SUMMARY

The Bangesh are a tribal population mainly concentrated in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) and in the mountain valleys of Western and Central Kurram Valley of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), both in the northwest of Pakistan. Like most other tribes in FATA, they are ethnically Pashtun, following the highly conservative, traditional Pashtunwali honour code.

The Bangesh, however, are not a homogenous tribe – various clans have different customs, even following different forms of Islam, with the Ba’izi and Miranzi clans being Sunni, whereas the Samelzi clan is mainly Shia.

The Bangesh, as other Pashtun tribes, follow a complex traditional clan-based hierarchy, where power is vested in various clan elders, landlords (maliks) and religious figures. These leaders organize traditional assemblies, known as jergas. Varying in size, from village jergas to region-wide, these assemblies act as traditional courts but also function as dispute resolution mechanisms. As such, they frequently negotiate ceasefires and peace agreements between tribes. Militarily the Bangesh organize in tribal militias and armies (lashkars).

While not a particularly large tribe in Kurram, the Bangesh have been significantly impacted by the severe increase in fundamentalist Islamic insurgency occurring throughout FATA after 2001. As such, some Sunni Bangesh clans have allied themselves with the Taliban (that use the region as a strategic crossing point between Afghanistan and Pakistan), engaging in sectarian violence against various Shia tribes.

The Bangesh tribe has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.