75 years of Pakistan: When there was Nawabi era in Dir

On the completion of 75 years of Pakistan, Independent Urdu has launched a documentary series on the independent states at the time of partition of India. In the fourth story, know when and how the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa state of Dir joined Pakistan.

---

‘Public access to Deir Qala is closed.’

This was told to me by a local journalist during a recent reporting trip in Dir. I had come to meet a local journalist to get information for a documentary.

A local journalist said: ‘In the past, tourists used to come here to see the fort, but now it is closed to tourists.’

“This is because the owners think that tourists come here and take videos and pictures, which caused various problems in the past,” he said.

We were surprised to hear this as during this series of documentaries for Independent Urdu we have reported on several erstwhile independent states and we were hoping to get access to the late fort as well.

We tried to contact the present family of the late Nawab through various channels but they neither agreed to an interview nor gave us access to the fort.

However, Mahmood Zeib Khan, who belongs to the royal family and former provincial minister living in Timargarh area of ​​Lower Dir, agreed to give an interview and through them, Independent Urdu has tried that in the fourth installment of this series, we state Can shed light on late history.

The state of Dir, located about three hours from Peshawar, the main city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, gets very little mention in history and one of the reasons for this, according to a paper published in the Peshawar University Journal, was the limited access of the British to this area. The Nawabs of that time did not welcome the British with open heart. Upper Dir used to be the center of Dir state where the fort of that time is also located.

An Englishman named Durand of the British Raj wrote his views regarding Dir in his book: ‘I was instructed to return to India via Kashmir and avoid the Dir road but if Umra Khan Nawab would take responsibility for my safety. If they are, then they can use Deer or Bajaur Road.

On the contrary, a lot has been written in the history books about Chitral and Swat, the neighboring regions of the state.

What is the history of late state?

Dir’s boundaries meet with Afghanistan at Binshahi, while the area also shares borders with Chitral and Swat.

According to the articles published by Fazlur Rehman and Fazul Haq in Peshawar University Journal, there are different opinions regarding the name of Dir.

It is mentioned in the paper that Deir has been the cradle of different civilizations and in the past this area was also called as Gurai, Yagistan, Baluristan and Masaga.

According to one historian, the name Dir first appeared after the beginning of the Buddhist civilization in the area, which means: ‘monasteries.’

It was named so because there were Buddhist monasteries on both sides of the late Panjkora River in those days.

This area was once called Kafiristan and the reason for this, according to the paper, was that from the 10th century Hijri to the 15th century, there was a kingdom of ‘kafirs’, who were then living in the area of ​​Dir, Kohistan and Later Yusufzai tribe occupied this area and named it Dir.

According to him, Dir is derived from the Persian word ‘Dir’, which means ‘difficult to reach’ because it was a remote area and access was difficult.

According to historians, the history of Deir is very old and the Dravinians (Dravidis) and Aryans (Aryans) lived here at one time.

The Dravidian race ruled South Asia in the past, while the Aryans were a Sanskrit-speaking people dating back to about 1500 BCE, who ruled over a united India.

According to a Peshawar University paper, the same is said about village ‘Darora’ in Dir district, which indicates that the ‘Drudins’ were settled here and later the Aryans ruled the entire Gandhara region including Swat, Taxila and Dir. is, but ruled in 522 BC.

According to the paper, the Greeks under the leadership of Alexander the Great then occupied the area in 327 BC. Alexander the Great is said to have entered Bajaur Deer from Jalalabad in Afghanistan and the evidence of this is the fire temples on both sides of the Panjkoda River which still exist today. The Greeks ruled this area for about two hundred years.

The sun of other civilizations in this region had set when Mahmud Ghaznavi moved here. Like Swat, the spread of Islam began in this region after 998 AH when Mahmud Ghaznavi defeated the last Buddhist ruler, Raja Gera, at Odigram in Swat. It should be remembered that at that time Bonir along with Dir, Swat, Chitral and this entire area was part of ‘Masaga State’.

According to the paper, the late Mongol ruler Timur also ruled until 1369. It was mentioned by the current Mehtar of Chitral (the ruler of the state was called Mehtar at the time of Chitral State) Fateh Mulk Nasir in an interview given to Independent Urdu that the Mongols also ruled over Chitral because at that time late And Chitral was a region.

It is further mentioned in this paper that the present Marzki Bazaar of Lower Dir is also named ‘Timargarh’ because Timur lived near Timurgarh on the bank of Panjkora River and earlier the name of Timurgarh was ‘Timargarh’ which Later, Tamer became a knot.

According to historians, this area has been the center of about 15 civilizations. The Pashtun civilization settled here in 1519 AH, when the Yousafzai tribe occupied the area.

Among the important leaders of the Yousafzai clan at that time were Malik Ahmad Khan, Sheikh Mali and Shah Mansoor (a village in Swabi district is named after Shah Mansoor) who crossed the Khyber Pass from Kabul to Peshawar and later Swat, Dir. , captured Bonaire and the entire region.

Origin of ‘Khanism’ in Late

According to a paper published in Peshawar University Journal, Khanism in Deer Valley began in 1626 AH and was founded by Akhand Ilyas Baba, the spiritual leader of the Malizi tribe. Ilyas Baba used to propagate Islam and solve people’s problems during that time because he had a good knowledge of the customs of the area.

As people had respect for Akhund Ilyas Baba, according to the paper, he was elected as the first Khan in Deir Valley and later his successors formally declared the region an independent state. After the death of Akhund Ilyas Baba in 1676, his son Mulla Ismail was elected Gadinishin who remained Khan of the region until 1752.

After Mulla Ismail, his son Khan Ghulam Khan ruled till 1804, but Khan Ghulam Khan was aspiring to rule over the people and royal life away from his ancestors. Khan Ghulam Khan was succeeded by his son Khan Zafar Khan who ruled till 1814 and during the reign of Khan Zafar Khan, a regular military force was established in Dir and the surrounding areas of Dir were also started to be captured.

After Khan Zafar Khan, his son Khan Qasim Khan Shahid became the ruler and after ruling till 1822 he was killed by his sons and then the golden age of Dir State started when Khan Ghazan Khan became the ruler. He ruled the region for 46 years and after his death in 1870, his son Khan Rahmatullah Khan became the ruler.

Khan Rahmatullah Khan was facing various difficulties, in which one of his sons, Sharif Khan, did not accept his rule, while on the other hand, he was opposed by Umra Khan, the Nawab of Jindol region.

According to the article, at one time Sharif Khan, the son of Rehmatullah Khan, also attacked his father’s state, but Sharif Khan was defeated.

At that time, the Dir region of Jandol was ruled by Umra Khan, who was called the ‘Napoleon of the East’ by the British Raj.

According to the paper, after fighting with his brother in 1880, he started ruling Jindol and tried to conquer other areas of Dir by attacking them.

After the death of Rahmatullah Khan in 1884, his brother Sharif Khan became the ruler and he opened a front against Umra Khan. Khan was appointed the governor of the state.

Muhammad Shah Khan used to collect taxes etc., however Umra Khan exiled Sharif Khan and sent him to Swat.

Beginning of the late Nawab period

When Dir was merged into Jindol, according to the paper, Umra Khan started occupying the areas adjacent to Dir. According to Mehtar Fateh Mulk of Chitral, Umra Khan had once attacked Chitral as well and had besieged the officials of the British Raj in the fort of Chitral.

The story of Umra Khan’s overthrow is very interesting.

According to an article published in the journal of Peshawar University, since Umra Khan had exiled Sharif Khan, when Umra Khan attacked Chitral, the British Raj together with Sharif Khan planned to remove Umra Khan from the path. .

According to the article, Sharif Khan agreed to this plan and he paved the way for British forces to enter Chitral through Dir so that the British forces could fight with Umra Khan and thus in 1895 Sharif Khan was elected as the first Nawab of Dir by the British Raj. The state of Lia and Dir was formally recognized as an independent state by the British Raj.

After that, Sharif Khan remained the Nawab of Deer till 1904, but the state did not make any progress during his tenure because of lack of resources on the one hand and political infighting on the other hand.

Apart from this, the state was also economically weak, while the leaders who rose against the British rule at that time, ‘Sartur Faqir’, were also a challenge, whose supporters included people with religious tendencies.

After the death of Sharif Khan, the first Nawab of Dir, his son Muhammad Aurangzeb Khan (Chada Nawab) was elected Nawab of Dir in 1904.

According to Sulaiman Shahid’s book ‘Anonymous State’ written on the state of Dir, they were called chada (dumb) because when they were born, they accidentally fell into the water due to which their power of speech was affected.

According to historians, Chada Nawab was the Nawab of Dir for about 20 years and during his reign, there were about 45 major and minor battles between Dir State and Swat State.

At that time there were boundary disputes between Dir and Swat and in 1923 a treaty was signed between the Nawabs of Swat and Dir, which determined the boundaries of the states of Dir and Swat.

After Chada Nawab, in 1924, his son Muhammad Shah Jahan Khan was elected Nawab of Dir state.

According to the paper, during the reign of Shah Jahan Khan, his ministers and advisers were highly corrupt because Shah Jahan Khan had little interest in the affairs of the state.

According to Peshawar University thesis, Shah Jahan Khan had full support of the British Raj, but the reign of Shah Jahan Khan is considered as the dark period of the late state because he banned education.

In this regard, Mahmood Zeib Khan, a member of the royal family, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party and has also been a provincial minister, told Independent Urdu: ‘The impression that Nawab Dir banned education is not correct because He had built different schools in different areas of the state at that time.’

Mehmood Zeib Khan said that at that time the situation was such that there was no formal system for education and that is why education was not given much attention, but now I have come into politics so that what is said about the royal family There is an impression that I can do something for the people in the field of education by proving it wrong.

The annexation of the State of Dir

Like other independent states, since Dir was an independent state, at the time of the partition of India, the state of Dir also decided to join Pakistan.

Mehmood Zeib Khan told Independent Urdu that after the partition of India, our elders were told to either join Pakistan or India and our elders decided to join Pakistan.

Mehmood Zeib said: ‘The status of independent state was abolished in 1969 when Nawab Shah Jahan Khan was arrested along with his son and detained in Lahore and his eldest son Nawab Shah Khusro was made Nawab, but with him a A political agent was also appointed.

He said that the terms of accession included the condition that there would be no taxes and the people of Dir would have the right to the resources available here and the Pakistani government would have no involvement in it.

Mehmood Zeb Khan’s brother Nawabzah Aurangzeb Khan said that it was stipulated that royals would be given formal protocol and would have the status of an ambassador, but later this did not happen.

How is the delay after accession?

Mehmood Zeib Khan said that after the accession, progress has definitely been made, but now there are many problems and they are not being given the attention they should be by the government.

According to him: ‘People are now thinking that there can be development here and the government needs to focus on this area. All the selected people here, they try something or the other, but there should be good education and health facilities.’

After the termination of independent status of Dir district, it was formally declared as a district in 1970, but all the laws of the Government of Pakistan were not implemented here, as in other administrative districts.