Mandagucha


Mandagucha is a village located in Siran Valley, Mansehra District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The village is on the route to one of the highest hilltops of the Himalaya series in Pakistan, Musa ka Musala. Mandaguchha is the last station that is reachable by car or public transport. Though few tourist facilities exist in the village, residents are tourist-friendly. Mandagucha's cool temperatures and mountain views are attractive to tourists seeking to escape hot temperatures in June and July. Mandagucha is a tribal community of agriculturalists.

Demographics

It has a population of around 20000 individuals. The major clans and casts are Gujjars, Syeds, Sawatis, Awans and Qureshis,Toda. Gujars are in majority but they mostly live as tenants and do not hold land. Qureshi's and Syeds are the other two castes. Most of the lands belong to Sawatis. Gujjar are a numerical minority.

History

The two influential Sawati families were Peer Khan family and Sultan Khan family. The village saw one of the most fierce conflicts between Gujjars and Sawatis in the late 1980s. This conflict was an outcome of years long suppression of Gujjar clans by the land owner Sawatis. A Left-inclined Kisan Mahaz motivated the Gujjers to stand against oppressive landlords. The conflict resulted in many liberties for the tenant classes, like freedom from free labor etc.