History of Dera Ismail Khan

Takhallus. Historically the Derajat were established at the time when in 15th century, Baloch tribal immigration took place from Makran, Qalat and Sibi Balochistan, to Indus Valley. Sultan Husain, the Langah Dynasty's Sultans of Multan, being unable to hold his trans-Indus possessions; called the Baloch tribal warriors, for help and assigned these territories to Sardar Malik Sohrab Khan Dodai Baloch as "Jagir". Sohrab's sons, Ghazi Khan, Ismail khan and Fateh Khan, founded the three Deras or villages' named after them.

Dera Ismail Khan was founded toward the end of the fifteenth century by Sardar Ismail Khan Baloch, a son of Sardar Malik Sohrab Khan Dodai Baloch, who named the town after himself. The original town was swept away by a flood in 1823, and the existing buildings are all of relatively modern construction. The present town stands four miles (6 km) back from the permanent channel of the river.

However, later research does not support this theory. Firstly, Malik Sohrab was not an Arab adventurer but a Hooth Baloch who was appointed Soobadar of this area by the Langha rulers of Multan. Similarly the city could not have been founded towards the end of fifteenth century; because when Babar came here in 1506 he passed through this plain which is now called Dama'an and referred to it as Dasht and went up to Tank but did not mention any city around here in his Tuzk (Memoirs, originally published in Turkish). Later we are told that when in 1540 Sher Shah came to Khushab, Ismail Khan of Dera Ismail Khan went to Khushab to meet him there. So the city must have been founded in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. After the flood destruction of 1823, the present city was founded by Sardar Ellahi Bakhsh Siyyal in 1825 but he prefer not to change the name.

During British rule the town contained two bazaars, the Hindu and Muslim population living in separate quarters. The town stands on a level plain, with a