Dera Ismail Khan District - History

History

Dera Ismail Khan was created as an administrative unit of British India, part of the Derajat Division of the North-West Frontier Province, though this was not accepted by the local rulers. It was formerly divided into two almost equal portions by the Indus River, which intersected it from north to south. To the west of the Indus the characteristics of the country resembled those of Dera Ghazi Khan. This region included lar, home of the BALOCHS of lar. To the east of the present bed of the river there is a wide tract known as the Kachi, exposed to river action. Beyond this, the country rises abruptly, and a barren, almost desert plain stretches eastwards, sparsely cultivated, and inhabited by nomadic tribes of herdsmen. In 1901 the trans-Indus tract 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 Bannu districts now comprise the new Punjab district of Mianwali. Wheat and wool were exported. In 1901 it contained an area of 3,403 sq mi (8,810 km2) and a population of 252,379, chiefly Baluch and Pashtun Muslims. In 1947 it became part of the newly independent Pakistan.