Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northernmost province of Pakistan. It is bounded by Afghanistan to the west and north, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (the Pakistani-administered areas of the Kashmir region) to the east and northeast, Punjab province to the southeast, and Balochistan province to the southwest. On the western boundary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, along the Afghan border, are the areas formerly known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a series of areas that are ethnically homogeneous with the province but were semiautonomous until 2018. Peshawar is the provincial capital. Area province, 39,282 square miles (101,741 square km). Pop. (2017) province, 35,519,927.

Geography

The terrain consists of mountain ranges, undulating submontane areas, and plains surrounded by hills. In the north the mountain ranges generally run north-south; south of the Kābul River, which bisects the province from east to west, the ranges generally run east-west. The Hindu Kush region in the north, long noted for its scenic beauty, is divided by the Kunar River into two distinct ranges: the northern Hindu Kush and the Hindu Raj. Tirich Mir rises to 25,230 feet (7,690 metres) and is the highest peak of the northern Hindu Kush. To the south of the Hindu Raj lie the rugged basins of the Panjkora, Swat, and Kandia rivers. The Lesser Himalayas and the Sub-Himalayas are situated in the eastern part of the province and form definite ranges broken by hilly country and small plains. The region is seismically active, with frequent mild to moderate tremors. In 2005 a severe earthquake centered in nearby Azad Kashmir killed thousands.

The fertile Vale of Peshawar extends northward along the Kābul River. Though it covers less than one-tenth of the province’s area, this region contains about half of its total population. The city of Peshawar lies in the western portion of the vale. West of Peshawar, the historic Khyber Pass is strategically important as the most easily negotiable route between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. South of the Kābul River lies the east-west-trending Spīn Ghar (Safīd Kūh) Range. The Kurram, Tochi, and Gumal rivers drain the province’s southern region, and the Indus River forms part of the province’s eastern border.

The climate varies with elevation. The mountain ranges experience cold winters and cool summers, and temperatures rise markedly toward the south. Precipitation over the province is variable but averages roughly 16 inches (400 mm) annually, with much of this occurring during the period from January to April.

The mountain slopes in the north support stands of evergreen oak and pine. There are also extensive mountain grasslands. The hills to the south are sparsely covered with bushes, acacia, and grasses.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is inhabited mainly by the Pashtun, who are noted for their independence. The Pashtun comprise many tribes and clans, each taking great pride in its genealogy. Pashto is the main language in the province, except for some areas where Punjabi predominates, and virtually all of the population is Muslim. Only a small part of the overall population is urban. The province’s major cities include Peshawar, Mardan, Mingaora, Kohat, and Abbottabad.

Educational progress in the province has been quite slow, and the literacy rate among the total population is lower than that of Pakistan as a whole.

In the tribal areas on the province’s western fringe, the Pashtun tribes are free to govern themselves according to their own customs. Political and military agents who are responsible to the central government have the power to award or withhold subsidies and to control entry into and departure from the tribal areas. The border with neighbouring Afghanistan, however, has traditionally been porous, and Pashtun tribesmen have moved between countries with little interference.

The province’s economy is essentially agricultural, even though the mountainous terrain is not favourable to extensive cultivation. Irrigation is carried out on about one-third of the cultivated land. Wheat, corn (maize), sugarcane, and tobacco are the major crops. The principal industries are the manufacture and refining of sugar, the canning and preservation of fruits and vegetables, tobacco processing, and the manufacture of small arms and accessories. Other products are cotton textiles, cement, ghee (clarified butter), furniture, and milled grains.

Peshawar lies on an east-west road that connects Kabul, Afghanistan, to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. A major north-south road traverses the province, and an east-west railway runs from the Afghanistan border through Peshawar to Lahore in Punjab province. A major airport is located in Peshawar.

Peshawar is the site of the University of Peshawar (1950), the Peshawar Museum, and other colleges and cultural institutes.

History

In ancient times, the state of Gandhara occupied the Vale of Peshawar and adjoining areas. This kingdom was important because of its strategic location at the eastern end of the Khyber Pass. Gandhara was annexed by the Persian Achaemenian dynasty in the early 6th century bce and remained a Persian satrapy until 327 bce. The region then passed successively under Greek, Indian, Indo-Bactrian, Sakan, Parthian, and Kushan rule.

Muslim rule was first brought to the region by a former Turkish slave-soldier (mamlūk) named Sebüktigin, who gained control of Peshawar in 988 ce. His son, Maḥmūd of Ghazna, invaded northern India several times between 1001 and 1027 and brought a large area of the present-day province into the boundaries of the Ghaznavid dynasty. Beginning in the late 12th century, the region was held successively by the Ghūrid sultanate, by various Muslim Afghan dynasties, and then by the Mughal dynasty. After the invasion of the Iranian ruler Nādir Shah in 1738, the territory remained under the loose control of the Afghan Durrānī clan. Beginning about 1818, invading Sikhs from the Punjab region of India increasingly secured control of the frontier territory until the coming of the British in 1849.

The northwestern frontier areas were annexed to India by the British after the Second Sikh War (1848–49). The territories thenceforth formed a part of the Punjab until the province, then known as North-West Frontier Province, was created in 1901. After Pakistan attained independence in 1947, the region continued to exist as a separate Pakistani province. However, the inhabitants of the tribal territories, the westernmost area along the Afghanistan border, were not made subject to the Pakistani legal code. During the 1980s the province was inundated by Afghan refugees seeking asylum from the Soviet occupation of their country. The tribal areas, formally designated as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) from 1970 until 2018, were also a major staging area for mujahideen fighters entering Afghanistan (see Afghan War). Following the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, the tribal areas became a refuge for Taliban and mujahideen fighters. In 2018 the tribal areas were formally incorporated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing them also under the legislative and judicial authority of the federal government.

In 2010 the name of the province was officially changed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Later that year, unusually heavy monsoon rains forced the Indus River into extraordinary floods. The inundation devastated swaths of Pakistani land, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (see Pakistan Floods of 2010). Officials there, unprepared to deal with such flooding with so little notice, were overwhelmed by the destruction and human costs wrought by the floodwaters. By mid-August, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for about two-thirds of all reported flood-related deaths.