Waziristan in the context of "Wazir (Pashtun tribe)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Waziristan

Waziristan (Pashto, Ormuri, Urdu: وزیرستان, lit.'land of the Wazir') is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan District, and Upper South Waziristan District. The entire Waziristan region covers around 11,585 square kilometres (4,500 sq mi) and is mainly populated by the Burki, Mehsud, The Wolves, & Wazir Pashtun tribe, who speak the Waziri dialect of the Pashto language.

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Waziristan in the context of Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948

The Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948, also known as the first Kashmir war, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four Indo-Pakistani wars between the two newly independent nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after its independence by launching tribal lashkar (militias) from Waziristan, in an effort to capture Kashmir and to preempt the possibility of its ruler joining India.

Hari Singh, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, was facing an uprising by his Muslim subjects in Poonch, and lost control in portions of the western districts. On 22 October 1947, Pakistan's Pashtun tribal militias crossed the border of the state. These local tribal militias and irregular Pakistani forces moved to take the capital city of Srinagar, but upon reaching Baramulla, they took to plunder and stalled. Maharaja Hari Singh made a plea to India for assistance, and help was offered, but it was subject to his signing of an Instrument of Accession to India.

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Waziristan in the context of North Waziristan District

North Waziristan District (Pashto: شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع شمالی وزیرستان) is a district of Bannu Division in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering 4,707 square kilometres (1,817 sq mi). The capital city of North Waziristan is Miranshah.

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Waziristan in the context of Sulaiman Mountains

The Sulaiman Mountains Range are a north–south extension of the southern Hindu Kush mountain system in western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. They rise to form the eastern edge of the Iranian plateau. They extend from the Kandahar, Zabul and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan across the northern Balochistan, Waziristan and Kurram of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. In southwestern Punjab, the mountains extend into the Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts, which are located west of the Indus River on the boundary with Balochistan. Bordering the mountains to the east are the plains of the Indus River valley, and to the north are the arid highlands of the Central Hindu Kush whose heights extend up to 3,383 m (11,099 ft). The total area on which this range spans around 6,475 km (2,500 sq mi). Together with the Kirthar Mountains on the border between Balochistan and Sindh Province, the Sulaiman Mountains form the Sulaiman-Kirthar geologic province.

The most well-known peak of the Sulaimans is the twin-peaked Takht-e-Sulaiman at 3,487 m (11,440 ft), located near Darazinda in Dera Ismail Khan Subdivision, close to the border with both South Waziristan and the Zhob District of neighboring Balochistan. The highest peak is Zarghun Ghar at 3,578 m (11,739 ft) near Quetta. The next highest peak in Balochistan province is Khilafat Hill at 3,475 m (11,401 ft) located in the Ziarat District of Pakistan and is famous for the Ziarat Juniper Forest, where Juniperus macropoda trees grow.

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Waziristan in the context of Ormuri

Ormuri (اورموړی [oɾˈmuɽi]), also known as Baraki or Bargista, is an Eastern Iranian language spoken in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. It is primarily spoken by the Burki people in the town of Kaniguram in South Waziristan. A small number of speakers are also found in Logar, Afghanistan. The language belongs to the Eastern-Iranian language group. The extremely small number of speakers makes Ormuri an endangered language that is considered to be in a "threatened" state.

Ormuri is notable for its unusual sound inventory, which includes a voiceless alveolar trill that does not exist in the surrounding Pashto. Ormuri also has voiceless and voiced alveolo-palatal fricatives (the voiceless being contrastive with the more common voiceless palato-alveolar fricative), which also exist in the Waziristani dialect of Pashto, but could have been adopted from Ormuri due to its close proximity.

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Waziristan in the context of Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan, or the Jihadist insurgency in North-West Pakistan, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jundallah, Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), al-Qaeda, and their Central Asian allies such as the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Movement, Emirate of Caucasus, and elements of organized crime. Formerly a war, the conflict has now transformed into an insurgency.

The armed conflict began in 2004 when tensions rooted in the Pakistan Army's search for al-Qaeda fighters in its mountainous Waziristan region escalated into large-scale armed resistance. Pakistan's actions were presented as its contribution to the U.S. war on terror. The al-Qaeda terrorists fled Afghanistan seek refuge in the bordering Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Pakistan had already joined US-led war on terror after the 9/11 attacks under Pervez Musharraf. However, after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters ventured across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to seek refuge in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). As a result, militants established a presence in several border districts in FATA. The insurgency turned into a critical issue for Pakistan when the Pakistan Army besieged Lal Masjid in Islamabad. The operation resulted in the TTP describing Pakistan as a "puppet of Western powers," amplifying its propaganda initiative and kickstarting its campaign of suicide bombings throughout the country.

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