DERA ISMAIL KHAN, a town, cantonment and district in the Derajat division of the North-West Frontier Province of India. The town is situated near the right bank of the Indus, here crossed by a bridge of boats during half the year. Pop. (1921) It takes its name from Ismail Khan, a Baluch chief who settled here towards the end of the 15th century, and whose de scendants ruled for 30o years. The old town was swept away by a flood in 1823. The main channel of the Indus which often changes, was in 1927 2 m. from the town. The town contains a large bazaar for Afghan traders and is the residence of many Moham medan gentry. Since the occupation of Waziristan the garrison has been reduced to half a brigade. There is considerable through trade with Afghanistan by the Gomal pass.
The district—area 3,403 sq.m., pop. (1921) 26o,767—was formerly divided by the Indus, which intersected it from north to south. To the west of the Indus the country resembles Dera Ghazi Khan. To the east of the present bed of the river a wide tract, the Kachi, is exposed to river action. Beyond this, the coun try rises abruptly, and a barren, almost desert plain stretches east wards, sparsely cultivated, and inhabited only by nomadic tribes. In 1901 the trans-Indus tract was allotted to the newly formed North-West Frontier Province, the cis-Indus tract remaining in the Punjab jurisdiction. The former cis-Indus portions of the Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu districts is now the Punjab district of Mianwali.
The district is the junction of Pathan and Baluch tribes, the Pathan element predominating. The chief frontier tribes are the Sheranis and Ustaranas and Bhittanis.