The Waziri

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This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on The Races, Castes and Tribes of the People in the Report on the Census of the Panjab published in 1883 by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, KCSI Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article.

Waziri

The whole of the Bannu portion beyond our border is occupied by the Darvesh Khel Waziri, while south of them, along the Derab Ismail border, behind the Bitanni country, and as far south as the Gomal pass, he the Mahsud clan of the same tribe. The Waziri are descended from Suleman, son of Kakai, and are one of the Karlanri tribes. The original seat of the tribe was in the Birmil bills, west of the Khost range which separates them from their kinsmen tbe Banmuchi descendants of Shitak. Suleman had two sons, Lalai and Kbizrai. Lalai had to fly by reason of a blood fend, and settled in !Ningiahar on the northern slopes of the western Safed Kob, where his descendants the Lalai Waziri are still settled. Khizai had three sons, Musa, Mah-ird, and Gurbuz. From Mab=ud are descended the Mahsud Waziri, divided into the Alizai and Eablolzai ; while from Slusa Darvesli are descended the Utnianzai and Ahmadzai clans, usually joined under the title of Darvesh Khel Waziri.

About the close of the 14th century the Waziri began to move eastwards. They first crossed the Khost range and drove tbe Bannuchi out of Shawdl, and occupied the hills of the Bannu and Kohat border north of the Tochi. Then, crossing that river, they drove the Urmar Afghans, descendants of Urmar, son of Sharkabun and near kinsmen of the Abdali,out of the hills south of the Tochi on the lower Bannu and Tank borders to take refuge in the Loghar valley near Kabul, and dislodging the Bitanni from Kaniguram, drove them back beyond Garangi to the low hills on our immediate frontier. They thus obtained possession of all that confused system of mountains which, starting from the Gomal pass which marks the northern extremity of the Sulemans proper, runs northwards along our border to Thai and the Kurram river, where it joins the lower ranges of the Safed Koh. Their two main sections are the Mah=ud and Darvesh Khel, the former holding the hills to the south, and the latter those to the north of the Tochi river and the Khasor pass ; while of the Darvesh Khel country, the Ahmadzai occupy the southern and the Utmanzai the northern parts. The Hasan Khel, an important Utmanzai sept, hold the extreme north-western portion of the tract. The two great sections are practically independent tribes, owning no common head, and with but little common feeling. They still nominally hold the Birmil country, though the Suleman Khel and Kharoti Ghilzai winter there with their flocks, and during their stay the Waziri are confined to their walled villages. They were till lately wholly nomad and pastoral ; but they have of late years encroached upon the plain country of the Marwat, Bannuchi, and Khatak, and now hold cultivated lands in Bannu and Kohat.

The Gurbuz, an unimportant tribe, accompanied the Waziri in their movements, and once occupied the hills between their Mahsud and Darvesh Khel brethren, where, as already narrated, they disputed the possession of the Ghabbar peak with the Bitanni. They have now returned to their original seat west of the Khost range, and north of the Daur who hold the trans-border banks of the Tcchi river.

The Waziri are one of the most powerful and most troublesome tribes on our border, the Mahsud being pre-eminent for turbulence and lawlessness. They are exceedingly democratic and have no recognised headmen, which increases the difficulty of dealing with them. They are tall, active, muscular, and courageous, and their customs differ in several respects from those of the Pathans in genci-al. They are still in a state of semi-barbarism. They are well described in the Haiyat –i- Afghani {page227 of the translation). The large number of Waziris shown in the Bannu district is partly due to the Census having been held on the night of the weekly fair. But Mr. Thorburn estimates the Waziri population of the purely Waziri border villages alone at 13,523, and there are always many members of the tribe scattered about the district in seareh of work or of opportunities for theft,' especially during the spring months. On the Bannu border distress owing to failure of rain had probably made the number of such persons unusually high at the time of the census.

' Dr. Bellew makes them tbe Wairsi sept of the Lodha tribe of Pramara Rajputs , and says that they crossed from the Indus riverain across the Sham plain into the Birmil hills, then held by the Khatak whomm they drove northwards, taking the whole of their country Irom the Sham plain to the Koliat valley. He gives no authority for these statements.

2 This is according to the genealogies. But the Urmar are probably of Hindki origin, and speak a Panjabi dialect known as Urmari, of which a grammar has just been submitted to Government for approyal.