Bannu - بنوں

Bannu is mainly an administrative headquarter and an army garrison. It is an important junction on the Peshawar – Quetta road. It is surrounded by the Kohat district to the North, the Tochi Valleys of the North Waziristan Tribal agency to the west, and Lakki Marwat district to the south. Bannu lies in the north west corner of the disctrict in the valley of Kurram River. In addition to the Kurram river, other streams flowing in/around the district are the Indus and the Gambila. River Gambila is a tributary of the River Kurram. Both of them fall into the River Indus. The Indus is nowhere bridged within the district and is navigable for native boats throughout its course of 76 m. The valley of Bannu proper, stretching to the foot of the frontier hills, forms an irregular oval, measuring 60 m. from north to south and about 40 m from east to west. In 1901 the population was 231,485, of whom the great majority were Mahommedans. Bannu is famous for its flat bread called ‘dodi’ and its dates. The area of Bannu is 1680 square miles.

The inhabitants of this district have always been very independent and stubbornly resisted the Afghan and Sikh predecessors of the British.In the 1840s, the Sikhs attacked Bannu during their conquests but were unable to conquer the feisty Bannuchis. Thus they periodically plundered the countryside. During the time of the British, a British Commander Sir Herbert Edwardes, who was also a British advisor to the Sikhs, so successfully won the Bannuchis trust that he persuaded them to submit to the Sikhs. He later on joined hands with the Bannuchis himself to drive the Sikh’s out. After the annexation of the Punjab the valley was administered by Herbert Edwardes so thoroughly that it became a source of strength instead of weakness during the Mutiny of 1857. The Bannu cantonment and the City walls were Edwardes projects. During the British times, Bannu was known as Edwardesabad. At that time, there were lots of guns in evidence and occasional gunfire as well. Now, it is a hustling bustling market town with people from far and wide coming here for day to day routines.

Since it is a district capital, therefore most important offices and government organizations are also based here. The 1901 Constitution chartered District of Bannu to include Bannu and the Marwat Tahsils. The portions of this Bannu District (1901 Constitution) and Dera Ismail Khan District which were on the other banks of the River Indus have now been included into the Punjab Province as District Mianwali. The importance of Bannu lessened to some extent after the separation of Lakki Marwat which went on to become a district of its own. The people of Bannu hold a lot of grievances with the government for excluding their lands being passed over by the Peshawar to Karachi Indus Highway. As a result of this, Bannu has lost its status as an important stopping junction on this main route.

The principal tribes inhabiting the district are the Wazir, Marwats, Dawars, and the Bannuchis. Wazirs are recent immigrants from the hills and for the most part are peaceable and good cultivators. Marwats inhabit the lower and more sandy portions of the Bannu valley. Dawars and Wazirs are both from the Waziristan agencies and like others have mostly migrated to Bannu for economic reasons and to earn a livelihood. Bannuchis are the true inhabitants of the Bannu Valley and are a mongrel Afghan Tribe. The inhabitants of the valley itself are now peaceful, but it is always subject to incursion from the Wazir tribes in the Tochi valley and the neighbouring hills.

Salt is quarried on government account at Kalabagh and alum is largely obtained in the same neighborhood.

¯²{{{{²¯