Dara Utmankhel (), also known as Shaikhan, is a valley in the

Lower Dir District Lower Dir District (, ) is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Timergara is the district's headquarters and largest city. The Lower Dir district was formed in 1996, when Dir District was divided into Upper Dir and Lower ...

of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It consists of nine villages: Maniband ما نی بند, Jabaghi جبګۍ, Zara Doghy زړه ډوګۍ, Kot Koshah کوټ کو شاه, Mandal Korona کورونه ماندل , Kot کوټ, Ghwandy غونډئ, Fazal Abad and Shah Kuronu شاه کو رونه. It lies in Timergara tehsil, east of the main road from Timergara to Dir. The inhabitants of this area belong to the Mandal, a clan of Utmankhel tribe of Pashtuns. The Utmankhel is one of the Karlanri Pashtun or Afghan tribes who appeared in concert with other tribes like Yousafzai and Tarkalani. They first settled in the areas of Malakand, Bajaur and

Mohmand The Mohmand () or Momand is a prominent tribe of Pashtun people. Distribution They are based primarily in the Mohmand territory, which is located in Nangarhar, Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency, Pakistan. In Afghanistan, their areas of presence i ...

. These people were mainly associated with trade as the land was not suitable for agriculture.

History

Tor Baba

Abdur Rahim Khan and Akhund Ilyas (d.1676 A.D) were the disciples of Shaikh Adam Binori (cf. Mulana Habib Ahmad of Morany, Dir). There are two other tombs in Moranay and Shagokas in Lower Dir that bear the name of Tor Baba. Their descendants in the area have taken the same clan, Mandal (In Afghan genealogies, he is depicted as the elder son of Utman). According to Qazi Abdul Haleem Asar Afghani, the original name of Tor Baba in Moranay village was Muhammad Anwar Baig. It is possible that these three were brothers or belong to the same clan because ''Tor Baba'' and ''Akhund'' were used as religious titles at that time. For example, the father of Akhund Ilyas was also known as Tor Baba but no one knows his real name.

Descendants

Tor Baba had two sons, Mullah Baba and Islam Jan Baba, whose descendants live in the nearby nine villages. They are also known as Shaikhan, which does not correspond to their ethnicity, but is related to Abdur Rahim Khan, who received this title after becoming a follower of Shaikh Adam Binori.

Notable People

#Zaer Mohammad (Ally of Umara Khan, 1895)

Land area, people and economy

This beautiful narrow valley is mountainous but slopes slowly and finally kiss Timergara Bazar. The 35-40% of the area of this valley is actually a Serai of Tor Baba, but later his descendants bought the rest of the area from Sadat and Ibrahim Khel (Yousafzai). The total population is about 2900 according to the 1998 census (estimate). The area has weak agriculture, so the main economy is based on the Middle East. The education rate is high among males. There are only five elementary schools and no middle or high schools.

References

{{reflist Lower Dir District