Parachinar

About Parachinar

Parachinar is a city and the capital of the Kurram District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Parachinar, situated on the west of Peshawar, juts into the Paktia, Logar and Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan. With a distance of 110 kilometres (68 mi) from the capital of Afghanistan Kabul, Parachinar is the closest city in Pakistan to Kabul.

The British soldier and historian C. M. Enriquez described the early history of Parachinar in his book The Pathan Borderland. He writes that Pare was a reputable Malak (leader) of the Pare Khel tribe, a Shia sub-tribe of the Turis, a tribe of the Pashtun people, who planted Poplar.

Before much settlement, the area was mostly arid. In terms of distribution, the ancient Poplar tree and the surrounding land belonged to the Parakhel tribe. This ownership is still authentic in official records or deeds of property. Parakhel tribesmen used to cultivate wheat in this desert area. During the wheat harvest, tents were pitched here, and in the shade of this poplar tree, jirgas and consultations were held.

In 1893, during the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan (Barakzai dynasty...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.