Malakand District

Malakand District (Pashto: ملاکنډ ولسوالۍ, Urdu: ضلع ملاکنڈ) is a district of Malakand Division in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It was originally known as the Malakand Protected Area when it was set up by the British colonial administration a name it kept until 1969 when it was merged into Pakistan's Provincially Administered Tribal Areas and became a district, it achieved the status of district along with the princely states of Swat, Dir, & Chitral. As part of PATA it was known as the Malakand Agency, which a few months later (in 1970) was then made into Malakand Division.

Malakand District lies at a strategically important position as it acts as a gateway to the Bajaur, Lower Dir, Swat and Bunair districts. It is surrounded by mountains that were covered with the varieties of trees, though they have a barren appearance nowadays. The Malakand Pass which connects Mardan to Swat and Dir is located near a region of Malakand called Dargai, a site where the local Pushtun tribes fought two fierce battles with the Imperial British Army in 1895 and 1897 (Siege of Malakand).

The Swat River flows downwards through the district towards the Charsadda District where it falls into the Kabul River. Malakand District is bounded in the north by the Lower Dir District, in the east by the Swat District, in the west by Mohmand and Bajaur districts and in the southeast and southwest by the Mardan and Charsadda districts respectively. The area of Malakand protected area is 952 km².