Mīrānshāh ()() is a main town in the region that is the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan District,

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province of

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# ...

. Miranshah lies on the banks of the

Tochi River The Gambila River (Pashto and ), also called the Tochi River (), is located in Khost Province, Afghanistan, and North Waziristan and Bannu District, northwestern Pakistan. The source of the river lies in the hills six miles south of the Spīn Gh ...

in a wide valley surrounded by the foothills of the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

mountains. It is located at an elevation of about , from the Pakistan-

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

border (

Durand Line The Durand Line (; ; ), also known as the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, is a international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia. The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to the border with China. The D ...

). The nearest city in Pakistan is

Bannu Bannu (, ), also called Bani Gul or Bani (, ) is a city located on the Kurram River in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the capital of Bannu Division. Bannu's residents are primarily members of the Banuchi tribe and speak Banuch ...

, about to the east, while the nearest city across the border in Afghanistan is

Khost Khōst () is the capital of Khost Province in Afghanistan. It is the largest city in the southeastern part of the country, and also the largest in the region of Loya Paktia. To the south and east of Khost lie Waziristan and Kurram Agency, Kurram i ...

, to the northwest. The city has a shrinking population of only 4,361, and it has only 356 households. This makes it the least populous urban area in Bannu Division, but it is also the only urbanized area in the entire region of

North Waziristan North Waziristan District (, ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering . The capital ...

, and also the entire

Waziristan Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...

region, a mountainous area that has 99% of its 1.22 million residents living in rural areas. Miranshah remains a regional business hub for surrounding rural areas that visits the bazaar for day to day requirements. Miranshah bazaar is become a hustling during daytimes while it remains less busy during late hours.

Administration

Miranshah is the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan District, in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA). In 2018, FATA was merged into the

province of Pakistan.

History

Miranshah was named after the Timurid ruler,

Miran Shah Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah (), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire. During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initially a powerful regio ...

, the son of

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

. In 1905, the British constructed Miranshah Fort to control North Waziristan. In the early 1950s, the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

(PAF) and the "Tochi Scouts" of Pakistan's paramilitary

Frontier Corps The Frontier Corps (, reporting name: FC) are a group of four paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's b ...

carried out counter-insurgency operations from Miranshah Airfield and Miranshah Fort against the insurgency fomented by the rebellious General Shudikhel Dawar and Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi). In the 1950s, Miranshah was also the site of a weapons firing range of the PAF, which was located next to the Miranshah Airfield. After 9/11, Miranshah gained prominence in the United States-led War on Terror and has witnessed numerous drone strikes by the US

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

targeting alleged militants hiding in the town and the surrounding foothills. Miranshah and its surrounding areas have also witnessed fighting between militants and Pakistani military and paramilitary forces.

Demographics

Population

As of the 2023 census, Miranshah had a population of 4,131.

Notable places

Miranshah has a historical fort built by the British in 1905, which, since Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, has been used as a garrison by the "Tochi Scouts" of Pakistan's

. The town also has a 7,000 ft. long airfield, which is used for both civil and military purposes. Other notable places include a bazaar, a sports stadium, a primary school, a secondary school and a college.

References

External links

* * * * * {{usurped,
Lawrence of Arabia in Waziristan
} Populated places in North Waziristan Waziristan