The Khattak (Pashto: خټک) tribe are a prominent Pashtun tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera, Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
خټک | |
|---|---|
 Illustration of a Khattak Pashtun tribal chief of Jahangira in 1920 | |
| Languages | |
| Pashto | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bannuzai · Dawar · Wazir · Afridi and other Karlani Pashtun tribes |
History
Origins
Multiple British Raj historians have identified the Khattak with the Satragyddae or Sattagudai, an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe inhabiting Gandhara.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The Sattagudai (Ancient Greek: Σατταγύδαι) were a people mentioned by Herodotus in connection to people under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire.[9] According to Herodotus:[2][10]
The Sattagudai and the Gandarioi and the Dadikai and the Aparutai, who were all reckoned together paid 170 talents.
According to Sir Olaf Caroe:[10]
""Neither Khaṭaks nor Shitaks appear by name until the period of publication of genealogies under the Mughals, and the time of Akbar's dealings with the Khaṭaks for the protection of the highway to Peshawar. Babur indeed in his memoirs mentions the Karranis (Karlanis) whom he encountered in 1505 around Bannu along with the Niazis and Isakhel. It is probable that this reference of his is to Khattaks or Shitaks (Banuchis), or both, for both are Karlani tribes, and the other Karlanis who live in that area, Wazirs and Bangash, Babur mentions by name when he comes to them."
In Nimatullah's 1620 work History of The Afghans, the Khattaks are amongst the oldest of the Afghan tribes.[11]
Khushal Khan Khattak
A warrior poet by the name of Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1690) was once the chief of this tribe, and his contributions to Pashto literature are considered as classic texts.[12] His life and times are one of the most chronicled and discussed subjects in Pashtun history, as he was active on the political, social and intellectual fora of his times. He was a most voluminous writer, and composed no less than three hundred and sixty literary works, both in the Pashto and Persian languages.[13]
His poetry revolves around concepts of Pakhtunwali; Honour, Justice, Bravery and Nationalism and his works have been translated into numerous languages, English and Urdu being the primary ones.[14]
Notables
- Khushal Khan Khattak (1603–1689), A Pashtun tribal leader, poet, warrior who had organised tribes to fight against the Mughal Empire
- Sami al Haq - (1937–2018), Regarded as the "Father of the Taliban"[15]
- Pervez Khattak, (1950) 22nd Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan and current Minister of Defence of Pakistan
- Ajmal Khattak, (1925–2010) in Akora Khattak was a Pakistani politician, writer, Pashto poet, Khudai Khidmatgar, former President of Awami National Party
- Ghulam Faruque Khan (1899–1990) was a dynamic bureaucrat, politician, and industrialist of Pakistan. He belonged to the village Shaidu (Khan Khel) in Nowshera District. His contribution to Pakistan's industrial development he is sometimes described as "The Goliath who Industrialized Pakistan".
- Pareshan Khattak, (b. 10 December 1931 - d. 16 April 2009) from Karak Pakistan. His real name was Ghamay jan khattak "Pashto" پښتو" غمے جان خټک", he was a former Vice-Chancellor, Pashto poet and writer and former Chairman University Grants Commission of Pakistan. His books titled “Pukhtana Kochay,” “Dozakhi Pakhto,” “Drana Pukhtana,”
- Raj Wali Shah Khattak, Pashto language poet
- Masood Sharif Khan Khattak, Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan
- Shahid Ahmad Khattak, Member of National Assembly
- Afrasiab Khattak, Socialist Politician and former Communist Party of Pakistan member who was aligned with the Afghan PDPA in the 1980s
- Nasrullah Khan Khattak, Pakistani Politician and Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province
- Yusuf Khattak, Pakistani left-wing intellectual Politician, Pakistan Movement Activist, Federal Minister and statesman who represented Pakistan internationally
- Habibullah Khan Khattak, British Indian army officer who fought in the Burma Campaign during the Second World War and post-independence promoted as a Three Star rank Pakistan Army General, Minister and Industrialist
See also
References
- ^ "Kinship System And Social Organization Of A Village In Balochistan (World System Analysis At Micro Level In Anthropological Perspective)" (PDF). SAVAP International.
- ^ a b The Histories of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, Translation 1858–1860.
- ^ Guardians of the Khaibar Pass: the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan David M. Hart Page 7.
- ^ The races of Afghanistan being a brief account of the principal nations, By Henry Walter Bellew - 2004 - 124 pages - Page 85.
- ^ An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan: prepared and presented to the Ninth international congress of Orientalists, London, September, 1891 - The Oriental university institute, 1891 - 208 pages - pages 107,108,122.
- ^ A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province: Based on the census report for the Punjab, 1883 - Horace Arthur Rose, Sir Denzil Ibbetson, Sir Edward Maclagan - Printed by the superintendent, Government printing, Punjab, 1914 - Page 217.
- ^ Qabila: tribal profiles and tribe-state relations in Morocco and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Frontier - By David M. Hart - - 2001 - 254 pages - Page 152.
- ^ Afghanistan of the Afghans - Bhavana Books & Prints, 2000 - 272 pages - Ikbal Ali Shah (Sirdar.) - Page 95.
- ^ James Romm; Herodotus (15 March 2014). Histories. Hackett Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-62466-115-0.
- ^ a b "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957 By Sir Olaf Caroe"
- ^ Deportation by the Assyrians, Makhzan-i Afghani, page 37: History of the Afghans
- ^ Afghan Poetry: Selections from the poems of Khush Hal Khan Khattak., Biddulph, C.D., Saeed Book Bank, Peshawar, 1983 (reprint of 1890 ed.).
- ^ Raverty, H. G. (1860). A Grammar of the Pukhto, Pushto: or Language of the Afghans. London. ISBN 9788120602670.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ MacKenzie, D. N. (1965). Poems from the Diwan of Khushâl Khân Khattak. London: Allen & Unwin.
- ^ Sadia, Sulaiman (2014). Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan : the role of post-conflict reconstruction (Thesis). Nanyang Technological University. doi:10.32657/10356/62530. hdl:10356/62530.
Further reading
- Pelevin, Mikhail (2019). "Khaťak". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
- David M., Hart. Guardians of the Khaibar Pass, the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan. p. 7.