Lakki Marwat - لکي مروت

For Detailed History, click here

Lakki Marwat was created as an administrative district on the 1st of July 1992. Prior to that it was a part of the Bannu District. The district derives its name from the headquarter town. It lies at the tail of the Marwat area therefore the town is referred to as "Lakai". The literal meaning of the word is Tail. The Lakki (Lakai) town is inhabited by Marwats, hence the proper name Lakki Marwat is derived. According to elders of the area, the original founder of this town was Hindu by the name of Lakki Ram or Lukko Ram. Other sources claim the town was initially known as Ihsan Pur and was founded by a Malik named Fateh Khan Tiwana.

The district lies between 32-17 to 32-53 N Latitude and 70-23 to 71-16 E Longitude. It covers a total area of 3,164 Sq. Kilometers. It is bounded on the north by Bannu and Karak, to the east by Mianwali in Panjab, on the South East by Dera Ismail Khan district, and on the southwest by Tank District. To the west is the Tribal Areas of Tank District and South Waziristan Agency.

The climate of the district is mostly dry. Weather is hot in summer and cool in winter. The summer season begins from April and continues till October. June is the hottest month with mean maximum and minimum temperatures of about 42 and 27 Degree Celsius respectively. In May and June, the humidity is very low and therefore the area is under periodic storms. The hot wind, locally known as "Lu" blows across the district in these months. The cool wave starts from somewhere in October. December, January and February are the winter months. In winter, the daytime temperature is not very low, however there is a sharp decrease in night. The mean maximum and minimum temperatures during this period are 20 and 4 Degree Celsius respectively. Rainfall generally occurs in July and August.

Two views of the Gambila River near Omar Adda

History:

Marwats presently living in the districts of Lakki Marwat belong to the Matizai or Matizee branch of Pashtoons. Pashtoons can broadly be divided into five main branches, i.e., the Bitanis, Chrugh Ashtees, Sarbanees, Karlanis, and Matizees. Marwats who are descendants of Lohan, are also known as the Spin Lohani (The white Lohani). They originally lived in Katwaz in Afghansitan. According to the present boundaries of the provinces, Katwaz lies in the province of Paktia in Afghanistasn. The Marwats migrated to Damans, i.e., the present district of Tank. They settled down in the area of Daman. But the warrior tribe did not settle peacefully and took new feuds with their cousins; the Katti Khels and others.

Marwats temporarily camped around the Pezu Pass, attacked Tank with full might and drove the Katti Khels out of it, who later, with the help of Gandapurs recaptured their area, repulsing Marwats through Baini Pass to Pezu. The Niazi, a cousin tribe of the Lohanis, lived in at present abode Lakki. Their abode was at the northern bank of Gambila Rivers. The plains at the Right Bank of Gambila were used as their meadows. It was during the early reign of Akbar (1556-1605) when Marwats raided the Niazis with full force and eventually drove them towards their present abode Isa Khel (Tarna) district Mianwali, Punjab. The Marwats practically remained independent during the Mughal, Persian and Afghan reigns.

They provided as many as 200 mounted Sawaras for the Army of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1759) while he was on his way to Punjab via Bannu arming to invade India. The territory of Marwats came under the kingdom of Afghanistan and was ruled by the Durrani kings for more than 70 years, but practically they remained independent.

In the beginning of the 19th century, Marwats fell in severe disunity and were engaged in internal feuds. Nawab Hafiz Ahmad Khan of Mankera (Now in the district of Bhakkar, Punjab) took advantages and captured the area in 1819. He, However, had to abandon his hold of the area in favour of the Sikhs in 1823 after retaining it for more than four years. In 1836 Maharaja Ranjeet Singh formally annexed Marwats completely. Lt. Reynell Taylor captured the Marwat area, put an end with the Sikhs rule over the area and established British Rule on 11 January 1849.

The Marwats arrived in this area, during the early years of the reign of King Akbar (1556-1605). In 1844, one Malik Fateh Khan Tiwana built and garrisoned a small fort in the heart of Marwat and induced by threat and promises many of the leading classes settled near it. He called his town Ihsan Pur later known as old Lakki. It continued to be the capital of Marwat till 1864.

Major Urmston, the then Deputy Commissioner allowed its inhabitants to flit across to the right bank of the Gambila and settled amongst the sandy cluster of villages named Mina Khel, Khoidad Khel and Syed Khel (now Lakki city). Lakki Town then comprised these three villages. At the annexation of Punjab in 1849, trans-Indus portion of Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan were formed into a district with the headquarters at Bannu. Lt. Reynell Taylor was appointed as the first Deputy Commissioner of the district.

Derajat came into being on Ist January 1861, after breaking up of the district Layyah Division. District Bannu, which was constituted the same year, was divided into two tehsils of Bannu and Lakki. Lakki Marwat became sub-division in October 1950 and upgraded as an independent district in July 1992. The Naurang Tehsil was created in september 2003 by the orders of the Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani.

Clothing:

The main articles of a man's dress in the rural areas as well as in the towns are a turban, long loose tunic or "kamees" and loose long trousers or "lang" drawn tightly above the ankles. A sheet is also worn as a plaid called "chadar" over the shoulders as a waistcoat. The poorest classes just like everywhere wear the sheet as a covering to their legs. Leather sandals are still in use amongst the poorest as well as middle classes. However, travelling zamindars (tillers) generally take off shoes and walk barefoot. The colour of turbans used mostly by Marwat tribes are Dark Green, White, Cream, and Light Grey. It is hardly necessary to particularize dress of the women. In remote villages, women dress generally consists of a sheet, bodice and very loose trouser. Besides the present change in the fashion most of the townsmen as well as villagers wear modern tailored shalwar and kamees without turban and sheets on shoulder. Dress trend is fast changing with fashion.

Physical Features:

The main constituents of the soils in Lakki Marwat are deep excessively drained, calcareous and coarse textured (sand and loamy sand) developed from the Silwalik sandstone of Shinghar and Marwat range piedmont material. The fine textured soils (sandy clay and clay loam) of the area are developed from variety of rocks of Bhittani and Waziristan ranges. The soils occur on leveled to nearly position in piedmont plains. Climate of the area is arid to semi arid and sub-tropical continental. The soils are used for dry farming and torrent water cultivation.

Topography:

The topography of the district is a combination of hills and plains. The hilly areas are along the boundaries of the district especially in the east, southeast, southwest and northwest. In the southeast, the Marwat range separates Lakki Marwat from DI Khan district while in the east the Karak Niazi range separates it from Mianwali district. It is surrounded by Bittani range on the west and southwest, which separates it from Tank districts and the tribal Area adjoining Tank district and South Waziristan Ageny. The Marwat range culminates and Bhittani ranges starts near Sheikh Badin. The general elevation of these hills ranges from 500 to 1000 meters above sea level. The land beyond these hills gradually slopes to the central part, which looks like a basin. A large number of stream flow from the surrounding hills, the Kurram river flows through the district from north west to the south east and joins the Indus river south of Isa Khel town. Its important tributary is Gambila River. The major part of this basin is an alluvial plain. The northern portion of this plain is situated chiefly in the Kurram Gambila Doaba and irrigated by Kurram River. It is a flat sandy area. The southern part is made up of undulating dunes of sand, furrowed at regular intervals by deep torrent beds which carry the drainage of the Marwat and Bhittani ranges to the Gambila. It is good for cultivation, water table is quite deep below the soil surface. In the western portion of the district, the soil is fairly stiff clay covered by a layer of stones at the foot of the hills. The whole district is intersected by numerous hill torrents and deep ravines. The general elevation of the plain area is about 200 to 300 meters above sea level.

Geology:

The Lakki is underlain by thick blanket of alluvial plain, which consist of unconsolidated, quaternary deposits, consisting of sand, silt gravels and clay. This plain is bounded by Sheen Ghar Bhittani ranges, which are assemblage of the sandstone, and carbonates. The foothills of these ranges are dominantly composed of loose boulders of the sandstone of variable shapes and sizes. These are detached from the higher ranges by the diurnal changes of temperature and have been transported to the plains by the streams. The talus is of variable size and shape and are dominantly sandy and arenaceous in composition.

Lucky Cement Factory from atop Sheikh Badin Mountain.
The factory is Asias 2nd Largest with production reaching 4000 Tonnes Per Day

Mining:

The precious minerals of the day like uranium, salica sand, limestone, building stone, fire clay, gypsum, plotter's clay etc. are found here on both sides of Kurram and Gambila rivers as well as in Pezu hill.

Insignias and Flags:

Acknowledgements

Logos Designed by Dr. Tariq Saleem Marwat
http://www.marwat.com/lakki

Statistics & Info: Lakki Marwat
http://www.lakkimarwat.freeservers.com

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