Malakand Division


Malakand Division is an administrative division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Malakand is the second-largest division by population while Mingora, its capital, is the third largest city in the province. CNIC code of Malakand Division is 15.

History

Until 1970, the area was known as the Malakand Agency. In 1970, Malakand Division was formed from the princely states of Chitral, Dir and Swat and an area around the Malakand Fort known as the Malakand Protected Area. The capital of Malakand Division is Saidu Sharif, with the largest city being Mingora. In late 2018, former Chitral District was bifurcated into Chitral District">Chitral (princely state)">Chitral District, from Mastuj Tehsil, and Lower Chitral District, from Chitral Tehsil.

Demographics

According to 2023 census, Malakand division had a population of 9,959,399 roughly equal to the country of Greece or the US state of Michigan or Chinese province of Hainan.

Ethnic groups

The major ethnic groups in the division are:

District in Malakand Division

Malakand Division is comprising 09 districts i.e. Swat, Shangla, Buner, Malakand, Dir Upper & Lower, Chitral Upper & Lower and Bajaur Tribal District with a total area of 32007Kms having population of 8.7 million. Formerly, the districts were princely states of Swat, Dir, Chitral and Malakand Protected Area. The States were merged in Pakistan by the Government of Pakistan in 1969 and were declared as Malakand Division. The area consists of snow-capped mountains, singing rivers, fruits laden orchards, flower decked slops and green meadows which attract tourists both at national as well as international level. It lies in the north of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa touching Karakuram Highway at Besham, Afghan border with Dir & Chitral and the strategic Wakhan strip is bordering Chitral. The mentioning of this area is found in the ancient Greek accounts & by other historians. It was a center of Aryan and later on rich Ghandhara civilizations before the Muslim rulers. Alexander the Great, king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia passed through this route to India in 327 B.C, attacking the biggest cities of the area, Massaga, Bazira & Ora and faced tough resistance. However, he could not survive for longer. This area also witnessed the invasion of Sakas, Kushans & white Huns, this region also remained under the influence of Ashoka of Maurian dynasty. The flourishing of Buddhism had genesis in the reign of Ashoka as he adopted Buddhism in the later part of his life. The area then had more than 1400 monasteries and 18,000 monks in different parts and was a prominent center of Ghandhara civilization.

Constituencies

Provincial Assembly ConstituencyNational Assembly ConstituencyDistrict
PK-1 Upper ChitralNA-1 Upper Chitral-cum-Lower ChitralUpper Chitral
PK-2 Lower ChitralNA-1 Upper Chitral-cum-Lower ChitralLower Chitral
PK-3 Swat-INA-2 Swat-ISwat
PK-4 Swat-IINA-2 Swat-ISwat
PK-5 Swat-IIINA-2 Swat-ISwat
PK-6 Swat-IVNA-3 Swat-IISwat
PK-7 Swat-VNA-3 Swat-IISwat
PK-8 Swat-VINA-4 Swat-IIISwat
PK-9 Swat-VIINA-4 Swat-IIISwat
PK-10 Swat-VIIINA-4 Swat-IIISwat
PK-11 Upper Dir-INA-5 Upper DirUpper Dir
PK-12 Upper Dir-IINA-5 Upper DirUpper Dir
PK-13 Upper Dir-IIINA-5 Upper DirUpper Dir
PK-14 Lower Dir-INA-6 Lower Dir-ILower Dir
PK-15 Lower Dir-IINA-6 Lower Dir-ILower Dir
PK-16 Lower Dir-IIINA-6 Lower Dir-ILower Dir
PK-17 Lower Dir-IVNA-7 Lower Dir-IILower Dir
PK-18 Lower Dir-VNA-7 Lower Dir-IILower Dir
PK-19 Bajaur-INA-8 BajaurBajaur
PK-20 Bajaur-IINA-8 BajaurBajaur
PK-21 Bajaur-IIINA-8 BajaurBajaur
PK-22 Bajaur-IVNA-8 BajaurBajaur
PK-23 Malakand-INA-9 MalakandMalakand
PK-24 Malakand-IINA-9 MalakandMalakand
PK-25 Buner-INA-10 BunerBuner
PK-26 Buner-IINA-10 BunerBuner
PK-27 Buner-IIINA-10 BunerBuner
PK-28 Shangla-INA-11 ShanglaShangla
PK-29 Shangla-IINA-11 ShanglaShangla
PK-30 Shangla-IIINA-11 ShanglaShangla