Global Regional Review (GRR) Pakhtun Identity versus Militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA: Exploring the Gap between Culture of Peace and Militancy (original) (raw)
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Global Regional Review
The Pakhtun culture had been flourishing between 484 - 425 BC, in the era of Herodotus and Alexander the Great. Herodotus, the Greek historian, for the first time, used the word Pactyans, for people who were living in parts of Persian Satrapy, Arachosia between 1000 - 1 BC. The hymns’ collection from an ancient Indian Sanskrit Ved used the word Pakthas for a tribe, who were inhabitants of eastern parts of Afghanistan. Presently, the terms Afghan and Pakhtun were synonyms till the Durand Line divided Afghanistan and Pakhtuns living in Pakistan. For these people the code of conduct remained Pakhtunwali; it is the pre-Islamic way of life and honour code based upon peace and tranquillity. It presents an ethnic self-portrait which defines the Pakhtuns as an ethnic group having not only a distinct culture, history and language but also a behaviour.
ON PASHTUNS AND PASHTO IN GANDHARA -- WITH A BRIEF ESSAY ON PASHTUN-AFGHAN ETHNOGENESIS
2019
The origins of the Pashtun-Afghan tribal ethnicity are extremely obscure, and shrouded in controversy, irresponsibility, misunderstanding and deceit. Although modern ethnology and anthropology have succeeded in providing an outline characterisation of this ethnicity as Iranian, and its other visible parameters are now quite well known -- a great deal regarding the circumstances of its formation as well as its actual role in history remain shrouded in mystery, which may be more contrived than anything else. Opinions offered in this regard are generally in the form of wild and non-serious conjecture, and are outright amateurish, and do not correspond to the known body of ethno-historical knowledge agreed upon by international academic consensus. It turns out that the origins of Pashtuns-Afghans are not as unique and alienated from standard history as is often made out -- and that the solutions to their "mystique" lie in the unexpected yet "normal" domain of wider Iranian Studies. There is no such alienation, and the explanation of this phenomenon lies very much within the pale of Iranian history, and not without. Yet it is a mystique promoted and kept in place by unscrupulous political vested interests. Due to this aspect, this this ethnonym as well as the associated field of its history and origins has unfortunately become the playfield of a host of social and cultural pretenders and “wannabes”. The objective of any scholar is to bring this subject out of the realm of incomprehension and mystique and connect it to tangible historical realities as regards their origins. Mention is often made of Greeks, others talk of Jews, yet others vaguely allude to “Aryans” without knowing the true provenance of the term; and none of these is correct. Of course, to the layman "Iran" merely implies the modern country of the same name. Many Pashto speakers are loath to associate themselves with the name. On the other hand, the key factor which stands out in the Pashtun-Afghan ethnic basis is that of the Saka influence -- although considered historically obscure and insignificant, it is pivotal to the basis of the Pashtun-Afghan ethnicity and its language, being an extremely insidious, profound and far-reaching, if little regarded, influence... In this essay I wish to address briefly what is known generally, and to me, about this issue overall. (This essay has been published in a different version, under the abbreviated title of “Pashtuns and Gandhara: on Pashtun-Afghan Ethnogenesis” on the website http://www.wemountains.com/ on 26 October 2019).
AN ETHNIC GROUP IN KASHMIR VALLEY, THEIR ORIGIN AND IDENTITY: THE PASHTUN
International Journal of Education for the 21st Century, 2022
Pashtuns are said to have fostered the world's biggest ancestral society, and in nearby reasoning, the ancestral framework even includes all mankind. Pashtun's ideal of fairness depends on the ancestral framework. The thought is that all Pashtuns are conceived equivalent, and are offspring of one normal predecessor; social and financial imbalance, which exists, isn't given naturally or at birth but is accomplished separately, and is compromised and open to change whenever. This study is an endeavor to reflect Pakhtoon culture and perspective by concentrating on their language Pashto. How their perspectives and, convictions are molded by their way of life, and how they depict these perspectives using language. The point is to concentrate on the Pashto public, their precursors, beginning, and different speculations related to it. It likewise means to concentrate explicitly on the Pakhtoon of Kashmir, its dissemination, way of life, and its etymological profile.
Cheung2017-On the Origin of the Terms “Afghan” & “Pashtun” (Again) - Gnoli Memorial Volume.pdf
According to local lore, modern day Pashtuns assert with a certain justification that they originally came from the Sulaymān mountain area in the Afghan-Pakistani border land, east of Kandahār. For this reason any reference of the name “Afghan” or “Pashtun” in a wide range of Islamic, non-Islamic, Classical, i.e. Latin and (Hellenistic-) greek, Sanskrit and Chinese sources, is seized upon as proof of the ancient origin of their nation. This “Protochronistic” approach – to borrow a term from the romanian national historiography – is rather futile, as the context is often, quite conveniently, left out in the discourse, not to mention, the reliability of these so-called “attestations” is rarely questioned. The aim of this contribution to the memory of the great iranist Gherardo Gnoli is to critically assess the existing suggestions and their context that link specific names cited frequently from these miscellaneous and diverse, historic sources, with the modern “Afghan” and “Pashtun” ethnic designations. The assessment also includes the nature of the historic linguistic interactions of Pashto with its Iranian sister-languages.
Transnational Ideologies, Violent Conflict, and Pashtun Social Identity
Journal of Social and Political Science, 2019
The Pashtun borderland has assumed enormous international political significance in the wake of 9/11. However, the Pashtun inhabitants of the area continue to be profoundly impacted by the ongoing conflict in the region. The conflict has reconfigured the whole fabric of the socio-cultural life of its inhabitants. While some scholastic attempts have been made to address the socio-dynamics of the conflict, detailed accounts of the impacts of the conflict on Pashtun social identity 'Pashtunwali' remain scarce. This study aims to investigate how the violent conflict in the region has changed the Pashtun socio-cultural system of "Pashtunwali" including, for example, Jirga, Melmastia and Hujra. This socio-cultural system has, in the past, played a crucial role in conflict resolution and sustaining peace in society. Field data was gathered in Pakistan's tribal areas and in selected urban areas through semi-structured interviews and participant observation with local and key respondents. The study finds that under the influence of transnational ideologies, militants incorporated religiosity into the secular culture of Pashtunwali which, in turn, has significantly impacted the socio-cultural life of the tribal people.
Pakistan’s “Tribal” Pashtuns, Their “Violent” Representation, and the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement
SAGE Open, 2019
The tribal Pashtuns of Pakistan, based in the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region, have historically been portrayed as “violent” and “warrior-like,” both in the colonial and contemporary literature. However, a brief review of archival literature suggests that oriental representation of tribal Pashtuns is based on various generalizations that were formed and propagated during the British military expeditions against the tribal Pashtuns. Moreover, these generalizations and stereotypes against the tribal Pashtuns have persisted since Pakistan’s independence in 1947. Recent developments in Pakistan’s Pashtun tribal belt, with various tribes convening Jirga meetings, condemning and countering militant activities and protesting against the state’s injustices explain the importance and desire for peace among the tribal Pashtuns. Finally, a brief analysis of the recently started Pashtun Tahafuz (protection) movement (PTM), an indigenous peace and human rights movement involving both men and women, and its nonviolent nature also reinforces the importance of peace for the tribal Pashtuns.