Lower Dir District

Map of Lower Dir district

Lower Dir (Pashto: لر دیرUrdu: دیر زیریں) is one of the 27[1] districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is in the north-western part of the province and has an area of 1583 square kilometers.  Timergara city is the district headquarters and largest city.

It used to be one district named Dir but in 1996 it was divided into two, Upper Dir and Lower Dir.The population of lower dir is mainly Yousafzai pashtoon including Clans (khadagzai, Adenzai , Malizai) and partly utmankhel tribe.

History

At the time of Pakistan's independence in 1947, Dir was a princely state ruled by Nawab Shah Jehan Khan. It was merged in Pakistan in 1969 and later on declared a district in 1970. Later on in 1996 it was divided into Lower Dir and Upper Dir.

Geography

Some of Dir is mountainous with peaks rising to 5000 meters.

Demographics

The population of the Lower Dir district was 797,852 according to the 1998 census report. The population of Dir Lower was predicted to be 1.037.091 in 2005.

Administration

Lower Dir is divided into seven Tehsils which contain a total of 41 union councils.

Tehsil Union councils
Adenzai Asbanr, Badwan, Chakdara, Khadagzai,Tazagram, Khanpur, Kotigram, Ouch
Balambat Balambat, Hayaserai, Lajbook, Munjai, Koto, Rabat
Khall khall ,khall Shalfalam, Tormang-1, Tormang-ii,Sultan Khel.
Lal Qila Maidan Bishgram, Lal Qilla, Gall Maidan, Kotkai (Maidan), Zaimdara,
Munda Khazana, Mia Kalai, Munda,
Samar Bagh Darangai, Kambat, Mayar, Maskini, Sadbar Kali, Samar Bagh
Timergara Bagh Dush Khel, Bandagai, Khungai, Malak Abad Ghara, Noora Khel, Shahi Khel Ziarat Talash, Timergara (Urban)

National Assembly

This district is represented by two elected MNA's (Member of National Assembly) in Pakistan National Assembly. Its constituencies are NA-6 & 7.[2]

Member of National Assembly Party Affiliation Year
Qazi Hussain Ahmad Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal 2002
Maulana Ahmad Ghafoor Ghawas Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal 2003
Malak Azmat Khan Pakistan Peoples Party 2008
Shahib Zada Muhammad Yaqub Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan 2013
Mahboob Shah Pakistan Tehrik Insaf 2018
Bashir Khan Pakistan Tehrik Insaf 2018

Qazi Hussain Ahmad won the general elections in 2002 but he left the seat as he had also won from his native constituency. Therefore, in January 2003 another election was held.

Provincial Assembly

The district is represented by five elected MPAs in the provincial assembly.

Related pages

References

  1. Report, Bureau (16 January 2014). "KP govt creates new Kohistan district". DAWN.COM.
  2. "Election Commission of Pakistan". Archived from the original on 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2017-10-27.