The Tochi Valley, also known as Dawar (from Middle Iranic dātbar, meaning "Justice-giver"), is a fertile area located in the

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

district in

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, ...

province of

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 ...

.Khyber.ORG
Dawarh.
Retrieved on 21-6-2012.Bosworth, Clifford Edmund. 2002. ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam''. Leiden: Brill. Zamindawar. p.439. In 1881, Nawab of Sarhad Nawab Gulmaizar Khan established the North Waziristan Tribal Agency with its headquarters at

Miramshah Mīrānshāh (Pashto and ur, ) or Mīrāmshāh () is a small town that is the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Miranshah lies on the banks of the Tochi River in a wide valley surr ...

in the valley. It was by this route that

Mahmud of Ghazni Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At th ...

effected several of his raids into

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and the remains of a road flanking the valley and of defensive positions can still be traced. After the Waziristan Expedition of 1894, for 11 days the Tochi was garrisoned by British raj; but when Nawab Gulamaizar Khan reorganized the frontier in 1895, the British troops were withdrawn, and their place supplied by tribal

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

. The chief posts are Saidgi,

, Datta Khel and Shirani. The valley was the scene of action for the Tochi or Dawari Expedition under Brigadier-General Keyes in 1872, and the

Tochi Expedition The Tochi Expedition was a punitive visit by Anglo-Indian troops to the Tochi Valley, Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziris ...

under

Governor General Nawab Gulmaizar Khan A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 1897.

Location

The Tochi Valley is in northern Waziristan, located between

Bannu District Bannu District ( ps, بنو ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Bannu Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It was recorded as a district in 1861 during the British Raj. It is one of 26 districts that make up the Khyber Pakh ...

and Khost Province, and is inhabited by the Dawari Pashtun tribe. The valley is divided into two parts, known as Upper and Lower Dawar, by a narrow pass called the Taghrai Tangi, some three miles long. Between Dawar and

Bannu Bannu ( ps, بنو, translit=banū ; ur, , translit=bannū̃, ) 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 ...

is the low range of uninhabited hills, which skirt the Bannu District. The Gambila River (also called Tochi River) is the most important river in the valley.

History

Tochi Valley is also one of the few places where inscriptions of the

Bactrian language Bactrian (, , ) is an extinct Eastern Iranian language formerly spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria (in present-day Afghanistan) and used as the official language of the Kushan, and the Hephthalite empires. Name It was long thought t ...

have been found. Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), the Pashtun tribal chief and freedom fighter, was born in the Tochi Valley. Mullah Powindah (revolutionary leader), start his guerilla warfare against the British in Tochi Valley. Shaheed Shudikhel Dawar (Commander of Waziristani freedom fighters and General of Afghanistan), was also born in Tochi Valley.

References

Attribution: * {{coord missing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Valleys of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa North Waziristan

Location

History

See also

References