Dir was a princely state in a subsidiary alliance with the British Raj, located within the North-West Frontier Province.

Following the Partition of British India, Dir remained independent and unaligned until February 1948, when the Dominion of Pakistan accepted its accession.

The territories surrounding Dir were populated by their current ethnic majority, the Pakhtuns, beginning from the end of the 14th century.

The Dir territory was populated in the 16th century by the Malizai sub-tribe of the Yusufzai, who took control of the zone assimilating or chasing away the previous inhabitants (Dilazak in Bajour, Jandool, Maiden, and Swatis from areas east of Panjkora) [1] and within this tribe the most prominent fractions became the Painda khel and Sultan khel.

[2] By the 17th century a section of the Painda khel, coming from the Kohan village in the valley of Nihag (a Panjkora tributary), seized the trade routes with Chitral and Afghanistan.

[2] The Khanate is said to have been established in the 17th century by Painda khel leader and charismatic mystic figure Akhund Ilyas Khan (Baba), who found the State of Dir.

The fort has lush green areas on four-sides, large trees are adding charm to its beauty, the reception is designed with the aim of receiving guests with honour and good protocols.

During that expedition, Sharif Khan made an agreement with the British Government to keep the road to Chitral open in return for a subsidy.

Strange behavior of British Forces' officers was noted, he is considered as a hero for the Afghans/Pakhtoons of the Dir State.

[2][7] The Italian anthropologist Fosco Maraini, who visited the state in 1959 during an expedition towards Hindu-Kush, reported the opinion of the people that the Nawab Jahan Khan (who was about 64 years old at that time) was a tyrannical leader, denying his subjects any freedom of speech and instruction, governing the land with a number of henchmen, and seizing for his harem any girl or woman he wanted.

Maraini also noticed the lack of schools, sewers, and paved roads, and the presence of just a rudimentary newly built hospital.

The Nawab was negatively compared to the Wali of Swat, whose liberal politics allowed his state to enter into the modern era.

His throne passed in October 1961 to his eldest son, Mohammad Shah Khosru Khan, educated in India and a serving Major General of the Pakistan Army.