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Wana

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a valley and frontier outpost of Waziristan in the North-West Frontier Province of India. It lies to the west of the Mahsud country, and to the north of the Gomal river, and is inhabited by the Waziri tribe. Lying on the border of Afghanistan, it is conveniently placed for dominating Waziristan on the north and the Gomal Pass on the south, and occupies very much the same strategic position as the Zhob valley holds in Baluchistan. It forms the end of the chain of outposts extending from Quetta to Waziristan, and can be supported either from India by the Gomal Pass or from Quetta by the Zhob valley. In 1894, when the Indo-Afghan boundary commission was delimiting the Waziri border, the Mahsud Waziris, thinking their independence to be threatened, made a night attack on the camp of the commission at Wana. The result was the Waziristan Expedition of the same year, and the occupation of Wana by British troops. On the formation of the North-West Frontier Province in 1901 it was decided to replace the troops by militia, and Wana was handed over to them in 1904. It is now the headquarters of the political agency of Southern Waziristan.