Khattak Explained

Group:	Khattak
Native Name Lang:	ps
Languages:	Pashto
Religions:	Islam
Related Groups:	BannuzaiDawarWazirAfridi and other Karlani Pashtun tribes

The Khattak (Pushto; Pashto: خټک) tribe are a prominent Pashtun tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera, Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

History

Origins

Multiple historians have identified the Khattak with the Satragyddae or Sattagudai, an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe inhabiting Gandhara.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]} The Sattagudai (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σατταγύδαι) were a people mentioned by Herodotus in connection to people under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire.^[8] According to Herodotus:^{[9] [10]}

According to Sir Olaf Caroe:^[10]

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,”
• Masood Sharif Khan Khattak, Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan
• Afrasiab Khattak, Socialist Politician and former Communist Party of Pakistan member who was alligned 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

• List of Khattaks
• Pashtun
• Pashtun culture
• Zazi
• Khattak dance

Further reading

• • Book: David M., Hart. Guardians of the Khaibar Pass, the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan. 7.

Notes and References

1. Web site: KINSHIP SYSTEM AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF A VILLAGE IN BALOCHISTAN (WORLD SYSTEM ANALYSIS AT MICRO LEVEL IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE). SAVAP International.
2. Guardians of the Khaibar Pass: the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan David M. Hart Page 7.
3. The races of Afghanistan being a brief account of the principal nations, By Henry Walter Bellew - 2004 - 124 pages - Page 85.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Qabila: tribal profiles and tribe-state relations in Morocco and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Frontier - By David M. Hart - - 2001 - 254 pages - Page 152.
7. Afghanistan of the Afghans - Bhavana Books & Prints, 2000 - 272 pages - Ikbal Ali Shah (Sirdar.) - Page 95.
8. Book: James Romm. Herodotus. Histories. 15 March 2014. Hackett Publishing. 978-1-62466-115-0. 181.
9. The Histories of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, Translation 1858–1860.
10. https://archive.org/stream/pathans550bcad19010338mbp/pathans550bcad19010338mbp_djvu.txt "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957 By Sir Olaf Caroe"
11. Deportation by the Assyrians, Makhzan-i Afghani, page 37: History of the Afghans
12. Book: Afghan Poetry: Selections from the poems of Khush Hal Khan Khattak., Biddulph, C.D., Saeed Book Bank, Peshawar, 1983 (reprint of 1890 ed.).
13. Book: Raverty, H. G.. Henry George Raverty. A Grammar of the Pukhto, Pushto: or Language of the Afghans . London . 1860. 9788120602670.
14. Book: Poems from the Diwan of Khushâl Khân Khattak. MacKenzie, D. N. . London . Allen & Unwin . 1965.
15. Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan : the role of post-conflict reconstruction . Nanyang Technological University . Sulaiman . Sadia. 2014 . 10.32657/10356/62530 . 10356/62530 . free .