deputy Commissioner, Peshawar, administered the Mohmand tribes. The Mohmand tribe is divided in to the four main sub-sections called Bayezai, Khowaizai, Haleemzai and Tarakzai*. Apart from the Mohmand tribe, the agency contains the safis, who because of their association with the Mohmand, are also called Safi Mohmand. Until 1973 the headquarters of the Mohmand agency were in Peshawar when they were moved to Ekkaghund. Now, the permanent agency headquarters are at Ghalanai, deep in the Mohmand agency. * Note: The web designer Engr. J.K.Tarakzai is from Tarakzai tribe of sub-section Qasim Kheel. This web was developed in the memory of my beloved Grand Father Late Malik Shakar Khan Mohmand. |
