Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) is located on the Highway of conquest. The vast History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was overrun again and again by successive invaders, beginning with the Aryans more than five thousand years ago. Then came the Persians, the Greeks, the Mauryans, the Bactrian Greeks, the Scythians, the Kushanas, the white Huns, and the Guptas. In the middle of the 17th century, the Pashtuns came into direct contact with the Muslims. By the 10th century, the Muslim Turks had established themselves in the region and drove the Hindu Shahiya kings of Kabul towards the south.
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| Bala Hisar Fort Peshawar |
Throughout the medieval period until the middle of the 18th century, the province remained part of the Muslim empires of North India. In the second half of the 18th century, the area came under the control of Ahmad Shah Durrani, who established the first national state of the Pashtun, i.e. Modern Afghanistan. The region remained part of Afghanistan till 1818 when the internal feuds for supremacy among various Pashtun clans provided a chance for Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of Punjab to conquer and subjugate the trans-Indus region as far as Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu, then Peshawar was taken in 1834 and the Sikhs remained the lords of the region until 1849 when they were defeated by the British and Punjab was annexed to the Raj along with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The region remained part of Punjab till 1901 when Lord Curzon the viceroy of India separated the five settled districts of Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan and joined them into five agencies of Malakand, Khyber, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan to form a separate Chief Commissioner's province called Northwest Frontier Province ( now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) of India.
Geography of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The geography of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is an area significant of its geostrategic and historical importance. The province of Pakistan is important for hills and they are a barrier. They are occupied by the valiant Pathans and no power including that of the British at its height has ever been able to establish full control over the people and the passes of the hills.
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| Geographical views of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
The KKP is largely located on the Iranian plateau and Eurasian land plate, while peripheral eastern regions are located near the Indian subcontinent and this has led to seismic activity in the past. Geographically the province could be divided into two zones, the northern one extending from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the borders of the Peshawar basin, and the southern one extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin. The northern zone is cold and snowy in winter with rainfall pleasant summers and relatively cold winters and scantly rainfall. Its climate varies from very cold( Chitral in the north) to very hot in places like D.I Khan. This is a province where each season casts its own spell. If spring is fragrant summer is warm, even hot in the valleys and invigoratingly cool on the mountain slopes. Autumn turns trees from russet to brilliant scarlet and yellow and winter ushers in freezing winds and snow.
The mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush to the north and northeast the Karakorum to the north and northeast and the Himalayas to the east accord the land a dramatic backdrop. Fertile narrow strips along the Indus, desert in the south, lush and wooded hills, many deeply indented valleys, terraced hillsides, tropical and sub-tropical forests, and barren and rocky regions. All have contributed to making this province most challenging and endearing. The major rivers that cross the province are the Kabul river, swat river, Chitral river, Panjgora river, Bara river, Karam river, Gomal river, and Zhob Rivers. The region has multicultural inhabitants that are adding colors to societal and cultural diversity.
Demography of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The province is inhabited by people who are known as Pakhtuns, who dominated the province However in Hazara and in Urban Dera Ismail Khan the Pakhtuns formed part of the mixed population of Awans, Gujars, Jats, and Balochs.
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| Cultural dress of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
According to the 1998 census, the total population of KPK was approximately 17 million out of whom 52% are male and 48% female. The density of the population is 187 per square kilometer and the intercensal change in population is about 30%. The population estimate in 2006 is in province 21,392,000 and in federally administered tribal areas, 3,621,000. A considerable number of Afghan refugees and their descendants are living in the province since the Soviet invasion (1979) of Afghanistan.
