Tikriwal

The Tikriwal or Tekriwal is actually a geographical name for the sub-tribes of the Swati Pashtuns living in a valley called Tikri or Tikrai.

The valley of "Tikrai" is situated in the present day Batagram District at the eastern slope of the famous Black Mountain i.e. Tor Ghar or Kala Dhaka.

District Batagram has geographical borders with Kohistan District, Tribal Area of Tor Gharr (Black Mountain), Shangla District and Malakand Division. The district consists of two sub-divisions or Tehsils Batagram and Allai) that consist upon a total of 20 Union Councils.

History of Tikrai (Tikri) Valley and its inhabitants

History of Tikriwals is same as of the other Swati tribes, since all of them have come to Hazara region from Swat together. These Swati tribes advanced from Swat to fight the Turks in 1703 during their reign in Mansehra. After capturing the area, these tribes have always lived free ever since despite some of the skirmishes with the British army. But these Britishers could never advance farther than the Oghi fort. The people of the area themselves wished to be a part of Pakistan as per the advice and constant persuasion of a local religious scholar Maulana Muhammad Yousaf Hazarvi, belonging to the Naror tribe of Banian village in Tikri, well after the partition in 1947.

These Swati tribes and Tikriwals, during the times of Mohammed Ghauri, came to conquer Swat from Afghanistan as front line soldiers and Chiefs of the Army (Lashkar). Swati is among few of the biggest in numbers and also land owning tribes of Pashtuns in NWFP. Politically and economically, they have very strong hold in the region. Swatis, have ruled Swat, Malakand and Dir etc. for more than three hundred years and Kashmir from 1339 to 1561 AD (under the leadership of Shahmir Swati (Baba). They have also captured Pakhlai (Pakhal Valley of Hazara Division) against Turks in 1703 AD under the leadership of Syed Jalal Baba. At once their dynasty was from Jalalabad to Jehlum.

After conquering, the invading Swati tribes divided the land among themselves under a Pashtun Jirga system of "Waish" which literally means the "Division". After the "Waish", these Swatis would change their villages among themselves after every four years until just before 1957-58, year of merger with Pakistan. The reason for changing villages was that the elders thought that no individual would have any land ownership and all the land was a common wealth. So in case of any external invasion, all would fight unitedly for the sake of "one" territory, since they had a sense of belonging to each and every village.

Before these nouveau inhabitants, Hindus were a majority in the area as the name of Battagram, (भटग्राम - Sanskrit which means Land or Village of the Warriors), suggest. Many other small villages in district Battagram and Tikrai valley are also still named after Sanskrit words or their old Hindu residents e.g. Chohan, Ajmera, Rashmera, Chapargram etc.

Some of the villages of the valley are called Khatuna, Banian, Kharari, Banda, Landai, Kuza-Banda, Bandigo, Mera, Tikrai and Daidal or Deedal etc.

Tribes

Tikrai is a beautiful valley inhabited by very friendly people. Malkal or Malkaal is the biggest tribe in Tikri in terms of land and number, the caste name is derived from the merger of two words i.e. Malik + Aal, which means Sons of the King or Chieftain referring to Malik Baba.

The other tribes of the valley are Naror and Ashror, named after the nicknames of Malik Baba's younger brothers. The fourth tribe or clan of the area is the Syeds of Pirari, or Pirarai and some of the adjacent villages. These Syeds are called Saidaan by the locals. The other three tribes have always had a great respect for the Syeds. During the older, tribal era, Syeds would mediate between two warring tribes. They would emerge on the battlefields with "white flags" raised in their hands and every tribesman, regardless of is association with any clan or tribe, would stop fighting immediately due to the respect he had for Syeds, the clan of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

These three tribes, except Syeds, are divided into sub-tribes e.g. Nikrozi, Jalalis, Usmanis, Dawar Khanis and Pirazorr or Pirzais etc.