Khyber Agency

Khyber (Urdu: خیبر) is a tribal area in FATA region of Pakistan.

Ov erview

З Area: 2,576 kmВ

З Population: 546,730

З Administrative Units: Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal subdivisions

З Major crops: Wheat, maize, sugarcane, rice.

З Water resources: Canals 85.79 kmВ, tube wells 8.15 kmВ

З Transport and communications:

З Total length of paved roads: 335.52 km

З Total length of unpaved roads: 372.16 km

Important roads

Jamrud-Torkham road (41 km) connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan border at Torkham (N-5 at the charge of National Highway Authority).

Landi Kotal-Mullagori road 64 kilometers connecting Peshawar with Landi Kotal-Torkham as alternate route.

Frontier roads 19.75 km connecting National Highway at Jamrud with Bara Tehsil and onward Peshawar, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan road via Mattani.

Bara Tehsil Dogra Fort Salop 13 km connecting Peshawar with Bara and onward Tirah Valley.

Shingled road connecting Orakzai with Khyber Agency from Spin Qabar... completed... 6 km (Under construction 15 km including bridge).

There are also two important dirt tracks leading into Tirah up to Mustak, and Bazaar Zakha Khel up to Alwai. These are planned to be paved and constructed upto the end of Tirah to the border of Kurram Agency.

Important peaks

З Mitughar

З Lakasar

З Rotaz

З Naraghar

З Luzaka

З Takhtakai

З Sandapal

З Tor Ghar

З Soor Ghar

З Ganjai

З Malai Ghar

Flora and fauna

The hills of Khyber Pass are rocky, bare, precipitous and irregular. Due to the abuse of vegetational cover in this track only shrubs and bushes remain which, however, yield considerable firewood and pasture. In Tirah, patches of suitable forest exist containing ulmanza or cedrus deodarus or deodar, syrup or abies webbiana, prosopis, kao, zizypus, gurgurra, nakhtar blue pine or pinus excelsea, sanatha, oak, kail, fir, spruce, chalghoza or edible pine, walnuts, phulai, chestnut, olea cuspidata and dodonea viscosa. Fruit plants include apple, pear, apricot, pomegranates, grapes, mulberry, and walnuts grown in Tirah. The fauna available in Khyber Agency is mostly in Tirah valley. Mountain sheep, black bear, leopard, jackals, hyena, fox, wolf, monkey, etc are found from place to place.

Geography

Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass is bounded on the north by the Kabul River and the Sufaid Koh (White Mountain); on the east by the Peshawar Valley; on the south by the Aka Khel Territory and Orakzai Agency; and on the West by Afghanistan. Its total area is approximately 545 kmВ and population 45,000. Its terrain is mostly rugged, barren, and arid. If the hills had any forestation in the past, today they are completely denuded by their reckless use and the subsequent soil erosion and adverse climatic changes. The poet Hafeez Jalandhri says "neither the grass hither nor the flowers bloom. But even the skies bow down to kiss this highland plume." And James W. Spain observed, "history hangs heavy on the Khyber and has left its mark upon its sombre stone. Ground into dust of the Pass is Persian gold, Greek iron, Tartar leather, Moghul gems, and Afghan silver and British steel. All have watered it with their blood." Interspersed among these dry and parched hills are narrow and shallow ravine and valleys inhabited by the local population, some of them living there from time immemorial while most of them would be subject to seasonal migrations to the more temperate plains in the unbearable winter. These valleys are irrigated by scant, intermittent rains and snowfall, and cultivated for food and fodder.

Tirah

On the northwest of the Khyber lies the larger and mot fertile Tirah Valley, the original home of all the Afridi tribes. Cut off from the rest of the civilized world by any road, railway or air link, and without any vestige of modern civilization, it is a sort of no man's land ruled (or misruled) by the indigenous people themselves under the age-less law called Pakhtoonwali (the Pakhtoon code of conduct), effected by it or a Jirga system, involving the tribal elders as the judges as well as executioners of their rulings.

This vast, and at places extensively cultivated area, bounded by pockets of alpine forests, utterly lacks any internal communication system either. At best it is criss-crossed by mule tracks, and pack animals are used for the transport of goods from place to place, and long and tedious journeys are trusted to the power and perseverance of human feet and their supporting muscles. The indigenous people lead the most primitive life under pathetic poverty, inhuman ignorance and biblical simplicity. They live in strong and well-fortified mud-houses, built at respectable distances from each other, with high towers to defend themselves not only from the vagaries of nature and ferocity of wild life, but also the treachery of the 'tarboor' (cousin). The whole tribal set up suffers from a centuries-old tradition of internecine feuds, in which the cousin is usually the worst enemy. An oft-quoted proverb says: "Even if your cousin is your right hand, chop it off."

The valley has thick alpine forestation on the higher reaches and fertile plains in the laps of hills irrigated by natural springs or seasonal floods or the Bara River, which is a perennial source of irrigation in its delta. With the passage of time, the pressure of population gradually increases there and together with the economic significance of timber trade, they pose a serious threat to the remaining, meager forestation there. However, due to sheer physical hardships, the valley is still thinly populated, also necessitating seasonal migrations to the warmer and more fertile Peshawar plains. Back at home also they depend for supply of articles of daily necessity mainly on Peshawar, which they carry on their mules, all the way through the rugged hills. Their economy depends upon agriculture, timber trade, livestock and dry fruit. They grow their own food and vegetables but for tea, sugar and cloth etc., they depend on external supply. The people of the valley have also recently taken to transport and business in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.