Gorwekht
Gurwek | |
|---|---|
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| Division | Bannu |
| District | North Waziristan |
| Time zone | UTC+5 (PKT) |
Gorwekht, also known as Gurwek (Urdu: گورویک, Pashto: ګوروېک), is a town in the North Waziristan District of Bannu Division in the Khyber Pakhtunkwa province of Pakistan. Gurwek lies on the border with Afghanistan and is located about 46 km (29 mi) southwest of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan.[1]
History
Gorwekht is famous for being the site from where Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi)[2] led his guerrilla warfare campaign,[3] against the British Empire, Khan hid in caves near the town in 1937 to evade the British.[4] The fort at Datta Khel was the nearest post to Khan's headquarters in Gorwekht and faced many sieges.[5]
Following the departure of the British in 1947 Khan would later rebel against the newly created government of Pakistan.[6]
It was in this town that Mirzali Khan symbolically declared his independent state of Pashtunistan.[7]
On May 11, 2010, at least 24 "suspected militants" were killed in Gurwek and Datakhel from two drone strikes in Pakistan, in which the US fired up to 18 missiles.[8][9] In 2014, about 929,859 people were internally displaced from North Waziristan as a result of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a military offensive conducted by the Pakistan Armed Forces along the Durand Line,[10][11] which is the international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
See also
References
- ^ US drone attacks kill 21 in Pakistan. Hindustan Times. May 11, 2010.
- ^ Fakir Of Ipi Anti-British Morning Tribune, 24 May 1941, Page 3
- ^ The Man Who Would Be King - The New York Times
- ^ Hauner, Milan. “One Man against the Empire: The Faqir of Ipi and the British in Central Asia on the Eve of and during the Second World War.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 16, no. 1, 1981, pp. 183–212. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/260623. Accessed 15 Nov. 2025.
- ^ In pictures: Waziristan
- ^ The Faqir of Ipi of North Waziristan. The Express Tribune. November 15, 2010.
- ^ The legendary guerilla Faqir of Ipi unremembered on his 115th anniversary. The Express Tribune. April 18, 2016.
- ^ "US drone 'kills 24 suspected militants' in Pakistan". BBC. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
- ^ "US missiles kill at least 24 in North Waziristan". Dawn. 11 May 2010. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010.
- ^ North Waziristan IDPs figure reaches 800,000. Dawn. July 8, 2014.
- ^ "Air raids flatten 5 militant hideouts". The Express Tribune. 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.