Yaghistan (Urdu: یاغستان; "The land of the rebellious and hostility")[1][2] was a keyfrontier region betweenAfghanistan andBritish India.[3]
This was an area where rebels lived, on either side of theDurand Line, roughly corresponding to the latertribal areas andMalakand andHazara agencies ofPakistan.[2][3]
The term, in use since at least 1868, was also used in Afghanistan whereAmir Abdur Rehman characterized eastern Pashtun population as "Unruly" and "Rebels".[1]
Yāg͟histān was originally inhabited by Indo-AryanKōhistānī speakers.[4] According to theEncyclopaedia of Islam:
"Yāg̲h̲istān referred to different sanctuaries used byMujahideen against the British authorities from early 19th to late 19th century, in the various independent tribal areas, mainly inhabited by thePashtun,Kashmiri andKohistani people in the hinterland of what became theNorth-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of British India such as theMohmand Agency,Bunēr,Dīr,Swāt,Kohistān,Hazāra..."[5]
Initially, any frontier region outside the direct control of the British colonial government was known as Yaghistan,[6] which at its widest extent, includedBalochistan andSarhad.[7] Between 1844 and 1900, the term came to be used for the independent tribes ofHindu Kush, who were considered "impossible to be administered",[8] as they were always outside the sphere of influence of either British Raj or the Emirate of Afghanistan.[8]
Yāghistān was the center ofSyed Ahmad Barelvi's movement against theSikh Empire[9] as well asMahmud Hasan Deobandi'sSilk Letter Movement.[10] The area was never conquered by theBritish Raj and its people and the unadministered tribes always remained hostile towards the British.[11]
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