Utman Khel Tehsil () is an administrative subdivision (

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

) of

Bajaur District Bajaur District (, ), formerly Bajaur Agency, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Prior to 2018, Bajaur Agency was the northernmost component of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a semi-a ...

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

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# ...

. Utman Khel is the fifth largest of Bajaur District's seven tehsils.

Geography

Utman Khel Tehsil, the fifth largest in Bajaur District, is 194 km² in area and centers around a shallow, 14.28 km mountain valley and the reverses of much of surrounding mountains. Representing Bajaur District's central-eastern shoulder, Utman Khel shares a 19.95 km border with Barang Tehsil to the south, a 13.30 km border with Khar Bajaur Tehsil to the west, a 18.13 km border with

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 ...

Munda Tehsil Munda is an administrative subdivision (Tehsil) of Lower Dir District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Munda is an administrative Tehsil under the jurisdiction of Samar Bagh, sub-division of Lower Dir District. It is listed among: ...

, and a 19.73 km border with Lower Dir District's

Timergara Tehsil Timergara is an administrative subdivision (Tehsil) of Lower Dir District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The other tehsils of the district include: # Adenzai Tehsil # Balambat Tehsil # Khal Tehsil # Lal Qilla Tehsil # Munda Tehs ...

Demographics

Population

As of the 2017 Pakistani national census, Utman Khel Tehsil has a population of 107,248 people, representing a 3.25% population increase from its 1998 census population of 58,348 compared to a +3.23% population growth in the overall Bajaur District. Residents of Utman Khel comprise 9.83% of the Bajaur District population as of 2017. The tehsil is named after the inhabiting Pakthun Utmankhel tribe of the Karlani tribal confederacy.

Language

The vast majority of Utman Khel residents expectedly speak

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

as their mother tongue, the predominant language of ethnic Pakhtuns (Pashtuns) and of the derivatively-named

(KPK). As of 2017, 99.03% of Utman Khel residents recorded Pashto as their mother tongue with other residents recording

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

(408), Sindhi (163), Brahui (120), Balochi (61),

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, the language of the Kashmiris ethnic group People with the nam ...

(47), Saraiki (47),

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

(37), and 'other' (155) as mother tongues.

Religion

As of 2017, 99.98% of Utman Khel Tehsil residents reported belonging to the

Islamic faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, includ ...

along with 13

Ahmadi Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

residents, 2

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, and 2 residents belonging to

caste systems A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

Politics

Utman Khel Tehsil is politically represented in the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

(the lower house of the national parliament) in the NA-40 Bajaur-I constituency and in the

Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is located in Peshawar, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of t ...

in the PK-20 Bajaur-II constituency. In both bodies, Utman Khel Tehsil (as well as Bajaur District and most of KPK) historically elects candidates from the

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...

(PTI) party established by Pakistani

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and 22nd

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

, who is seen as a fierce advocate for the nation's Pakhtuns, many of whom feel disenfranchised by

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

References

Tehsils of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Populated places in Bajaur District {{Bajaur-geo-stub