The Utman Khel Tribe
This mountainous tract may be
defined as the country lying between the Rud and Ambhar rivers, and thence,
eastwards, the tract lying between the Swat river and the Peshawar district as
far as the Ranizai and Sam Ranizai. It is peopled by the Utman Khel tribe, who
appear to be Pathans of Kodai branch of the Karlanri. They attached themselves
to the Yusafzai and Mandanr tribes during the migration of the latter from
their earlier homes, north-west of the Suleman Range, and have in course of
time found themselves in possession of their present country which they
occupied in the sixteenth century, at the same time as the Yusafzai conquered
Swat and the Tarkilanri took possession of Bajour.
The tribe is a large one ,
numbering some 40,000 persons. They have always maintained complete
independence, and pay tribute to no one. Their country is a network of bare
hills and nullahs, and with the exception of some tracts of alluvial soil on
the southern bank of the Rud river, it is an unfertile and unproductive
country. The tribe is divided into many clans and section which are constantly
at feud with one another, and there does not appear to be much unanimity in the
tribe as a whole. They keep themselves much aloof from their neighbours. The
people of Total, however, a small tract bordering the Sam Ranizai, have
intimate relations with the Sam Ranizai.
The small portion of Utman Khel
country lying between Total on the east , the southern watershed of the Swat
river as far as Bazargai on the north , and the Swat river below Bazargai on
the west is called Laman [or Daman] Utman Khel, and is under the Political
Administration of the Peshawar District.
Before settling in the hill country
,which the tribe now occupy, they were in possession of the tract of country
round Lund Khwar, at the foot of the hills in the present Peshawar district. A
portion of the tribe , belonging originally to the Sanizai, Bimbarai and
Peghzai sub-section who now occupy Total , still dwell in this tract, but have
become separated from the rest of the tribe. They from the bulk of the
population of the Sanghao, Kuai, Mian Khan, Kharki, Bermoul and Pipal villages.
Lund Khwar itself is now almost wholly peopled by colony of Khattaks.
