The Shalmani or ''Shilmani'' ( ps, شلمانى) is a Pashtun tribe primarily concentrated in the Shalman Valley in

Khyber Agency Khyber District ( ps, خېبر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; with the merger of FATA with Khyber Pak ...

near

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. ''Shalmani'' is also known as ''Sulemani'' a variant of ''Shalmani'' ( ps, شلمانی) in ,

Mansehra Mansehra is a city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and the headquarters of Mansehra District. It is the 71st largest city of Pakistan and 7th largest city in the province. The name of the city (written in Hindko, Urdu and Gojr ...

and Haripur. The tribe is present in different parts of Pakistan. In Pakistan, the tribe lives in

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

Upper Dir Upper Dir District ( ps, بر دير ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The city of Dir is the district headquarters. Badogai Pass connects it to Utror. At the time of indep ...

, Lower Dir, Bajour, Buner, Shangla,

Malakand District Malakand District ( ps, ملاکنډ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The District was formed in 1970 as a Provincially Administered Tribal Area, It had previously been a tr ...

Dargai Dargai ( ps, درگئی; ur, ) is one of the tehsils of Malakand District (the other being Batkhela) in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It located on the main highway from Peshawar to Swat, Dir and Chitral. The town of ...

Charsadda Chārsadda ( ps, چارسده; ; ur, ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

(

Hashtnagar Hashtnagar (Pashto: هشتنګر, more commonly known as اشنغر in Pashto) is one of the two constituent parts of the Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The name Hashtnagar is derived from the Sanskrit अष्टनगरम् ''A� ...

). According to Khan Roshan Khan, in his book about Pashtun's history "Tazkira" at page-379/380,"Shalmanis(Shilmanis) are "Banu Bakhtar"(بنو بختر) who were living in an area "Shalman" in Syria.These Banu Bakhtar were the land lords of areas like Shalman(شلمان), Ainab(عيناب) and Baiswad(بيسود) in Syria. Similar to Shalman of Khyber, a city by name Shalman is also present in Gilan Province of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

, and the fourth largest river in Iran is also named as Shalman. These landmarks with synonym Shalman suggest that this tribe could have moved from Syria through Iran (Gilan Shalman) to current Shalman Valley in

near

History

Roshan Khan in his book "Tazkira" wrote that Shalmani were originally brought to Swat ''(not to be confused with just Swat district of the present times)'' by the famous conqueror and King,

Muhammad of Ghor Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad ibn Sam ( fa, معز الدین محمد بن سام), also Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, also Ghūri ( fa, معز الدین محمد غوری) (1144 – March 15, 1206), commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor, also Gh ...

, from Shalman Valley of Khyber Agency in present

and Karman of today's

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. M.Saida Khan Shinwari states in his book that, Shilmani are counted as Ghoryakhel tribe divided as Shamsher Khel, Halimzai and Kam Shilmanis and considers them to be

Mohmand The Mohmand ( ps, مومند) or Mohmand is a prominent tribe of Pashtun people. They are based primarily in the Mohmand territory, which is located in Nangarhar, Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency, Pakistan. Most people of the Mohmand tribe sp ...

. He states that Shamsher Khels are related to Morcha Khel Mohmands, Halimzai to Halimzai Mohmands and Kam Shilmanis to Tarakzai Mohmands. Officially the Shilmanis are treated as a separate tribe since the Khyber Agreement of 1881. The Shilmanis are closer to Mohmands in characteristics and based on historical evidence they appear to be close kinsmen of the Mohmand. Shalmani are called as "Shalmani Momands" by Harold Carmichael Wylly, at page-317 in his book "From the Black Mountain to Waziristan". Prior to creation of

Bacha Khan Shalmani of Sakha Kot

Malakand Agency The Malakand Agency ( ps, ملاکنډ ایجنسيۍ) was one of the agencies in the North West Frontier Province of British India and later of Pakistan until 2010. It included the princely states of Chitral, Dir and Swat, and an area around ...

, was the prominent figure of the Shalmani tribe and was a politician. Mr. Naek Amal Khan Shalmani and Rahat Khan Shalmani are scions of his family.

History

References

Further reading