Agror

The Agror valley is located in Mansehra District, Hazara in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It consists of three mountain glens, convert|10|mi|km in length and convert|6|mi|km in breadth, located betweencoord|34|29|N|72|58|E| and coord|34|35|N|75|9|E| [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V05_100.gifAgror Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 5, p. 92.] ] .

Environment

The lower portions of the Agror valley are heavily cultivated and contain many villages and hamlets. The valley area has few strictly level spaces, but consist of terraced flats, water is abundant year round.

Population

The main tribes are Swatis, Yousafzais, Gujars, Awans and Tanolis. Almost all the inhabitants are Muslim.Fact|date=May 2008

History

Agror is the ancient Atyugrapura of the Rajatarangini and the 'Ιθάγονρος town in Ούαρσα mentioned by Ptolemy. From the time of Timur until the beginning of the eighteenth century the Agror valley was held by a family of Karlugh Turks. These were expelled in 1703 by a Saiyid named Jalal Baba, who happened to be a son-in-Law of last Turk ruler of Hazara, Sultan Mehmud Khurd, with his bigoted Swati lashkerFact|date=May 2008 and the conquered country was divided among the Swatis, one Ahmad Sad-ud-din, who died in 1783, rising to the position of Khan of Agror.

The Nawab of Amb took the valley in 1834, but in 1841 it was restored by the Sikhs to Ata Muhammad, a descendant of Sad-ud-din. At annexation Ata Muhammad was recognized as chief of Agror, and the defence and management of this part of the frontier was originally left to him; but the arrangement did not work satisfactorily. An expedition had to be sent in 1852 to avenge the murder of two officers of the Salt department; and in consequence of the unsatisfactory attitude of the chief and of repeated complaints by the cultivators, it was resolved in 1868 to place a police station in Agror and to bring the valley more directly under the administration of Government. This incensed the Khan of Agror, at whose instigation the newly-built police station was burnt by a raid of the Black Mountain of Hazara tribes, including Swatis, Hassanzais, Chagharzais etc.

An expedition was dispatched, and Ata Muhammad Khan was deported to Lahore for a time, but in 1870 reinstated in his chieftainship. His son and successor, Ali Gauhar, was removed from the valley in 1888 in consequence of his abetting raids into British territory. In order to maintain the peace of the border, expeditions were dispatched against the Black Mountain tribes in 1888, 1891, and 1892; and there has since been no disturbance. The Agror Valley Regulation (1891) declared the rights of the Khan of Agror to be forfeit to Government.

The land revenue of the valley was assessed by the Sikhs at Rs. 1,515. This demand was continued on annexation and raised to Rs. 3,315 in 1853 and Rs. 4,000 at the regular settlement, in which the engagement was made with the Khan. The settlement was revised in 1901. [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V05_101.gifAgror -Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 5, p. 93.] ]

During British rule, the sole manufacture of the valley was cotton cloth, and trade was purely local, except for a small export of grain. The chief place in the valley was the village of Oghi, the head-quarters of the Hazara border military police.

References