Waziristan

Location of North and South Waziristan (green) inside Pakistan.

Waziristan (Pashto and Urdu: وزیرستانcode: ur is deprecated ), "land of the Wazir" is a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering about 11,585 km² (4,473 sq mi). It was part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which was not part of any of the country's four provinces. It is now part of the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Legal status

Though declared by the rebels as a "state" or "emirate", there are questions whether the region should have that name. Those who support that the region is a state point to the facts that the federal government has little to no power in the region and that the area is ruled mostly by tribal elders. The Taliban are reported to control most of the region with its own style of Sharia rule, which the Pakistan government has been unable to stop. Such bold show of autonomy has led one writer in the Wall Street Journal to remark that Waziristan was a "state within a state."

Waziristan Media

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  North (purple) and South (blue) Waziristan and surrounding Federally Administered Tribal Areas and provinces

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  Flag of the resistance in Waziristan in the 1930sNote: not the flag of Waziristan, nor of the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan nor further still of any current resistance movement in Waziristan.

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  Souvenir presented by British Officers who took part in Waziristan operation 1937 depicting Tribal Marksman in an ambush against British Indian Forces.