Malakand Division in the context of "North-West Frontier Province"

The North-West Frontier Province (abbr. NWFP), commonly known as Sarhad (lit. 'Frontier'), was a province of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955 and from 1970 to 2010; and prior, a province of British India from its establishment in 1901 to Pakistan's independence in 1947. It was established from the north-western districts of British Punjab during the British Raj. Following the referendum in 1947 to join either Pakistan or India, the province voted hugely in favour of joining Pakistan and it acceded accordingly on 14 August 1947. It was dissolved to form a unified province of West Pakistan in 1955 upon promulgation of One Unit Scheme and was reestablished in 1970. It was known by this name until 19 April 2010, when it was dissolved and redesignated as the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan.

The province covered an area of 70,709 km (27,301 sq mi), including much of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but excluding the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the former princely states of Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra and Swat. Its capital was the city of Peshawar, and the province was composed of six divisions (Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Mardan, and Peshawar Division; Malakand was later added as the seventh division). Until 1947, the province was bordered by five princely states to the north, the minor states of the Gilgit Agency to the northeast, the province of Punjab to the east and the province of Balochistan to the south. The Kingdom of Afghanistan lay to the northwest, with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas forming a buffer zone between the two.

Swat District (Pashto: سوات اولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع سوات), also known as the Swat Valley, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its natural sites, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a population of 2,687,384 per the 2023 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Swat District is centred on the Valley of Swat, usually referred to simply as Swat, which is a natural geographic region surrounding the Swat River. The valley was a major centre of early Buddhism of the ancient civilisation of Gandhara, mainly Gandharan Buddhism, with pockets of Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 16th century conquest of Swat by the Yousafzais, after which the area became largely Muslim, along with the Pashtunization of Swat and its neighbouring regions.In the early 19th century, Swat emerged as an independent state under Saidu Baba. The State of Swat became a princely state under British suzerainty as part of the British Raj in 1918.

Chitral District (Khowar: ݯھیترارو ضلع; Urdu: ضلع چترال) was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the northernmost and the largest district of the province, covering an area of 14,850 km, before the district was split in two forming the new districts of Upper Chitral and Lower Chitral.

It shared district borders with Swat and Dir to the south, a provincial border with Gilgit-Baltistan to the east and the Durand Line as international border with Afghanistan to the north and west. Afghanistan's narrow strip of Wakhan Corridor separated Chitral from Tajikistan in the north.

Mardan Division is one of the seven divisions in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It consists of two districts: Mardan and Swabi. The division borders Hazara Division, Malakand Division, and Peshawar Division. CNIC code of Mardan Division is 16.

Lower Chitral District (Khowar: موڑی ݯھیترارو ضلع; Urdu: ضلع چترال زیریں) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is mainly populated by the ethnic Kho people.

Upper Dir District (Pashto: پورتنۍ دیر ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع دیر بالا) is a district located in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The city of Dir is its district headquarter. Geographically, it is located in the northern part of Pakistan. It borders with the Chitral district on the north, Afghanistan on the northwest, the Swat district on the east, and the Lower Dir district on the south. It shares 40 to 50 kilometers border with Afghanistan.