Faqir of Ipi

Haji Mirzali Khan Wazir (Pashto: حاجي میرزاعلي خان وزیر), commonly known as the Faqir of Ipi (فقير ايپي), was a tribal chief and adversary to the British Raj from North Waziristan in what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

After performing his Hajj pilgrimage in 1923, Mirzali Khan settled in Ipi, a village located near Mirali in north Waziristan, from where he started a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the British Empire. In 1938, he shifted from Ipi to Gurwek, a remote village in north Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan, where he propagated idea of an independent state, Pashtunistan, and continued his raids against the British, using bases in Afghanistan. He had the support of Nazi Germany in his warfare against British Raj.

On 21 June 1947, the Faqir of Ipi, along with his allies including the Khudai Khidmatgars and members of the Provincial Assembly, declared the Bannu Resolution which demanded that the Pashtuns should be given a third choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan. The British government refused to comply with this demand.

After the independence of Pakistan in August 1947, Afghanistan and India financially sponsored the Pashtunistan movement under the leadership of the Faqir of Ipi. He started the guerilla warfare against the new nation's government. However, he couldn't succeed and his resistance diminished in the early 1950s.

Towards the end of his life, he expressed regret and said that Afghanistan deceived and used him for its political gains in the name of Islam. He also instructed his supporters that they should never help Afghanistan against Pakistan with any plots made against Pakistan.