Khattak
Template:Short description Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Infobox ethnic group
The Khattak (Template:Langx) tribe is a prominent Pashtun tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera, Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
History
Origins
Multiple British Raj historians have identified the Khattak with the Satragyddae or Sattagudai, an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe inhabiting Gandhara.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="The Histories of Herodotus" /><ref name="Khaibar Pass Page 7">Guardians of the Khaibar Pass: the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan David M. Hart Page 7.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">The races of Afghanistan being a brief account of the principal nations, By Henry Walter Bellew - 2004 - 124 pages - Page 85.</ref><ref name="Afghanistan pages 107,108">An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan: prepared and presented to the Ninth international congress of Orientalists, London, September, 1891 - The Oriental university institute, 1891 - 208 pages - pages 107,108,122.</ref><ref name="North-West Frontier Province Page 217">A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province: Based on the census report for the Punjab, 1883 - Horace Arthur Rose, Sir Denzil Ibbetson, Sir Edward Maclagan - Printed by the superintendent, Government printing, Punjab, 1914 - Page 217.</ref><ref name="Qabila Page 152">Qabila: tribal profiles and tribe-state relations in Morocco and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Frontier - By David M. Hart - - 2001 - 254 pages - Page 152.</ref><ref name="Bhavana Books Page 95">Afghanistan of the Afghans - Bhavana Books & Prints, 2000 - 272 pages - Ikbal Ali Shah (Sirdar.) - Page 95.</ref> The Sattagudai (Template:Langx) were a people mentioned by Herodotus in connection to people under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="RommHerodotus2014">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Herodotus:<ref name="The Histories of Herodotus">The Histories of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, Translation 1858–1860.</ref><ref name="archive.org">"The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957 By Sir Olaf Caroe"</ref> Template:Blockquote
According to Sir Olaf Caroe:<ref name="archive.org"/>
In Nimatullah's 1620 work History of The Afghans, the Khattaks are amongst the oldest of the Afghan tribes.<ref name="Dorn">Deportation by the Assyrians, Makhzan-i Afghani, page 37: History of the Afghans</ref>
Khushal Khan Khattak
A warrior poet by the name of Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1690) was once the chief of this tribe, and his contributions to Pashto literature are considered as classic texts.<ref name="Afghan Poetry: Selections from the poems of Khush Hal Khan Khattak.">Template:Cite book</ref> His life and times are one of the most chronicled and discussed subjects in Pashtun history, as he was active on the political, social and intellectual fora of his times. He was a most voluminous writer, and composed no less than three hundred and sixty literary works, both in the Pashto and Persian languages.<ref name="A Grammar Of The Pukhto, Pushto: Or Language Of The Afghans">Template:Cite book</ref>
His poetry revolves around concepts of Pakhtunwali; Honour, Justice, Bravery and Nationalism and his works have been translated into numerous languages, English and Urdu being the primary ones.<ref name="Poems from the Diwan of Khushâl Khân Khattak">Template:Cite book</ref>
Notables
- Khushal Khan Khattak (1603–1689), A Pashtun tribal leader, poet, warrior who had organised tribes to fight against the Mughal Empire
- Sami al Haq - (1937–2018), Regarded as the "Father of the Taliban"<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
- Pervez Khattak, (1950) 22nd Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan and current Minister of Defence of Pakistan
- Ajmal Khattak, (1925–2010) in Akora Khattak was a Pakistani politician, writer, Pashto poet, Khudai Khidmatgar, former President of Awami National Party
- Ghulam Faruque Khan (1899–1990) was a dynamic bureaucrat, politician, and industrialist of Pakistan. He belonged to the village Shaidu (Khan Khel) in Nowshera District. His contribution to Pakistan's industrial development he is sometimes described as "The Goliath who Industrialized Pakistan".
- Pareshan Khattak, (b. 10 December 1931 - d. 16 April 2009) from Karak Pakistan. His real name was Ghamay jan khattak "Pashto" پښتو" غمے جان خټک", he was a former Vice-Chancellor, Pashto poet and writer and former Chairman University Grants Commission of Pakistan. His books titled “Pukhtana Kochay,” “Dozakhi Pakhto,” “Drana Pukhtana,”
- Raj Wali Shah Khattak, Pashto language poet
- Masood Sharif Khan Khattak, Director-General of the Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan
- Shahid Ahmad Khattak, Member of National Assembly
- Afrasiab Khattak, Socialist Politician and former Communist Party of Pakistan member who was aligned with the Afghan PDPA in the 1980s
- Nasrullah Khan Khattak, Pakistani Politician and Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province
- Yusuf Khattak, Pakistani left-wing intellectual Politician, Pakistan Movement Activist, Federal Minister and statesman who represented Pakistan internationally
- Habibullah Khan Khattak, British Indian army officer who fought in the Burma Campaign during the Second World War and post-independence promoted as a Three Star rank Pakistan Army General, Minister and Industrialist