Pashtunistan

Pakhtunistan (Pashto: پښتونستان) or Pashtunistan,^[1][2][3] meaning the "land of Pakhtuns" or "land of Pashtuns",^[4] is a modern term used for the historical region inhabited by the native Afghans or Pashtun (Pakhtun people) since at least the 1st millennium BC.^[5][6][7][8] Possibly since at least the 3rd century CE and onward, the region was mostly recognized as Afghanistan^[9][10] and by the people in the Indian subcontinent as Pathanistan.^[1]

Pashtunistan was politically divided for administration in 1893 by the Durand Line, a disputed and poorly-marked border between Afghanistan and British India.^[11] Today, the Pashtun homeland stretches from the Hindu Kush mountain range in Afghanistan to areas west of the Indus River in Pakistan.

Origin of term

Further information: Name of Afghanistan and Afghan (name)

The name used for the region during the middle ages until the 20th century has always been Afghanistan,^[9] which has been mentioned by the 6th century Indian astronomer & mathematician Varahamihira, 7th century Chinese pilgrim Hiven Tsiang, 14th century Moroccan scholar Ibn Batutta, Mughal Emperor Babur, 16th century historian Firishta and many others.

The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were ques­tioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and dis­turbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns. The people of India call them Patán; but the reason for this is not known. But it occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmáns first came to the city of Patná, and dwelt there, the people of India (for that reason) called them Patáns—but God knows!^[10]

—Ferishta, 1560-1620

The name Pakhtunistan (Pashto: پښتونستان (Naskh)), or in the soft Pashto dialect, Pashtunistan, evolved originally from the Indian word "Pathanistan" (Hindustani: پٹھانستان (Nastaleeq), पठानिस्तान (Devanagari)).^[12][13] The very concept of Pashtunistan was taken from the old word "Pakhtunkhwa."^[12] Like other Hindustani terms, "Pathanistan" entered the Pashto lexicon.^[14] The British Indian leaders and even the Khudai Khidmatgars started using the word "Pathanistan" to refer to the region, and later on the word "Pashtunistan" became more popular.^[12]

The native people

Main articles: Pashtun people and Pashtun tribes

Afghan provincial governors at Jalalabad in 2009, discussing security and the reconstruction of Afghanistan. From left to right: Jamaluddin Badar of Nuristan, Lutfullah Mashal of Laghman, Gul Agha Sherzai of Nangarhar, and Fazlullah Wahidi of Kunar Province.

The native or indigenous people of Pashtunistan are the Pashtuns (also known as Pakhtuns, Pathans or ethnic Afghans). They are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest in Pakistan. The Pashtuns are concentrated mainly in the south and east of Afghanistan but also exist in northern and western parts of the country as a minority group. In Pakistan they are concentrated in the west and northwest, inhabiting mainly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (former North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), as well as parts of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir and Mianwali and Attock districts of Punjab. They are also found in large numbers in the Pakistani city of Karachi, and with sizable numbers in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Lahore, Sialkot, and Hyderabad. The main language spoken in the delineated Pashtunistan region is Pashto,^[15] followed by others such as Balochi, Hindko, and Urdu.

Pashtuns practice Pashtunwali, the indigenous culture of the Pashtuns, and this pre-Islamic identity remains significant for many Pashtuns and is one of the factors that have kept the Pashtunistan issue alive. Although the Pashtuns are politically separated by the Durand Line between Pakistan and Afghanistan, many Pashtun tribes from the FATA area and the adjacent regions of Afghanistan, tend to ignore the border and cross back and forth with relative ease to attend weddings, family functions and take part in the joint tribal councils known as jirgas.^[16]

Depending on the source, the ethnic Pashtuns constitute 42-60% of the population of Afghanistan.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]} In neighboring Pakistan they constitute 15.42 percent of the 170 million population.^[23] In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, Pashto speakers constitute above 73 percent of the population as of 1998.^[24]

History

Further information: History of Afghanistan and History of Pakistan

The area during 500 B.C. was recorded as Arachosia and inhabited by a people called the Pactyans.

Since the 2nd millennium BC, the region now inhabited by the native Pashtun people have been influenced by early Aryan tribes, the Medes, Achaemenids, Greeks, Mauryas, Kushans, Hephthalites, Sassanids, Arab Muslims, Turks, and others. In recent age, people of the Western world have nominally explored the area.^{[25][26][27][28]}

Arab Muslims arrived in the 7th century and began introducing Islam to the native Pashtun people, some of the Arabs settled in the Sulaiman Mountains and slowly became Pashtunized over time. The Pashtunistan area later fell to the Turkish Ghaznavids whose main capital was at Ghazni, with Lahor serving as the second power house. The Ghaznavid Empire was then taken over by the Ghorids from today's Ghor, Afghanistan. The army of Ghengis Khan arrived in the 13th century and began destroying cities in the nearby regions, mostly Persian cities in the north. In the 14th and 15th century, the Timurid dynasty were in control of the nearby cities and towns, until Babur captured Kabul in 1504.

Delhi Sultanate and the last Afghan Empire

Further information: Delhi Sultanate and Durrani Empire

Durrani Empire (at its peak in 1761), the last Afghan empire that united all the Afghan tribes into one concentrated and unified nation.

During the Delhi Sultanate era, the region was ruled by Turkic-Afghan dynasties from Delhi, India. An early Pashtun nationalist was the "warrior-poet" Khushal Khan Khattak, who was imprisoned by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb for trying to incite the Pashtuns to rebel against the rule of the Mughals. However, despite sharing a common language and believing in a common ancestry, the Pashtuns first achieved unity in the 18th century. Pashtunistan was ruled by the Mughal Empire during the early 18th century when Afghan led by Mirwais Hotak successfully revoluted against the Persian Safavids in the city of Kandahar. This uprising and taken over of the Persian throne by the powerful Hotaki dynasty of Afghanistan united all the tribes of Pashtunistan. By 1738 the Mughal Empire has been defeated by forces of a new Turkmen ruler from Greater Khorasan, Nader Shah. Besides Persian and Turkmen forces, Nader was accompanied by the young Ahmad Shah Durrani and 4,000 well trained Pashtun troops from Afghanistan.

After the death of Nader Shah in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani created his own large and powerful Durrani Empire, which included Pashtunistan among many other places. The famous couplet by Ahmad Shah Durrani describes the association the people have with the regional city of Kandahar:

"I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall the mountain peaks of my beautiful Afghanistan."

The last Afghan Empire was established in 1747 and united all the different Pashtun tribes as well as many other ethnic groups. Small part of the Pashtunistan region around Peshawar was invaded by Ranjit Singh and his Sikh army in the early part of the 19th century, but they were defeated by the British Raj, the new powerful empire which reached the Pashtunistan region from the east.

European influence

Further information: European influence in Afghanistan and British Raj

Afghanistan before the 1893 controversial Durand Line border

Flag advocated by Pashtun nationalists for an independent Pashtunistan

Following the decline of the Durrani dynasty and the establishment of the new Barakzai dynasty in Afghanistan, the Pashtun domains began to shrink as they lost control of the Punjab region and the Balochistan region to the British. The Anglo-Afghan wars were fought as part of the overall imperialistic Great Game that was waged between the Russian Empire and the British. Poor and landlocked Afghanistan was able to defend its territory and keep both sides at bay. In 1893, as part of a way for fixing the limit of their respective spheres of influence, the Durand Line Agreement was signed between Afghan "Iron" Amir Abdur Rahman and British Vicroy Mortimer Durand. In 1905, the North-West Frontier Province (today's Khyber Paskhtunkhwa) was created and roughly corresponded to Pashtun majority regions within the British domain. The FATA area was created to further placate the Pashtun tribesmen who never fully accepted British rule and were prone to rebellions, while the city of Peshawar was directly administered as part of a British protectorate state with full integration into the federal rule of law with the establishment of civic amenities and the countruction of railway, road infrastructure as well as educational institutes to bring the region at par with the developed world.

During World War I, the Afghan government was contacted by the Ottoman Turkey and Germany, through the Niedermayer-Hentig Mission, to join the Central Allies on behalf of the Caliph in a Jihad; some revolutionaries and Afghan leaders including a brother of the Amir named Nasrullah Khan were in favour of the delegation and wanted the Amir to declare Jihad.

Kazim Bey carried a firman from the Khalifa in Persian. It was addressed to "the residents of Pathanistan." It said that when the British were defeated, "His Majesty the Khalifa, in agreement with allied States, will acquire guarantee for independence of the united state of Pathanistan and will provide every kind of assistance to it. Thereafter, I will not allow any interference in the country of Pathanistan." (Ahmad Chagharzai; 1989; PP: 138-139). However the efforts failed and the Afghan Amir Habibullah Khan maintained Afghanistan's neutrality throughout World War I (for more information see ^[29]).

Similarly, during the 1942 Cripps mission, and 1946 Cabinet Mission to India, the Afghan government made repeated attempts to ensure that any debate about the independence of India must include Afghanistan's role in the future of the NWFP. The British government wavered between reassuring the Afghan to the rejection of their role and insistence that NWFP was an integral part of British India.^[30]

The Khudai Khidmatgar were a non-violent group, and Ghaffar Khan claimed to have been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. While the Red Shirts were willing to work with the Indian National Congress from a political point of view, the Pashtuns as a people desired independence from India. When the decision for independence was announced, it included the condition of a referendum being held in the North West Frontier Province because it was ruled by the Khudai Khidmatgar-backed Congress government of Dr. Khan Sahib. The inhabitants of the province were given two choices: the choice to join either Pakistan or India. On 21 June 1947, Khudai Khidmatgar leaders met under the presidency of Amir Mohammad Khan at Bannu and believed that a referendum was inevitable and that the participants would declare that Pakhtuns did not accept India or Pakistan and announced a boycott of the referendum. When the vote was completed, the vast majority of the residents of province voted in favour of Pakistan and the region was subsequently incorporated into the new country with full civic amenities and rights.

Birth of Pakistan in 1947

Further information: Partition of India, Pakistan Movement, and Afghanistan–Pakistan relations

Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969, belonged to the Pashtun Tareen tribe of Abbottabad.

Since the late 1940s with the dissolution of British India and creation of Pakistan, some rigid Pashtun nationalists proposed merging with Afghanistan or creating Pashtunistan as a future sovereign state for the local Pashtun inhabitanits of the area. At first, Afghanistan became the only government to oppose the entry of Pakistan into the United Nations in 1947, although it was reversed a few months later. On July 26, 1949, when Afghanistan–Pakistan relations were rapidly deteriorating, a loya jirga was held in Afghanistan after a military aircraft from the Pakistan Air Force bombed a village on the Afghan side of the Durand Line. As a result of this violation, the Afghan government declared that it recognized "neither the imaginary Durand nor any similar line" and that all previous Durand Line agreements were void.^[31] During the 1950s to the late 1960s, Pashtuns were promoted to higher positions within the Pakistani government and military.

An important development in Pakistan during the Ayub period (1958-1969) was the gradual integration into Pakistani society and the military-bureaucratic establishment. It was a period of Pakistan's political history which saw a large number of ethnic Pashtuns holding high positions in the military and the bureaucracy. Ayub himself was a non-Pashto speaking ethnic Pashtun belonging to the Tarin sub-tribe of the Hazara district in the Frontier. The growing participation of Pashtuns in the Pakistani Government resulted in the erosion of the support for the Pashtunistan movement in the Province by the end of the 1960s.^[32]

—Rizwan Hussain, 2005

Afghanistan and Pashtun nationalists did not exploit Pakistan's vulnerability during the nation's 1965 and 1971 wars with India, and even backed Pakistan against a largely Hindu India. Further, had Pakistan been destabilised by India, nationalists would have had to fight against a much bigger country than Pakistan for their independence.^[33]

In the 1970s, the roles of Pakistan and Afghanistan reversed, despite the fresh crackdown on Baloch and Pashtun nationalists by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The Pakistan government decided to retaliate against the Afghan government's Pashtunistan policy by supporting Islamist opponents of the Afghan government including future Mujahidin leaders Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud.^[34] This operation was remarkably successful, and by 1977 the Afghan government of Mohammed Daoud Khan was willing to settle all outstanding issues in exchange for a lifting of the ban on the National Awami Party and a commitment towards provincial autonomy for Pashtuns, which was already guaranteed by Pakistan's Constitution, but stripped by the Bhutto government when the One Unit scheme was introduced.^{[clarification needed]}

The Pashtunistan debate

Major ethnic groups of Pakistan. Pashtuns shown in green.

Ethnolinguistic groups of Afghanistan

There are several arguments from the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan regarding the Pashtunistan issue. These arguments sometimes overlap but can be distinctively defined.^[35] The British influence in the region of Afghanistan and Pakistan was most prominent during the late 19th century and early portion of the 20th century, when the British sought to reestablish efforts at colonization in the East India Company during Britain's imperial century. This British experiment was known as The Great Game, and was a subversive attempt at establishing Afghanistan as a buffer region between British-India and the Tsardom of Russia. By seeking to accord certain terrain international legitimacy based upon British failures to assert control over the fiercely independent Pashtun people and tribes in the region, the establishment of a border that would separate British interests from tribal interests was extremely important to British foreign policy.

The British demarcation established as a result by the Durand Line was a deliberate strategy designed to divide the Pashtun territory along the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The overall effect of the division was to alienate the Pashtun tribes from their neighbors as part of the British divide and conquer strategy, or divide and rule. This strategy had the ultimate effect of fostering anti-colonialist sentiment in the tribal regions, and Pashtuns as a result had a deep desire for independence and freedom from British rule.^[36]

However, this claim by Afghanistan is rejected by Pakistan on the basis of existing Pushtun population in the territory of Pakistan. As of 2009, there were 27 million Pashtuns living in Pakistan. In addition, there were 1.7 million predominantly Pashtun refugees from Afghanistan. There were estimated to be more than 12 million Pashtuns in Afghanistan in 2010. Karachi has a larger Pashtun population than Kabul.

Afghanistan makes its claim on the Pashtun areas on the ground that it served as the Pashtun seat of power since 1709 with the rise of the Hotaki dynasty followed by the establishment of the Durrani Afghan Empire. According to historic sources Afghan tribes did not appear in Peshawar valley until after 800 AD, when the Islamic conquest of this area took place.^[37]

Agreements cited by the Afghan government as proof of their claim over the Pashtun tribes include Article 11 of the Anglo–Afghan Treaty of 1921, which states: "The two contracting parties, being mutually satisfied themselves each regarding the goodwill of the other and especially regarding their benevolent intentions towards the tribes residing close to their respective boundaries, hereby undertake to inform each other of any future military operations which may appear necessary for the maintenance of order among the frontier tribes residing within their respective spheres before the commencement of such operations."^[38] A supplementary letter to the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921 reads: "As the conditions of the Frontier tribes of the two governments are of interest to the Government of Afghanistan. I inform you that the British government entertains feelings of goodwill towards all the Frontier tribes and has every intention of treating them generously, provided they abstain from outrages against the people of India."^[38]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Main article: Names of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Prominent 20th century proponents of the Pashtunistan cause have included the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Ghaffar Khan stated in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in 1948 that he simply wanted "the renaming of his province as Pakhtunistan. Like Sindh, Punjab, etc." Another name mentioned is Afghania where the initial "A" in Choudhary Rahmat Ali Khan's theory stated in the "Now or Never" pamphlet stands for the second letter in "Pakistan". However this name has failed to capture political support in the province.

There was support, however, to rename NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa (which translates as "Pashtun quarter"). Nasim Wali Khan (the wife of Khan Abdul Wali Khan) declared in an interview: "I want an identity.. I want the name to change so that Pathans may be identified on the map of Pakistan... [Pakhtunkhwa was] the 3,000 year old name of this area: the name used by Ahmed Shah Abdali who said he forgot everything including the throne of Delhi but not Pakhtunkhwa".

On 31 March 2010, Pakistan's Constitutional Reform Committee agreed that the province be renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.^[39][40]

See also

	Afghanistan portal
	Pakistan portal
	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa portal

• Pashtunization
• Pashtunwali
• Pashtun people

Further reading

• Ahmed, Feroz (1998) Ethnicity and politics in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
• Ahmad, M.(1989) Pukhtunkhwa Kiyun Nahin by Mubarak Chagharzai. pp. 138–139.
• Amin, Tahir (1988) -National Language Movements of Pakistan. Islamabad Institute of Policy Studies.
• Buzan, Barry and Rizvi, Gowher (1986), South Asian Insecurity and the Great Powers, London: Macmillan. p. 73.
• Caroe, Olaf (1983) The Pathans with an Epilogue on Russia. Oxford University Press. pp. 464–465.

References

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2. ^ The Modern Review, Volume 86. Prabasi Press Private. http://books.google.com/books?id=Vh8lAQAAIAAJ&q=pathanistan&dq=pathanistan&ct=result. Retrieved 2009-06-07. "The Afghan Government is actively sympathetic towards their demand for a Pathanistan. It has been declared by the Ajfghan Parliament that Afghanistan does not recognise the Durand line..." 
3. ^ The Spectator, Volume 184. F.C. Westley. http://books.google.com/books?id=eyE-AQAAIAAJ&q=pathanistan&dq=pathanistan&ct=result. Retrieved 2009-06-07. "Instead it adopted the programme of an independent " Pathanistan " — a programme calculated to strike at the very roots of the new Dominion. More recently the Pathanistan idea has been taken up by Afghanistan." 
4. ^ Various spellings result from different pronunciation in various Pakhtun dialects. See Pashto language: Dialects for further information.
5. ^ Sabahuddin, Abdul (2008). History of Afghanistan. Global Vision Publishing Ho. p. 15. ISBN 8182202469, 9788182202467. http://books.google.com/books?id=XfDYtxfOvTYC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-23. 
6. ^ Nath, Samir (2002). Dictionary of Vedanta. Sarup & Sons. p. 273. ISBN 8178900564. http://books.google.com/books?id=yGBaXO54-HwC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA273#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-10. 
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10. ^ ^{a b} Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (1560-16-20). "The History of India, Volume 6, chpt. 200, Translation of the Introduction to Firishta's History (p.8)". Sir H. M. Elliot. London: Packard Humanities Institute. http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=80201016&ct=199. Retrieved 2010-08-22. 
11. ^ Pakistan: Analyst Discusses Controversial 'Pashtunistan' Proposal, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL)
12. ^ ^{a b c} "Pashtu Literature Part II". Pashtoonkhwa. http://www.pashtoonkhwa.com/?page=pashtoonkhwa&id=89. Retrieved 2009-06-07. "The name Pakhtunistan or in soft Pashtu dialect Pashtunistan evolved originally from the Indian word Pathanistan. The very concept of Pakhtunistan was taken from the old word Pakhtunkhwa. The British, Indian leaders and even the Khudai- Khidmatgars were using Pathanistan for Pakhtunistan in the beginning, but later on they started using the word Pakhtunistan." 
13. ^ "The Problem of Pukhtunistan". Khyber Gateway. http://www.khyber.org/articles/2006/TheProblemofPukhtunistan.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-07. "The word Pathanistan is not Persian but Indian. It shows that the Khalifa had already acquired the consent of the Muslim leaders of India or these leaders might have motivated the Khalifa to first liberate the Pukhtuns' land (Pathanistan) to build up a strong base against the British Empire in India" 
14. ^ Census of India, 1931, Volume 17, Part 2. Times of India. http://books.google.com/books?id=8qUJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA75&dq=pashto+vocabulary+hindustani&ct=result#v=onepage&q=pashto%20vocabulary%20hindustani&f=false. Retrieved 2009-06-07. "At the same time Pashto has borrowed largely from Persian and Hindustani, and through those languages from Arabic." 
15. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica 2008 : Pashtunistan Retrieved 29 September 2008
16. ^ Ahmed, Feroz (1998) Ethnicity and politics in Pakistan. Karachi. Oxford University Press.
17. ^ Janda, Kenneth; Jeffrey M. Berry and Jerry Goldman (2008). The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America (9 ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 46. ISBN 061881017X, 9780618810178. http://books.google.com/books?id=_WlzlY9dv74C&lpg=PP1&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-08-22. "Even within the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns (about 50 percent of the population)..."" 
18. ^ Congressional Record. Government Printing Office. p. 10088. http://books.google.com/books?id=qImZpu07_UEC&lpg=PA9979&pg=PA10088#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
19. ^ Taylor, William J. Jr.; Abraham Kim (2000). Asian Security to the Year 2000. DIANE Publishing. p. 58. ISBN 1428913688, 9781428913684. http://books.google.com/books?id=peTWtThUljQC&lpg=PR1&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
20. ^ "AFGHANISTAN v. Languages". Ch. M. Kieffer. Encyclopædia Iranica. http://www.iranica.com/articles/afghanistan-v-languages. Retrieved 2010-10-24. "Paṧtō (1) is the native tongue of 50 to 55 percent of Afghans..." 
21. ^ Brown, Keith; Sarah Ogilvie (2009). Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world. Elsevie. p. 845. ISBN 0080877745, 9780080877747. http://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA845#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-24. "Pashto, which is mainly spoken south of the mountain range of the Hindu Kush, is reportedly the mother tongue of 60% of the Afghan population." 
22. ^ Hawthorne, Susan; Bronwyn Winter (2002). September 11, 2001: feminist perspectives. Spinifex Press. p. 225. ISBN 1876756276, 9781876756277. http://books.google.com/books?id=DwbfD_irV_AC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA225#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-24. "Over 60 percent of the population in Afghanistan is Pashtun..." 
23. ^ European Journal of Social Sciences : Volume 8 Number 3 : Poverty Alleviation Through Power-Sharing in Pakistan Retrieved 5 April 2010
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31. ^ The Pashtunistan Issue, Craig Baxter (1997), Library of Congress Country Studies.
32. ^ Rizwan Hussain. Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan. 2005. p. 74.
33. ^ Paul Wolf. "Pashtunistan." Pakistan: Partition and Military Succession. 2004.
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38. ^ ^{a b} Olaf Caroe. The Pathans. 1981.
39. ^ BBC News Online - Pakistan debates key amendment bill Retrieved 5 April 2010
40. ^ Dawn News - Consensus reached on renaming NWFP Retrieved 5 April 2010

External links