From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the pastWylly, H. C. (Harold Carmichael)
History
From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past
The first-named live for the most part in Upper Miranzai—that is to say,
west of Kai, but some of them inhabit villages nearer to Kohat, and a
few, again, live in the Kurram. The Samilzai are to be found some in the
Kurram and some in Lower Miranzai; while the Baizai live chiefly in the
Kohat Valley proper. The Baizai claim that in the days of the Mogul
emperors they received an allowance for holding the crest of the Kotal
of the Kohat Pass; and as a solution of the difficulties about the pass
in 1853, to which allusion is made elsewhere, they petitioned to be
allowed to resume their ancient responsibilities. Their request was
granted, but they proved unable to hold the position against Afridi
attack, and an arrangement was come to under which four different clans,
the Baizai Bangash included, received grants for keeping open the pass.
These they still retain, and up to 1882, when the management of the pass
was transferred to the Deputy-Commissioner, the chief of the Baizai was
in charge of the Kohat Pass arrangements. The Bangash have themselves
given us little or no trouble, but have suffered much by being unusually
exposed to the raids of neighbouring tribes.
_The Zaimukhts._—This tribe are also known as Zwaimukht and Zaimusht;
they are of Afghan stock and live on the southern slopes of the Zawa
Ghar Range, having for their neighbours, on the north-west the Turis, on
the north and east the Orakzais, and on the south and south-west the
Bangash. With every one of these the Zaimukhts are at feud. Their
country is very fertile, and they own, too, a number of villages in the
Kurram and Miranzai valleys in British territory. They are strong,
well-built men with pleasing features, and can muster some 2300 armed
men, who appear to possess good fighting qualities, but so far none of
the tribesmen have taken service either in the Indian Army or in the
local militia. They are all Sunni in religion and Samil in politics.
[Sidenote: The Zaimukht Tribe]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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