Attock District - Pathans or Pashtuns

Pathans or Pashtuns

The Pashtun, or as they are referred to in the this region, Pathans, are found principally in the Attock District and belongs to Qais Abdur Rashid(father of all pashtuns). There are two Pathan settlements in that district, one in the south-west of Pindigheb Tehsil at Makhad and in the Narrara hills, the other in the Attock Tehsil, chiefly in the Chhachh illaqa. In addition, there are also a few scattered villages, in Rawalpindi District.Almost 50% of the population of this city near area chachh are of Pashtun) origin, who speak Hindko language. There is also significant villages of predominately Pashto speaking Pashtuns in Attock, who have managed to keep their Pashto language, but are often bilingual in both Hindko and Pashto. The remaining population consists of Sayyeds, Gujjars and other non-Pathan tribes.

A large percentage of the population of Chhachh have Pashtun roots and are mostly descendants of the tribes of SHEIKH Durrani, Bangash, Alizai, Yousafzai, Kakar, Dilazak, Tareen, Tahir Khel (Tahirkheli), Qazikhel, khattak, Tanoli, Sadozai and Barakzai. They arrived in the area around 1000 AD as part of the army of Mahmud of Ghazni and made it their permanent home after defeating the Hindu confederation near Hazro.

Proof of this is that many of the villages & individual quarters of chach are named after certain Pakhtun personalities & tribes, markedly proving who had founded them. For example Aka Khel, Nasozai, ], Saleem Khan, Ghorghushti, Adalzai, Musazai tribes People live in Barazai, Sarkani Tribes people live in Behboodi and Umarzai people live in Malal Mala and Shinka etc. Most of these Pashtuns now refer to themselves as Pathans and speak Hindko as their main language, were as the Pashto speaking Pashtuns are still referred to as Pashtuns.

Some of the Pashto speaking Pashtuns of chach (Attock) belong to the following Pashtun tribes namely Ismail Khel, Tarakhel Khel, Salat Khel, Hisab (Yusuf) Khel, Tur Khel and Babarkarzai. There is also a steady flow of Pashtuns from Afghanistan settling into the area, and are hospitably welcomed by the local Pashtuns.

Chach Pashtuns are revered for their fighting ability in ancient times and more recently for their many advancements in education, culture, and society. It is claimed that Hindko was the original ancient language of Chhachh when it was part of the Gandhara civilisation and was adopted over time by the Pashtun tribes of the area.

According to the 1901 Census of India, these were the main sub-divisions of the Pathans in Attock District.