THE PATHANS by Moin Ansari

• The Western Pathans: The Abdalis (Durranis), The Ghaljis
• The Eastern Pathans: Usufzais
• Pakistani (Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa) Pakhtuns: The Karlanri: The Afridis, The Khattaks, The Orakzai, The Bangash, The Wazir, The Masud, The Turi

Written March 6th, 1998.Updated May 14, 2008.. Pakistanis are a diverse group…Punjabis, Kashmiris, Sindhis, Baluch and Muhajirs among others.

Pathans await the retreating British Army after the Battle of Maiwand

Pakistan with Afghanistan–a confederation approved by King Zahir Shah in the 50s. After the death of Liaqat Ali Khan, or cecause of it, the plan fell apart. Many say that Liaqat Ali Khan, a Karnal–East Punjab born Nawabzada had Pathan ancestry and was killed because he wanted this union, and he opposed the US attack on Iran. Separate article on this site. This confederation is the long term solution to the Pashtun strife.

Why and When did Balauchistan join Pakistan: http://www.zimbio.com/World+Politics/articles/3072/Balauchistan+join+Pakistan

The Pathans of Pakistan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Rejected into obscurity. Refuted into oblivion.

Afghanistan defeat: British Failures of “the White Man’s burden” British defeat at Battle of Maiwand

BADSHAH KHAN AND THE THE CHOICE FOR PAKISTAN: KHYBER-PAKHTOONKHAWAH
In spite of the venomous propaganda spewed against Pakistan and Pakistanis and in spite of the Frontier Gandhi…it is a fact that the people of Khyber bypassed the wishes of Badshah Khan and the Pathans voted for Pakistan in  a referendum for Pakistan. They are as patriotic as any other Pakistani.

The recent developments in the Sarhad with reference to a change in nomenclature of the province has a lot to do with information and d misinformation. It is obvious to all that the province of Pakhtunkhawa has to change its name … that name is a legacy of the British raj when the province was in the North West Frontier of the Empire…..today it is not in the North West Frontier of Pakistan. In a democracy, if the provincial assembly wants to change the name, the center has little choice but to oblige.

The new names for the NWFP being proposed were:

Afgania, Neelab, Pakhtunkhwa, Pashtunistan, Khyber, Attock etc

Of all the name suggested, the ANP has sent Pasktunkhawa and Afghania to the Center. The Center seems to have approved the name of Pakhtunkhawa. The Sarhad has many minorities that are non-Pakhtun. These tribes do not want the province to reflect the name of the majority. If the Sarhad wnats to be called Pakhtunkhawa, this author does not have serious issues with it.

POST ’71 ERA: FEDERALISTS VS. PROVINCIALISTS
In this post ’71 era, we as a nation are leery of the provincialists and their agendas. To the majority FEDERALISTS…the agenda of the ANP is simple….change the name of Sarhad …then ask for the other Pakhtun areas to be merged with the “Pakhtun” province …areas of FATA and Baluchistan …then merge the Pakhtun areas of Afghanistan into the Pakhtun province. To the DEVOLUTIONISTS…the provinces should control their destinies…and the center has no right to interfere.

THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS AND NWFP
One does not find the following in Indian text books.  See Stanley Wolpert (Nehru for details). The Indian National Congress of the 1940s had moved from the secular leadership of pan-Indians like Moti Lal Nehru to religious leaders like Gandhi. In order to bridge the split between the various Brahaminc factions, religious fanatics like Lala Rai were included in the Congress. During this phase almost all Muslims were drummed out of the INC. It was Gandhian policy to divide the conquer the Muslim majority areas like the NWFP.

Badshah Khan surely played into the INC ideals. He opposed Jinnah, Liaqat Ali Khan and the Muslim League. The Muslim League played an ingenious card. It bypassed Badshah Khan (The Frontier Gandhi) and got a referendum to vote for Pakistan. Badshah Khan was soundly defeated and the Pathans voted for Pakistan. The Durand Line in 1947 was declared the dividing line between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

THE ABOLISHMENT OF THE DURAND LINE IN EIGHTIES
In 1947 and beyond the Congressite followers of Badshah Khan continued to ask the Gandhi question “The Pathans should have had a choice between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India”. Firstly the Muslim League had correctly argued that the British had no right to ask that particular question, since they did not ask Bengal if it wanted to join Burma, and it did not ask Tamil Nadu if it wanted to join Sri Lanka. Thus the Durand Line became the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it would have stayed that way for a while if the Soviets had not invaded Afghanistan. Since the 1980s the Durand Line has been a porus line for men and material, and today the question is being asked if it is truly a valid line? During the Soviet occupation of Western Afghanistan, some portions of Eastern Afghanistan (at least the Pashtun portions) literally became part of free Afghanistan, a part of Pakistan. 6 million Afghans came to Pakistan as refugees and stayed in Pakistan for years. One million Afghan children were born in Pakistan.

Thousands stayed back in Pakistan. After the take over of the Taliban, the Afghan state is sub state. Today many Pakistanis and Pathan ask the question. Should we abolish the Durand line and let all the Pathans live in the state of Pakistan? The controversy will surely never end…….however we can tell the story of the Pathans….

THE HISTORY OF THE PATHANS

By year 4000 BC the earliest farming communities had come into existence in southern Afghanistan. The Aryans of East European or Central Asian origin settled here in 1500 BC and initiated the present Pathan stock. Then came wave after wave of different foreign invaders including the Iranians, Turks and a host of others. By the 3rd century BC, Afghanistan was known as Bactria under the Greek Macedonian empire.

Herodatus, the Greek historian, in approximately 450 BC mentioned the tribe of ‘Paktues’ (Pathans) distinguished by their bravery and called their country ‘Paktica’. The term ‘Afghan’ was heard much later and mentioned for the first time in 7th century AD. Dr Ali Jan

From before the time of Alexander the Great’s struggles against the tribes to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pathans inhabit a region stretching from Southern Afghanistan to the North-West Frontier of Pakistan. This land became the graveyard for empires and invaders for the past several centuries. This proud race makes up one of the world’s largest and oldest tribal societies, where each clan guards its own territory and honour.

The history of the Pathans is wrapped in mystery. Ever since the translation of Niamatullah’s early 17th century epic, Makhzan-i-Afghani in English by Professor Bernhard Dorn as the History of the Afghans (1829), several European and British historians have attempted to compile similar works and give their own versions to the origin of these fascinating people. Brigadier (R) Haroon Rashid

Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | ??????? ????? | ???? | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ??????? | Notizie di Rupia | PAKISTAN LEDGER | ???????? ????? | RUPEE NEWS | February 16th, 2009 | Moin Ansari | ???? ??????? | ????? ????? |

The following is the story of the Pathans of Sarhad, Frontier, NWFP, Afghania. Pakhtoonistan, or Pakhtoonkhawa. This story of the Pathans begins in the year 550 BC through the origins (The Greek historians, Alexander, the Sakas, the Kushans, the Persian and Arab expansions, the Saffarids and the Hindushahis).

Sarhad as part of Pakistan part of Amir taimur’s empire

The history of the Pathans encompasses the Muslim middle ages (AD 1000-1707, Mahmud Khilji, Sher Shah, Babur, the Peshawar tribes, Akbar, Khushal Khan and Aurenzeb. Part three discusses the Durranis and the Sikhs (1707-1849). The British period was from 1864-1947. The rest of the story will be told in the Eastern Pathans.

“LATER DAY PATHANS”.

The story of the Pathans is a unique and colorful one. In spite of the pretensions of the self styled defenders of the Pathans the progeny of Badshah Khan (the Frontier Gandhi), the Pathans are a diverse and interesting group….here is their story as seen through Western eyes…Sir Olaf Caroe writes with passion about the people who inhabit one of our most interesting peoples. Enjoy Moin

THE PATHANS (See Olaf Caroe)

Morocco for Imperial France and India for Imperial Britain  were the ‘jewels in the Crown’. Their finest officers were  posted to administer the traditionally independent-minded  tribesmen, the Berbers in the former case and the Pathans in  the latter. Through sensitivity and intelligence, many of these  colonial officers overcame their political and racial prejudice-  and came to know the tribesmen well. Some of them like  Montagne for the Berbers, and Caroe, Howell, and King for  the Pathans-have left behind material which contains  authoritative ethnographic and political accounts.

Their  inherent bias in viewing the tribesman as a noble savage  created a romantic picture of him. But the affection is  genuine. Whether writing for the public or for more private,  often confidential, readership, the respect and affection of  these officers for the tribesmen emerges clearly. In a  profound sense they identified with the tribesmen. Caroe is  a good example. He was, as he never tired of repeating, a  Yusufzai Pathan in spirit and heart. His love for the Pathans,  their language, their code, and their lands was undiminished  to the end. And, to the end, a lucid mind, a literary pen, and  a wide circle of interested friends allowed him to contribute  to Pathan studies. Caroe’s The Pathans is at one and the same  time a classic and contemporary book. It is-with its  Epilogue-essential reading for anyone interested in recent development in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Louis Dupree, who knew and corresponded with Sir Olaf Caroe over a number of years, also writes-.

Although one can occasionally disagree with Sir Olaf, one cannot but admire him and, if one has met him, love him. The literary contributions of Sir Olaf will be around for generations to come. Also, he was a powerful figure in the British Indian Government and his role in the perpetuation of both the myths and the realities of the boundary legacies of the British in South Asia remains significant. History will continue to analyze these sensitive frontiers. Exegimonumentum aera perennius ‘I have executed a memorial longer lasting than bronze’.

Horace INTRODUCTION There is a strange fascination in living among the Pathans.

Many  attempts have been made to catch and convey that   feeling, but the spell is elusive. One secret of the hold of  the North-West Frontier is to be sought in the tremendous scenic  canvas against which the Pathan plays out his life, a canvas brought into vivid relief by sharp, cruel changes of climate. Sometimes the assault on the spirit is that of stark ugliness and discomfort – appalling heat, a dust-storm across the Peshawar plain, the eroded foot-hills of Khaibar or Waziristan; more often it is an impression of beauty indescribable in its clarity and contrast with the barren emptiness that went before. The weft and warp of this tapestry is woven into the souls and bodies of the men who move before it. Much is harsh, but all is drawn in strong tones that catch the breath, and at times bring tears, almost of pain. ’The life of a frontiersman is hard,’ wrote Ronaidshay, l ‘and he treads it daily on the brink of eternity. Yet, despite its obvious drawbacks, the fact remains that these endless ranges of rugged rocks rising from lower levels do possess the power of inspiring in  those whose lot is cast among them an extraordinary enthusiasm.

… I do not suggest that the average warden of the marches   habitually subjects his feelings to this kind of analysis, but the circumstances of his life are such that he frequently experiences the     species of spiritual exaltation induced by solitude amid the grandeur of nature, and such experience is one of the factors that go to  make the magic of the Frontier.’

But the land was made for the men in it, not men for the land.     For the stranger who had eyes to see and cars to hear, always as he  drove through the Margalla pass just north of Rawalpindi and went on to cross the great bridge at Attock, there was a lifting of  the heart and a knowledge that, however hard the task and beset with danger, here was a people who looked him in the face and made him feel he had come home. Yet, after a hundred years and     more of close contact, the Pathan remains to the world, and even to himself, something of an enigma. Many have spoken and   written of him and his country, but the surface has been scarcely   scratched. There is need for a deeper ploughing.  In a word the truth is that the history of the Pathans has never been unrolled.

There are tribal annals, there is legend, there is   myth. There is also a wide and detailed record of brilliant achievement by Pathan captains and kings far from their own land,  to the rank of empire at DeN. There is the uncertain Afghan Kingdom of the Durranis, but that was founded only two hundred years ago and is but an episode in a long story. Although t.   Pathans have stood for centuries in the corridors between Khurasan and the Indian sub-continent just at the very point when   great civilizations have met and contended; although their mountain homes have been swept by conquering armies again and agat,  to rise like a breakwater from the sea; although the conquered:   have passed on to found great empires – yet the Pathans hold the gate have never been given a vision of their own story   perspective. In the modern sense there is no connected history   the Pathans in their own land, whether written by themselves   by any of those through the ages who passed by.

What, for instance, is the difference between Afghan and   Pathan? Who and what are they, and what their origins? When   has been their social and political organization through the centuries, and have they succeeded in establishing a State? What their language and what their literature? And how have they stood to the uncounted powers and principalities which at various   periods of history have pressed upon them? What in the past ha   been their influence on affairs, what are their auguries for th4   future? These and a host of questions re -main unanswered.    I do not wish to anticipate conclusions here. Distinction in a definition will emerge in due place as the story unfolds. But something should be said on the use I shall make of the terms Pathan   and Afghan, often loosely employed by themselves as synonymous    When we come to examine origins, it will be found that a clear distinction can be drawn between those who inhabit plains a  open  plateaux on the one hand and the highlanders on the other.

The former have always been regarded as   face and peculiarly entitled to the Afghan name. They again   be broadly divided into (i) the Western Afghans,   the most important are the Abdalis

INTRODUCTION
Ghaijis (Ghilzais modo Persico), and (ii) The Eastern Afghans namely the Yusufzais and other kindered tribes of the Peshawar plain and the valleys to the North of it. The Western Afghans have been subject in history to certain  Persian influences which have affected the Durranis even  to their language. Their contacts and development lay with the Safawi    of Persia, and Herat and Kandahar were their cultural centers . The Eastern Afghans, whom Elphinstones and other writers called ‘Berdooraunees’, are less amenable to the and Persian tradition partly because their contacts lay with the Mughal Empire which ruled from Delhi in Peshaware and Kabul. But both Eastern and Western, are equally entitled to the Afghan namewhich has a connotation far wider than that of the subject of the  modern Afghan State, founded only in 1747.

In between the Eastern and the Western Afghans, and to some extent keeping them apart, are interposed the highlanders. These include most of the famous names of the North West Frontier. Afridi, Khatak, Orakzai, Bangash, Wazir, Mahsud, Turi – all  these strike a chord in in countless memories. The dialects of these tribes have something in common and all are presented in genealogical legend as descended from a fondling common ancestor    named the Karlanari, not in the true Afghan line. These are pre-eminantly the Pakhtuns, or Pashtuns.

They are the tribes who never fell under the effective . sway of,any recorded imperial  authority and now form the backbone of the so called tribal belt. The hill Pathans -the appellation Pathan is the Indian  of Pukhtanah, the plural of PakhtUnah have always the cities and towns towards the Indus, and not with or Ghaznito the west. Consequently their links with the  Afghans of the Peshawar Valley have been much closer   to the  Durranis or other tribes inhabiting the country to  which they know as Khurasan. Conversely the Eastern Afghans feel an undobted sense of identity with the hill tribes, a sense which was hardly yet atttined to any concept of unity but transcends tribal particularism.

In a very broad way, and with local exceptions, the Eastern  Afghans and the highland Pakhtunah, their brethren, all live east of the Zdurand Line, within Pakistan as the successor state of the British in India It  is chiefly of these, the Eastern Afghans and the highland

From Nadir Shah’s death in 1747 until the communist coup of April 1978, Afghanistan was governed–at least nominally–by Pashtun rulers from the Abdali group of clans. Indeed, it was under the leadership of the first Pashtun ruler, Ahmad Shah, that the nation of Afghanistan began to take shape following centuries of fragmentation and exploitation. Even before the death of Nadir Shah, tribes in the Hindu Kush had been growing stronger and were beginning to take advantage of the waning power of their distant rulers. Two lineage groups within the Abdali ruled Afghanistan from 1747 until the downfall of the monarchy in the 1970s–the Sadozai of the Popalzai tribe, and the Muhammadzai of the Barakzai tribe.

AHMAD SHAH AND THE DURRANI EMPIRE

In 1747 Ahmad Shah and his Abdali horsemen joined the chiefs of the Abdali tribes and clans near Qandahar to choose a leader. Despite being younger than other claimants, Ahmad had several overriding factors in his favor. He was a direct descendant of Sado, eponym of the Sadozai; he was unquestionably a charismatic leader and seasoned warrior who had at his disposal a trained, mobile force of several thousand cavalrymen; and he possessed part of Nadir Shah’s treasury.

One of Ahmad Shah’s first acts as chief was to adopt the title “Durr-i-Durrani” (“pearl of pearls” or “pearl of the age”), which may have come from a dream or from the pearl earrings worn by the royal guard of Nadir Shah. The Abdali Pashtuns were known thereafter as the Durrani.

Ahmad Shah began by capturing Ghazni from the Ghilzai Pashtuns, and then wresting Kabul from the local ruler. In 1749 the Mughal ruler ceded sovereignty over Sindh Province and the areas of northern India west of the Indus to Ahmad Shah in order to save his capital from Afghan attack. Ahmad Shah then set out westward to take possession of Herat, which was ruled by Nadir Shah’s grandson, Shah Rukh. Herat fell to Ahmad after almost a year of siege and bloody conflict, as did Mashhad (in present-day Iran). Ahmad next sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush. In short order, the powerful army brought under its control the Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, and Hazara tribes of northern Afghanistan (see Ethnic Groups, ch. 2). Ahmad invaded India a third, then a fourth, time, taking control of the Punjab, Kashmir, and the city of Lahore. Early in 1757, he sacked Delhi, but permitted the Mughal Dynasty to remain in nominal control as long as the ruler acknowledged Ahmad’s suzerainty over the Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir. Leaving his second son Timur in charge, Ahmad left India to return to Afghanistan.

The collapse of Mughal control in India, however, also facilitated the rise of rulers other than Ahmad Shah. In the Punjab, the Sikhs were becoming a potent force. From their capital at Pune, the Marathas, Hindus who controlled much of western and central India, were beginning to look northward to the decaying Mughal empire, which Ahmad Shah now claimed by conquest. Upon his return to Qandahar in 1757, Ahmad faced Maratha attacks which succeeded in ousting Timur and his court in India.

Ahmad Shah declared an Islamic holy war against the Marathas, and warriors from various Pashtun tribes, as well as other tribes such as the Baloch, answered his call. Early skirmishes ended in victory for the Afghans, and by 1759 Ahmad and his army had reached Lahore. By 1760 the Maratha groups had coalesced into a great army. Once again Panipat was the scene of a confrontation between two warring contenders for control of northern India. The Battle of Panipat in 1761 between Muslim and Hindu armies who numbered as many as 100,000 troops each was fought along a twelve-kilometer front. Despite decisively defeating the Marathas, what might have been Ahmad Shah’s peaceful control of his domains was disrupted by other challenges.

3rd Battle of Panipat: Pakistan's 3 tribes & Afghans against the Marhattas

The victory at Panipat was the high point of Ahmad Shah’s–and Afghan–power. Afterward, even prior to his death, the empire began to unravel. By the end of 1761, the Sikhs had gained power and taken control of much of the Punjab. In 1762 Ahmad Shah crossed the passes from Afghanistan for the sixth time to subdue the Sikhs. He assaulted Lahore and, after taking their holy city of Amritsar, massacred thousands of Sikh inhabitants, destroying their temples and desecrating their holy places with cow’s blood. Within two years the Sikhs rebelled again. Ahmad Shah tried several more times to subjugate the Sikhs permanently, but failed. By the time of his death, he had lost all but nominal control of the Punjab to the Sikhs, who remained in charge of the area until the British defeat in 1849.

Ahmad Shah also faced other rebellions in the north, and eventually he and the amir of Bukhara agreed that the Amu Darya would mark the division of their lands. In 1772 Ahmad Shah retired to his home in the mountains east of Qandahar, where he died. Ahmad Shah had succeeded to a remarkable degree in balancing tribal alliances and hostilities and in directing tribal energies away from rebellion. He earned recognition as Ahmad Shah Baba, or “Father” of Afghanistan (fig. _, Ahmad Shah Durrani’s Empire, 1762).

By the time of Ahmad Shah’s ascendancy, the Pashtuns included many groups whose origins were obscure; most were believed to have descended from ancient Aryan tribes, but some, such as the Ghilzai, may have once been Turks (see Ethnic Groups, ch. 2). They had in common, however, their Pashtu language. To the east, the Waziris and their close relatives, the Mahsuds, had lived in the hills of the central Suleiman Range since the fourteenth century. By the end of the sixteenth century and the final Turkish-Mongol invasions, tribes such as the Shinwaris, Yusufzais, and Mohmands had moved from the upper Kabul River Valley into the valleys and plains west, north, and northeast of Peshawar. The Afridis had long been established in the hills and mountain ranges south of the Khyber Pass. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Durranis had blanketed the area west and north of Qandahar.

Ahmad Shah’s successors governed so ineptly during a period of profound unrest that within fifty years of his death, Afghanistan was embroiled in a civil war. Many of the territories conquered with the help of Ahmad Shah’s military skill fell to others in this half century. By 1818 the Sadozai rulers who succeeded Ahmad Shah controlled little more than Kabul and the surrounding territory within a 160-kilometer radius. They not only lost the outlying territories but also alienated other tribes and lineages among the Durrani Pashtuns.

After the death of Ahmad Shah’s successor, Timur, the three strongest contenders for the position of shah were Timur’s sons, the governors of Qandahar, Herat, and Kabul. Muhammad Zeman, governor of Kabul, was in the most commanding position and became shah at the age of twenty-three. His half-brothers accepted this only by force majeure–upon being imprisoned on their arrival in the capital for the purpose, ironically, of electing a new shah. The quarrels among Timur’s descendants that threw Afghanistan into turmoil also provided the pretext for the intervention of outside forces.

The efforts of the Sadozai heirs of Timur to impose a true monarchy on the truculent Pashtun tribes and to rule absolutely and without the advice of the other, larger Pashtun tribes’ leaders were ultimately unsuccessful. The Sikhs too, were particularly troublesome, and after several unsuccessful efforts to subdue them, Zeman made the mistake of appointing a forceful young Sikh chief, Ranjit Singh, as his governor in the Punjab. The “one-eyed” warrior would later become an implacable enemy of Pashtun rulers in Afghanistan.

Zeman’s downfall was triggered by his attempts to consolidate power. Although it had been through the support of the Muhammadzai chief, Painda Khan, that he had come to the throne, Zeman soon began to remove prominent Muhammadzai leaders from positions of power and replacing them with men of his own lineage, the Sadozai. This upset the delicate balance of Durrani tribal politics that Ahmad Shah had established and may have prompted Painda Khan and other Durrani chiefs to plot against the shah. Painda Khan and the chiefs of the Nurzai and the Alizai Durrani clans were executed, as was the chief of the Qizilbash clan. Painda Khan’s son fled to Iran and pledged the substantial support of his Muhammadzai followers to a rival claimant to the throne, Zeman’s older brother, Mahmud. The clans of the chiefs Zeman had executed joined forces with the rebels, and they took Qandahar without bloodshed.

Zeman’s overthrow in 1800 was not the end of civil strife in Afghanistan but the beginning of even greater violence. Shah Mahmud reigned for a mere three years before being replaced by yet another of Timur Shah’s sons, Shuja, who ruled for only six years, from 1803 to 1809. On June 7, 1809, Shuja signed a Treaty of Friendship with the British which included a clause stating that he would oppose the passage of foreign troops through his territories. This agreement, the first Afghan pact with a European power, stipulated joint action in case of Franco-Persian aggression against Afghan or British dominions. Only a few weeks after signing the agreement, Shuja was deposed by his predecessor, Mahmud, whose second reign lasted nine years, until 1818. Mahmud alienated the Muhammadzai, especially Fateh Khan, the son of Painda Khan, who was eventually seized and blinded. Revenge would later be sought and obtained by Fateh Khan’s youngest brother, Dost Mohammad.

From 1818 until Dost Mohammad’s ascendancy in 1826, chaos reigned in the domains of Ahmad Shah Durrani’s empire as various sons of Painda Khan struggled for supremacy. Afghanistan ceased to exist as a single nation, disintegrating for a brief time into a fragmented collection of small units, each ruled by a different Durrani leader.

The British empire of 1857 in the Subcontinent

The British “On to the Oxus policy” was short lived. In 1876 Sir Robert Sandeman concluded a treaty with the Khan of Kalat and brought his territories–including Kharan, Makran, and Las Bela–under British suzerainty.3. After the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, the Treaty of Gandamak concluded in May 1879, the Afghan Mmir ceded his districts of Pishin, Sibi, Harnai, and Thal Chotiali to the British.

SOME RECENT EVENTS by Asad Mir

Mullah Omer started his Taliban movement with less than 50 madressah students and after the fall of Kandahar, thousands from Pakistani madressahs rushed to join the new force and by December 1994 he had a force of 12,000. A new phenomenon had been created in Pashtun society – that of madressah students and mullahs, with guns in their hands, ruling the Pashtuns. In Pashtun society no clear role is defined for religious functionaries in the social system. Government officials posted in these areas and the Maliks/Khans are considered leaders, who get legitimacy from the authority they exercise on behalf of the state, with religious functionaries given a limited role of dealing with rituals.

Throughout the region’s history, the religious leaders had wanted a greater role for themselves in decision-making and that is why the area often saw uprisings led by religious personalities. The latter had hold of the leadership as long as the war/jihad was on but once the conflict was over, it reverted to the Maliks and Khans. The present Talibanisation is not just a movement for enforcement of Sharia; the mullahs want power, authority and a defined role in decision making in the social system of Pashtun society.

Events and political happenings in Afghanistan have always had some impact on NWFP in general and FATA in particular. The Durand line divided many tribes, and out of the seven tribal agencies, six have tribes on either side of the Durand line.

As for Swat, it is neither a tribal area and nor does it border Afghanistan – so the question arises that why has it become a stronghold of extremists. Being a fertile area it always attracted invaders. Till the 10th century most of the population were followers of Buddhism and were very peaceful and docile people. In the 16th century the Yousafzai tribe captured the valley. The area was divided between various sub-tribes. There was no central system of administration and the tribes resolved their disputes themselves. Except for a few years of central rule, this system continued till 1917, after which different tribes elected a central leader and Swat emerged as an independent state. In 1926, the British accepted the state of Swat and the ruler was offered the title of Wali-e-Swat. He formed his own central administrative system with two types of courts functioning in the State. Courts headed by the religious scholars, known as qazi courts, and judicial courts headed by the area tehsildars. The qazi courts dealt with cases of divorce, inheritance and some other minor cases involving Sharia while all other disputes were referred to the tehsildar court. The appellate forum was that of a hakim, and a final appeal could be made to the wali. All this process took only one month. In those times the social problems were also not very complex so generally, the population was getting free and speedy justice.

Dir and Bajaur were annexed by Pakistan in 1960 while Swat was merged in Pakistan in 1969. In 1975, these former independent states were declared as Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA). These areas were then conferred the status of districts which meant that they also got district administration and police force. The judicial system, however, was based on jirgas and the executive authority of district magistrates. In 1992, on a petition of lawyers, the PATA regulations were abolished by the courts. However, surprisingly no alternative system was put as a replacement and this created a judicial void which created unrest in the general public.

And it was this void which then created the seeds for the Nov 1994 uprising by the TNSM. This led to violence and the TNSM took control of six districts. New rules for traffic were introduced and all kinds of transport were forced to move on the right side of the road, the left being deemed un-Islamic. This resulted in numerous road accidents. Men were made to wear watches on the right hand. A sitting MPA of the PPP, the then ruling party, was killed. It took the law-enforcement agencies more than a month to dislodge the militants and to regain control of these areas.

As for the TNSM, it was formed by Sufi Mohammad in 1988. He himself is a simple and peaceful man who does not preach violence except in the way of jihad against non- Muslims. However, he does not have the leadership qualities and capabilities to control large movements. In the 1994 movement, besides the TNSM, many other elements also joined in and they included gangs of car-lifters, the timber mafia, farmers who had disputes with Khans, loan defaulters, smugglers and many other anti-social elements. Because of the violence, the then provincial government introduced the Nizam-e-Adal regulation in Malakand division in December 1994 and established qazi courts thereafter in 1995.

Besides the TNSM factor, there are other actors in Swat. In the aftermath of 9/11, many of the foreigners who fled Afghanistan crossed over to Pakistan and took refuge in many parts of the country. Quite a few landed up in Swat and they were joined by others more recently after the recent military operation in Bajaur agency. Another factor that may have contributed is the landless farmers who, during Bhutto’s era, took possession of lands which belonged to the Khans of the area — Matta tehsil of Swat was the most affected in this regard. . The News. Email: asadmunir38@yahoo.com. Nizam-e-adl: what next for the Taliban? Tuesday, February 17, 2009, Asad Munir

The Wazirs are a more warlike Pakhtoon tribe than the Durranis, Lodhis, Suris and Ghalzais who ruled the subcontinent. They inhabit South and North Waziristan in Pakistan and Birmal, Matun districts in Afghanistan. Wazirs preferred a life of isolation, or they could have established a dynasty in the subcontinent.

In 1979, when the Russian forces entered Afghanistan. The Americans found an opportunity to contain communism and settle scores with the USSR. Billions of dollars were pumped in to make Pakhtoons fight against Pakhtoons. The Pakhtoons had a rich culture of tolerance, openness, moderation, music, poetry and art. In the NWFP and FATA, Sikhs, Hindus and other minorities enjoyed equal rights. Never had any communal riots occurred. Sikhs and Hindus lived peacefully in Afridi and Orakzai Tirah for ages, where no Pakistani official could enter until 2002. Both North and South Waziristan were used as bases for the Afghan jihad. A few local youths, influenced by the jihadis, joined them to fight against the Russians. Though the impact of jihad, on the Pakhtoon culture of Waziristan, was not very significant, the seeds of extremism were sown in these areas.

The Durand Line divided tribes in six tribal agencies .The line, since not demarcated on ground, was never considered as border by tribal. Cross border, movement was a routine. The shinwaris of Landikotal would go to Jalalabad to play football matches. Tribal from Pakistan were member of afghan parliament. Political dynamics of Afghanistan always have a strong impact on FATA. In September 1996, Taliban captured Kabul. Inspired by their success, local Taliban became active in Mir Ali Tehsil of North Waziristan by 1998. Utmanzai Wazir and Dawar are the main tribes, while Kharsins, Siadgis, Gurbaz, and Malakshi Mahsud also reside in North Waziristan. Few men from these tribes joined afghan Taliban to fight against Northern Alliance. Baitullah Mahsud was one of them. His father, Mulana Haroon, was imam Masjid in Bannu Cantonment. Baitullah was born and brought up in Bannu. He got religious education from a madrassa in Daud Shah, Bannu and for some time he studied in a Miranshah madrassa. He remained an Imam Masjid in Mati Mamman Khel village in Jani Khel area of FR Bannu. After 9/11, he moved to his ancestral area of Shabi khel Mahsud in South Waziristan.

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Foreign militants entered Waziristan in March 2002 in the aftermath of operation ANACONDA, conducted by NATO forces in Shahi Kot area of Paktiya province. Baitullah was then not well known in Waziristan. Shelter to foreign militant was provided by Ahmadzai Wazirs of Wana. Nek Mohammad,Sharif Khan,Noor Ul Islam,Omer were the prominent facilitators.Ahmedzai Wazir and Mahsuds are the main tribes of South Waziristan,while Dotanis,Suleman Khel and Urmers also inhabit the area.Mahsuds and Ahmedzai wazirs have never enjoyed cordial relations.. Since foreign militants were mainly in Wazir areas therefore to isolate them, an agreement was inked with Baitullah Mahsud in February 2005. The deal made, was in good faith, to isolate Ahmadzai Wazirs and to ensure that Biatullah men do not conduct operation across the border. During the next 2 years Baitullah consolidated, his position .He formed Tahreek E Taliban Pakistan in December 2007, with the support of Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda’s leadership. He was declared Amir of TTP.

The army’s final battle is likely to be fought against Baitullah in South Waziristan. The remnants of terrorist from Swat, Mohmand, Orakzai, Kurram, Darra, are likely to fall back to South Waziristan.The elements of banned jiahadi organizations, lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Jaish and other jihadis are likely to join this battle for their survival. Timely and successful completion of the Malakand operation will have immense effects on future operations. Extraordinary security arrangements should be made to make the job of suicide bombers difficult. The nation is already geared up for the cause of the IDPs. A quick, transparent and efficient mechanism for reconstruction of conflict areas should be designed and executed. Pakistan is at war and we must win it for our future generations to enable them to live a life of their choice, especially for the daughters of this nation.Thursday, June 11, 2009 Asad Munir

Just consider this: after the Punjabis, the Pakhtuns have the second largest presence in the Pakistan Army; they share power with the Punjabi establishment when there is military rule in Pakistan; their business class has more investment in Karachi and Punjab than in Pakhtunkhwa itself; their labour class is more at home and earns its living in Karachi and Punjab; their middle class has more jobs in other provinces’ public and private sector; they cannot look up to Afghanistan for integration because that country is war-ravaged and much more underdeveloped than Pakistan. No people have ever joined or migrated to less developed societies. As a matter of fact, when the Afghan refugees started pouring into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the 1980s, as a result of the war unleashed by General Zia and the CIA on that country, I found most Pakhtuns of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa criticising the immigrants for taking away their resources. They also felt that the Afghan immigrants are not going to go back as, historically, no migrant who has moved to a developed area has ever looked back. And they were right. Today you see many markets monopolised by the Afghan traders, even in Karachi.

Sociologically, the Pakhtuns have also changed in this period. They teach their children English, if they can afford it, or Urdu, because these languages get them jobs and keep them in the orbit of power. When the National Awami Party (NAP) came to power, it declared Urdu as the official language in the province, realising the inadequacy of Pashto. So our ultra-nationalist Pakistanis should not fear that renaming the province is a precursor to the secession of the Pakhtunkhwa. The Daily Times

As General Hamid Gul in one of his column says there are more Pashtuns in Punjab than itself in Pakhtunkhwa, also Karachi and other areas. We must visit the rural areas where there is pureness, otherwise you will face harsh conditions in Peshawar as like other cities. I am more comfortable in Lahore than in Peshawar or any other city of Pakistan.

We are all Muslims, what i suggest is that ppls must mix on their own basis, otherwise our politicians, they are just nothing, they have nothing to give ppls, thats why they divide ppl and rule.

I am quite sure the same will be the case of others colours of Pakistan– cause AS PAKISTANIS WE ARE ONE. Our land is a romance, you will find so many sweet traditions, isn’t it beautiful, look at Brave Baluchis, Sweet Sindhis, open hearted Panjabis and of course hardliner Pashtuns ha ha ahaa ah, and all the sweet from India, I will not call them muhajirs , they are our brothers.

In that sense it is very hard to disintegrate pakistan, we must defend our homeland. Look at the those who tried to make harm to this land.
We must come forward and build a strong nation, its not Nawaz Shareef or Zardari, or Wali Khan or any others land. Its my watan, its your and our pure watan, see how sweet name it have, pureland.

The Bangladesh time is over, now no one can us fool again.
Momin aik surakh se do dafa nahi dasa jata

My relation to Islam is much richer history and than if you see anyone who have followed Islam truly they became legendary.

Afghanistan was conquered by so many nations, but one they accepted Islam, they became legend and acquired the title of graveyard of empires.
Muslim are ummah, one nation, the other are different colours.

I respect Afghanistan as well because it is a Muslim country and will happily vote if they became united, cause unification of Muslims is great. It will be much greater if all the countries of the region one, cause in true sense they are one nation.
We Will Follow Muhammad ( PBUH) not the West.
Muslims are like brothers, like one body , if one part is hurt, you will feel pain in whole body hurts. Dr. Zee Khan

Shapfqat Khan adds:

The Naghar is a Pashtun tribes they are descended from Gharghasht, one of Qais Abdur Rashid sons. Originated from Afghanistan and then resettled in Karachi, Hyderabad,Quetta,Musakhail and Layyaha (Pakistan).

Kakar, Pani, Devi and Babi were real brothers. All tribes are present in Baluchistan and Afghanistan. The Naghar tribe were camel and horse breeders entered in India with Bahlol Lodi’s army around 1451(chapter 9) [1] and remained in glory as long as Lodi ruled[2]. That’s why the population of Lodi, Naghar and Pani is less as compared to other Afghan tribes in Baluchistan and Afghanistan. When Afghan Lodi was defeated by Mughals, the Naghar started selling horses/camels. Later on they settled in different places of India, like Gurani in District Rothak, Rajestan and Hyderabad. Naghar had six sons, their names were Ans, Trik, Parman, Abdul Rahman, Damsan and Saleh according to Pushtu historians. These tribes are present in Dist: Musakhail of Baluchistan in Pakistan and Afghanistan with mother tongue as pushto. One can find these Afghan tribes in kho-e-sulaman too. Naghar are living in village name Kohi near Musakhail bazzar, in wazirstan and Afghanistan majority of migratory Afghan tribes known as Kochi are offspring of Naghar. According to some Naghar had 12 sons. In Musakhail Blochistan Naghar’s are also known as Sheikh (in pushto sheikh means an honest and religious). One can find Ans Trik, damsan, Parman, Abdulrahman and Selha tribes in kochi’s (Afghan tribes move with animals between Pakistan and Afghanistan) these tribes are on the names of Naghar’s sons. These tribes are also present in Punjab province District Layyah of Pakistan in good number as Layyah is approximately 40 km aerial distance from Musakhail Blochistan.

An Australian camel belongs to this tribe. They purchased it from Musakhel. Still one can find a Naghar man with 40 camels in the Sulaman mountains near Musakhail. With the passage of time, the demand of animals is decreasing.

According to a glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North -West Volume 1 by H.A Rose, IBBETSON, Maclagon. Naghar a branch to Lodi Pathan dynasty whose name is said to have been given them on account of thir rapacity, nahar means tiger.Raverty calls them Naghars and says they are ghorgasht Pathans.

Little is known about this Afghan tribe once they held all the hill country from Nigaha or Sakhi sarwar pass to the south,comprising the southern part of the koh-i-siyah or Sulaiman Ranges,where it turned to the west and is much mixed up with the lower ranges of the KOH-i- Surkh or red range.

At thr hight of their prosperity the naghars spread east and south in to the plains of indus valley and they are said to have once held the tracts rounds Harrand, Siw Sitpur and kin kot near the river. As some of them are still found as hamsayas of the Kasi Khetrans and few among the Dumra Kakars, of all their tribes the Silanchis alone appear to have preserved their name.

As a dynasty the Naghars rose to power under the Islam khan, a kinsman of Bahlol Lodi, who had the charge of the southern part of the Multan province including Sit-pur now in Muzaffargarh. Kia in D.G Khan and Kashmore in Sind and all on right bank of river Indus.

He cut himself adrift from the Langah at Multan and set up an independent Government at Sit-Pur.But the mirrani Baloch soon came in to conflict with Naghar who had extended their dominion north ward from Sitpur over Harrand and Dajal but expelled from those tracts by Ghazi Khan in 1482 AD.