Miani (Pashtun tribe)
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan, Pakistan | |
| Languages | |
| Pashto, Urdu, Dari | |
| Religion | |
| Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Pashtun tribes, other Iranian peoples |
Miani (Pashto: Mianrhi) is a pashtun tribe which is the sub tribe of Sherani that are descendents of Saraban, the son of Qais Abdur Raseed. Now they are recognized as a separate tribe which mainly inhabit the Gomal plains of Pakistan in the Tank District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was formerly North-West Frontier Province. Major portion of the tribe also reside in Dera Ismael Khan ( kokar, Mandhran, Pusha Pull, Baloch Wanda etc ) Panjab (Riaz Abad, Muzaffar gharh, Chowk Azam, Jhang etc) and Balochistan ( Harnai)
Historically Mianis have been migratory Tribe migrating between the Derajat Pakistan and Afghanistan though historical Gomal Pass. Many of them settled in the Gomal plains by 1850.
History
[edit]Gomal plains
[edit]
Though initially a nomadic tribe, Mianis settled in the Gomal plains by or before 1850.[citation needed] The estimated population of the Miani tribe was about 800 in the 1870s. They were a semi-independent group that lived along the Tank border, except for the hot season, when they moved into the hills.[1]
An important technique that the British used to manage the frontier was to make certain tribes responsible for monitoring who had passes to travel on particular routes into the hills. They called this “pass responsibility”.[2] The Bhitannis first accepted pass responsibility on the Tank frontier.[3] Then, pass responsibility for the Girni, Murtuza and Manjhi posts was assigned to the Miani and Ghurezai tribes in 1876.[4] That year, they also accepted responsibility for monitoring passage into the Gomal Valley, as did a portion of the Ghwarazai that lived away from the other clan members of the Kakar tribe of Baluchistan.[3]
In 1879, when Tank was raided by Tribals and an uprising took place, wherein the tribes believed that the British control over the area is weakening, these tribals looted a number of villages around Tank.[5] The same fact has been narrated by Evelyn Berkelen Howell, that in January 1879. To protect Tank from further plundering British decided to handover the security of gomal pass and tank frontier to Miani tribe.[6]"[3]
Miani in Baluchistan
[edit]Though a portion of Miani Tribe live in Baluchistan especially in the Shirani District, sizable population of the Miani people live in Sharigh Tehsil of Harnai District in Balochistan. [7]
References
[edit]- ^ Beattie, Hugh (December 16, 2013). Imperial Frontier: Tribe and State in Waziristan. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-136-83957-3.
- ^ Beattie, Hugh (December 16, 2013). Imperial Frontier: Tribe and State in Waziristan. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-136-83957-3.
- ^ a b c Howell, Evelyn Berkeley (1979). A Monograph on Government's Relations with the Mahsud Tribe. Oxford University Press. p. 119.
- ^ Hugh, Beattie (2013). Imperial Frontier: Tribe and State in Waziristan. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-7007-1309-7.
- ^ Imperial Frontier: Tribe and State in Waziristan By Hugh Beattie
- ^ Beattie, Hugh (December 16, 2013). Imperial Frontier: Tribe and State in Waziristan. Routledge. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-136-83957-3.
- ^ District Development Profile, Planning and Development Department, Government of Balochistan in Collaboration with UNICEF, July 18, 2011