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Malakand District
Malakand Division is an administrative division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It contains the following districts:

Districts[edit | edit source]

 * Bajaur District
 * Buner District
 * Central Dir District
 * Upper Chitral District
 * Lower Chitral District
 * Lower Dir District
 * Upper Dir District
 * Malakand District
 * Shangla District
 * Swat District

Geography[edit | edit source]
The soil of Malakand is loamy and moist, and is irrigated by the Swat River which flows down from Swat, passing through Swat Ranizai and joins the river Kabul near Charsadda. The average rainfall is not enough, therefore the soil requires artificial irrigation.

There are rare scenic places and tourist resorts in Malakand like Jabban and Malakand hydro-electric project. Water passes through a three-mile-long tunnel, and has a natural fall of 350 feet. The main income-generating source in Malakand is the two power houses at Dargai and Malakand Khas. There are about 11 other suitable sites for construction of Small Hydel Power projects that needed investors' attention.

Malakand's mountains are rich with mineral resources. Deposits of Chromite Iron, China Clay and Fuller's Earth have been found in Malakand.

History
Until 1970, it was a part of the Malakand Protected Area of the erstwhile Provincially Administered Tribal Area(PATA) of Pakistan. In 1970, the district became part of the Malakand Division.[citation needed]

Malakand District lies at a strategically important position as it acts as a gateway to the Bajaur, Lower Dir, Swat and Bunair districts.[citation needed] It is surrounded by mountains that were covered with the varieties of trees, though they have a barren appearance nowadays. The Malakand Pass which connects Mardan to Swat and Dir is located near a region of Malakand called Dargai, a site where the local Pushtun tribes fought two fierce battles with the Imperial British Army in 1895 and

1897 (Siege of Malakand).

The Swat River flows downwards through the district towards the Charsadda District  where it falls into the Kabul River. Malakand District is bounded in the north by the Lower Dir District, in the east by the Swat District, in the west by Mohmand and Bajaur districts and in the southeast and southwest by the Mardan and Charsadda districts respectively. The area of Malakand protected area is 952 km2

New Division
On December 2021 Chief Minister Mahmood Khan announced that Malakand Division would be divided into two separate divisions in order to improve the services and to facilitate the people. the proposed name for the new division is "Dir or Panjkora" division.

Subdivisions[edit | edit source]

 * 1) Swat Ranizai (Batkhela) (Urdu: تحصیل سوات رانیزئی)(Pashto: سوات رانيزي تحصیل‎)
 * 2) Sam Ranizai (Urdu: تحصیل سام رانیزئی)(Pashto: سام رانيزي تحصیل‎)
 * 3) Thana Baizai Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل تھانہ بائزئی)(Pashto: تانی بايزي تحصیل‎)

National assembly[edit | edit source]
This district is represented by one elected MNA (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituency is NA-35.

Provincial Assembly[edit | edit source]
The district of Malakand is divided into two Tehsils:

1. Swat Ranizai (Batkhela):

Batkhela is the main tehsil and capital of Malakand District. During the era of Ashoka and Kanishka Batkhela was ruled by a leader named Butt hence the city has been given the name Batkhela. According to the 1998 census, the population of Batkhela is 38,222, and it is estimated to be 39,703 according to the World Gazetteer. This valley is covered by tall hills from all sides and there are many fast-flowing rivers in the area. One water canal that pours into a small dam in Jaban area is the main source of electricity production.

Batkhela main bazaar is more than 3 kilometers long; there are no intersections (junctions) so no traffic lights. Therefore, it is the longest bazaar that has no traffic lights or junctions (intersections) on it.

2. Sama Ranizai (Dargai):

Dargai is one of the tehsils of Malakand District. Dargai is located on main N-45 highway from Nowshera to Pulchokai N-95 Swat, Dir(L), Dir(U) and Chitral. Most of the Conquerors, Traders tourists going to these areas had to take Dargai, Batkhela route so business flourished in Dargai and Batkhela. Due to recent law and order situation tourists going to Swat have considerably decreased affecting people's business here. Dargai is known for its Timber Market and Batkhela for its wholesale Market.

Dargai and Batkhela are known for their battles during British rule. The British commenced their campaign against Malakand in 1853 and spread its sphere of influence to the whole Malakand since then.

There are rare scenic places and tourist resorts in Dargai like Jabban and Malakand hydro-electric project. Water passes through a three-mile long tunnel, and has a natural fall of 350 feet. There are two power houses at Dargai and Malakand Khas. A third power plant of 81MW has recently been constructed in Dargai on Wartair side. Dargai is also home to Punjab Regminent Centre located Near Dargai Railway Station.

Media[edit | edit source]
There are several cable operators which provide channels with one or two video channels. Manend Media is a recent addition to the media of Pakhtunkhwa and Malakand. It currently runs a News Paper Manend Aaina, a Web TV Manend TV, a Radio Channel Manend Radio and a Social Madia. It is also called Manend News Paper, Manend Akhbar, News Paper of Malakand, News Paper of Pakhtunkhwa Manend e Aaina, The Mirror, Manend TV, Manend Radio etc. This news paper has an online epaper with the name of Manend Epaper.

Demographics[edit | edit source]
At the time of 2023 census the district had 1,345,243 households and a population of 9,959,399 and average household size is 7.40. At the time of the 2017 census the district had 90,291 households and a population of 717,806, of which were males and females. Rural population was 650,120 (90.57%) while the urban population was. Malakand had a sex ratio of 991 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 61.83% - 74.45% for males and 49.45% for females. 67,686 (9.43%) lived in urban areas. 30.81% of the population were under 10 years of age. 471 (0.07%) people in the district were from religious minorities. Pashto was the predominant language, spoken by 98.38% of the population.

Utmankhel is the largest Pashtun tribe living in malakand. A part of Malakand is occupied by the Yusufzai clan of Pashtuns Known As Ranizai, while towards the south, at the bottom of Malakand Pass, live the Ranizais known as Sam Ranizai. Dargai and Sakhakot are well known town in Sama Ranizai. Those living beyond the pass towards Swat are Swat Ranizai. This is also evident in the administration division; where one is called the Swat Ranizai and the other as Sam Ranizai. There are also migrants from Ghazni, Afghanistan living in Shingray near Shergarh which are the Jalalzai tribe of the Pashtuns. District Malakand has boundaries, to east Palay with Mardan District, to south Shergarh with Mardan District, south east Bangla Harichand with Charsadda District, to west Prang Ghar with Mohmand Agency and Selay Pate with Bajaur Agency, north west Chakdara with Lower Dir District and Swat to north.

The control of law and order within the Malakand District lies with a paramilitary force called Malakand Levies which is modelled after the Malakand Field Force of British times.[citation needed]

References[edit | edit source]

 * 1) https://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/population/2023/KP.pdf
 * 2) https://cmd.kp.gov.pk/page/district_wise_population_of_malakand_division
 * 3) https://www.medals.org.uk/united-kingdom/united-kingdom133.htm
 * 4) https://www.pbs.gov.pk/census-2017-district-wise
 * 5) 1998 District Census report of Malakand. Census publication. Vol. 76. Islamabad: Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan. 2000. p. 27.
 * 6) Beecham, Simon; Piantadosi, Julia (2018-10-04). Water Resources in a Variable and Changing Climate. MDPI. p. 182. ISBN  978-3-03842-083-5.