Waziristan
Waziristan ( Germanized Waziristan; Pashto: وزیرستان ) is a mountainous region in northwestern Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan in a size of about 11,585 km ².
Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi river to the north and Gomal in the south and is part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA ). In the east, the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa borders Waziristan.
- 2.2.1 Villages and Towns
- 2.2.2 districts
History
Lived even before the boundary between Afghanistan and the British -ruled India on 12 November 1893 in the region Pashtun tribes whose resistance has been documented against the colonial masters by British punitive expeditions 1860-1945.
The under British pressure that have been made, established in 1893 for one hundred years Durand Line was intended as a demarcation line, Waziristan separated from Afghan territory and divided the settlement area of the Pashtuns. This intensified the resistance of the tribes and led four years later in Waziristan to the revolt of 1897., The British viceroy in India then declared the entire region to the single " NWFP " (North -West Frontier Province ( NWFP) ). It succeeded the British until independence of India in 1947 not to bring the region under their control, such as the Pashtun insurgency in 1930 showed in Peshawar and Waziristan in 1936-1938.
At the partition of British India into the independent states of Pakistan and India in 1947, much of the Pashtuns joined for an undivided India or for the inclusion of Pashtun areas (NWFP and FATA) on Afghanistan. However, this request fell on deaf ears.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1989) was a tolerated Waziristan by the Pakistani government retreat for the resistance fighters.
Afghanistan exists at the end of the Durand Agreement in 1993 on the return of these areas (NWFP, FATA and the North East Baluchistan ) of Pakistan, which refuses to return. For this reason, there is today no official border between the two countries.
In 2001, when the Taliban out of Kabul fled, most of them moved back to Waziristan, where they could live two and half years unmolested by the Pakistani government. In March 2004, a two- kilometer-long tunnel system was discovered at a Pakistani military offensive in Waziristan, led by a mountain range on the border with Afghanistan to houses in the village Kaloosha. In the mountainous regions of Waziristan continue to Islamic fundamentalist rebels and leading figures of the Al- Qaeda is suspected.
Waziristan is affected by the drone attacks in Pakistan since 2004. The region is considered as one of the main target areas.
In October 2009, the Pakistani army began after several terrorist attacks in Pakistan, a major offensive against the Taliban in both South and North Waziristan. This military offensive with at least 28,000 Pakistani soldiers and artillery and air support, it was announced in June 2009.
Structure
North Waziristan
Administrative center and largest city of the territory is Miranshah. The area of nearly 4707 km ² area is mainly occupied by the Darwesh Khel Wazir or strains that have given the region its name. They live in fortified mountain villages and operate in the valleys at the foot of the mountains agricultural cultivation.
Villages
- Datta Khel
- Spinwam
South Waziristan
The south about 6620 km ² area is mainly inhabited by Mashud tribes who live in tent villages and preferably operate sheep. The headquarters of the regional authority of South Waziristan 's Wana. This authority is not directly the Pakistani central government, but is indirectly managed by an agent of Pakistan - sometimes a Waziri, sometimes an outsider.
Villages and towns
Districts
- Shaktoi
Population
Waziristan is in the north of 361 246 and 429 841 people lived in the south of (1998). The region is socially and religiously a strictly conservative region where women properly screened live and every household headed by a male tribal residents. Each tribe is divided into smaller tribal units, the village leaders colluding in the Jirga. Blood feuds are not uncommon.