# Bannu District

Bannu District (Pashto: بنو ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع بنوں) is a district in the Bannu Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Its status as a district was formally recorded in 1861 during the British Raj.$^{:3}$
This district constitutes one of the 26 districts that collectively form the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It borders North Waziristan to the northwest, Karak to the northeast, Lakki Marwat and Bettani to the southeast, and South Waziristan to the southwest. It is represented in the provincial assembly by four MPAs.$^{:3–16}$
Cloth weaving, sugar mills and the manufacturing of cotton fabrics, machinery and equipment are the major industries in Bannu. It is also known for its weekly Jumma fair. The district forms a basin drained by the Kurram and Gambila (or Tochi) rivers, which originate in the hills of Waziristan. Although Bannu is surrounded by rugged and dry mountains, it is a fertile place, and early English visitors had been known to refer to it as a "paradise" – see the description by Edwardes quoted by Thornton.$^{:6–7}$

## Physical features

The district forms a basin drained by the Kurram River, Gambila River and Tochi river$^{:392}$ which originate in the hills of Waziristan. Extending its reach to the base of the frontier hills, the Bannu Valley unfolds as an asymmetrical oval, spanning 60 miles (97 km) from north to south and 40 miles (64 km) from east to west.

## History

The history of Bannu goes back to prehistoric times due to its strategic location. Notably, Sheri Khan Tarakai is an ancient settlement site located in the Bannu District. Here, remnants bear witness to the presence of the most ancient village settlement within the Bannu region. This site witnessed occupation from the late fifth century to the early third millennium BC.
The sacred texts of Zend Avesta and Vendidad mentions Varəna, the Avestan predecessor of the name for Bannu, as one of the sixteen most beautiful and perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda. Bannu is the homeland and birthplace of Fereydun.$^{:47–50}$
Malik Dilasa Khan had also fought a successful battle against the sikh empire. in which he killed one of the prominent Sikh Military commander Jai Singh Atariwala in the Battle of Bannu.

### British era (1849–1947)

Bannu district was annexed by the British from its former Sikh rulers after the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848–1849. After the British annexation of Punjab, then including parts of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), the valley was administered by Herbert Edwardes. As a result of his administration, the region became a source of strong support, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Although the valley itself was peaceful, it was subject to incursions from the Waziri tribes of the Tochi Valley and the neighbouring hills. The primary export of the region was wheat, Salt and alum were also quarried at Kalabagh.
As of 1911, the Indus had no bridges within the district, but was navigable for local boats throughout its course of 76 mi (122 km).

### Bannu Jirga (1947)

On 21 June 1947 in Bannu, a jirga was held by Pashtun leaders including Bacha Khan, his brother Chief Minister Dr Khan Sahib, the Khudai Khidmatgars, members of the Provincial Assembly, Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), and other tribal chiefs, just seven weeks before the Partition of India. The jirga declared the Bannu Resolution, which demanded that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun territories of British India, instead of being made to join either India or Pakistan. However, the British Raj refused to comply with the demand of this resolution, in response to which the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted the 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum for merging the province into Pakistan.

### Pashtun National Jirga (2022)

On 11–14 March 2022, the Pashtun National Jirga was held at Mirakhel in Bannu District in order to defend the rights of the Pashtun people in the country. The critical issues which were faced by the Pashtuns were discussed during the jirga in a bid to suggest solutions to them.

## Administrative subdivisions

Bannu District is divided into 6 Tehsils and 46 union councils.
* Bannu Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل بنوں)(Pashto: بنو تحصیل‎)
* Domel Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل ڈومیل)(Pashto: ډومیل تحصیل‎)
* Kakki Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل ککی)(Pashto: ککي تحصیل‎)
* Baka Khel Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل بکاخیل)(Pashto: بکاخېل تحصیل‎)
* Miryan Tehsil (Urdu: تحصیل میریان)(Pashto: میریان تحصیل‎)
* Wazir Tehsil

## Provincial and National Assembly Seats

The district has 4 Provincial Seats in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly while it has 1 seat in National Assembly.

### National Assembly

* NA-39 (Bannu)
| Election | Member | Party |
| 2002 | Maulana Syed Nasib Ali Shah | MMA |
| 2008 | Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman | MMA |
| 2013 | Akram Khan Durrani | JUI (F) |
| 2018 | Imran Khan | PTI |
| 2018 (by-election) | Zahid Akram Durrani | MMA |

### Provincial Assembly

| Member of Provincial Assembly | Party Affiliation | Constituency | Year |
| Sher Azam Khan | Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians | Bannu-I | 2018 |
| Pakhtoon Yar Khan | Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf | Bannu-II | 2018 |
| Shah Muhammad Khan | Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf | Bannu-III | 2018 |
| Akram Khan Durrani | Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal | Bannu-IV | 2018 |

## Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Bannu district has 183,130 households and a population of 1,357,890. The district has a sex ratio of 108.33 males to 100 females and a literacy rate of 41.75%: 58.47% for males and 23.84% for females. 445,307 (32.87% of the surveyed population) are under 10 years of age. 48,398 (3.56%) live in urban areas. Pashto is the predominant language, spoken by 99.09% of the population.

### Religion

Religion in Bannu District :
| | 1941 | 1941 | 2017 | 2017 | 2023 | 2023 |
| Religion | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Islam | 157,097 | 83.74% | 1,208,054 | 99.82% | 1,349,359 | 99.61% |
| Hinduism | 24,517 | 13.07% | 275 | 0.02% | 279 | 0.02% |
| Sikhism | 5,285 | 2.82% | — | — | 22 | ~0% |
| Christianity | 467 | 0.25% | 1,494 | 0.12% | 4,844 | 0.36% |
| Others | 232 | 0.12% | 360 | 0.04% | 170 | 0.01% |
| Total Population | 187,598 | 100% | 1,210,183 | 100% | 1,354,674 | 100% |
Religious groups in Bannu District (British North-West Frontier Province era) :
| Religious group | 1881 | 1881 | 1891 | 1891 | 1901 | 1901 | 1911 | 1911 | 1921 | 1921 | 1931 | 1931 | 1941 | 1941 |
| Religious group | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Islam | 301,002 | 90.51% | 337,269 | 90.6% | 206,429 | 89.18% | 225,374 | 90.12% | 219,695 | 89.04% | 237,674 | 87.93% | 257,648 | 87.06% |
| Hinduism | 30,643 | 9.21% | 33,832 | 9.09% | 22,178 | 9.58% | 20,721 | 8.29% | 23,509 | 9.53% | 26,181 | 9.69% | 31,471 | 10.63% |
| Sikhism | 790 | 0.24% | 1,062 | 0.29% | 2,673 | 1.15% | 3,746 | 1.5% | 3,286 | 1.33% | 5,482 | 2.03% | 6,112 | 2.07% |
| Christianity | 82 | 0.02% | 58 | 0.02% | 183 | 0.08% | 245 | 0.1% | 244 | 0.1% | 964 | 0.36% | 699 | 0.24% |
| Jainism | 60 | 0.02% | 55 | 0.01% | 22 | 0.01% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Zoroastrianism | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Buddhism | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Judaism | — | — | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Others | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Total population | 332,577 | 100% | 372,276 | 100% | 231,485 | 100% | 250,086 | 100% | 246,734 | 100% | 270,301 | 100% | 295,930 | 100% |
| Note1: British North-West Frontier Province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases. Note2: Population decrease noted between 1891 census and 1901 census due to the creation of British North-West Frontier Province, bifurcating from British Punjab province. The trans-Indus tract of Bannu district was allotted to the newly formed North-West Frontier Province, the cis-Indus tract remaining in the Punjab jurisdiction. The cis-Indus portions of the Dera Ismail Khan and the Bannu districts would comprise the new Punjab district of Mianwali. |||||||||||||||

### Language

* Pashto (52.79%)
* Punjabi (46.69%)
* Hindustani (0.33%)
* Other (0.19%)

## Universities in Bannu

District Bannu has two Universities with one i.e University of Science & Technology, Bannu (USTB), founded in 2005 by Mr. Akram Khan Durrani, the then Chief Minister, has a full degree awarding status and another one as a campus of the University of Engineering & Technology (UET), Peshawar. USTB offers a wide variety of courses in Science, Engineering and Arts subjects at Bachelors, Master and PhD level. These universities host students from District Bannu, the neighboring districts of Lakki Marwat, Karak, Waziristan as well as from all over Pakistan.