[🇵🇰] History of Pashtun

Pashtun,

Pashtun, ethnolinguistic group residing primarily in the region that lies between the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan and the northern stretch of the Indus River in Pakistan. The Pashtun constitute the largest ethnic group of the population of Afghanistan and bore the exclusive name of Afghan before that name came to denote any native of the present land area of Afghanistan.

The Pashtun are united primarily by a common language, Pashto. Other commonalities include Sunni Islam and a common social code (Pashtunwali) that governs both ethical behaviour and custom. The origins of the Pashtun are debated, including among the Pashtun themselves. One Pashtun tradition asserts that they are descended from Afghana, grandson of King Saul of Israel. Several Pashtun tribes are known to have moved from Afghanistan to Pakistan between the 13th and 16th centuries, and many Pashtun moved to northern Afghanistan after the formation of the modern Afghan state in the late 19th century.

Most Pashtun are sedentary farmers, combining cultivation with animal husbandry. Some are migratory herders and caravaners. Many Pashtun serve in the military. Smaller numbers hold political posts.

Kinship is the basis of Pashtun society. Each tribe, consisting of kinsmen who trace descent in the male bloodline from a common tribal ancestor, is divided into clans, subclans, and patriarchal families. Tribal genealogies establish rights of succession and inheritance and the right to use tribal lands and to speak in tribal council (jirga). Disputes over property, women, and personal injury often result in blood feuds between families and whole clans; these may be inherited unless settled by the intervention of clan chiefs or by tribal council.

There were estimated to be about 11 million Pashtun in Afghanistan and 25 million in Pakistan in the early 21st century. They comprise about 60 tribes of varying size and importance, each of which occupies a particular territory. In Afghanistan, where the Pashtun are the predominant ethnic group, the main tribes—or, more accurately, federations of tribes—are the Durrānī south of Kabul and the Ghilzay east of Kabul.

In Pakistan the Pashtun predominate north of Quetta between the Sulaiman Range and the Indus River. In the hill areas the main tribes are, from south to north, the Kākaṛ, Shērāni, and Ustarāna south of the Gumal River; the Maḥsūd, Darwēsh Khēl, Wazīrī, and Biṭanī between the Gumal River and Thal; the Tūrī, Bangash, Ōrakzay, Afrīdī, and Shinwārī from Thal to the Khyber Pass; and the Mahmand, Utmān Khēl, Tarklānī, and Yūsufzay north and northeast of the Khyber Pass.

The settled areas include lowland tribes subject to direct administration by the provincial government. The main tribes there are, from south to north, the Banūchī and Khaṭak, from the Kurram River to Nowshera, and the Khalīl and Mandāṇ in the Vale of Peshawar. The cities of Kandahār, Jalālābād, and Lashkar Gāh in Afghanistan and Peshawar and Quetta in Pakistan are important centres of Pashtun culture.

Pashtuns, also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are a nomadic, pastoral, Eastern Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Languages spoken: Pashto, Urdu, Persian Language, MORE

Canada: 31,700 (2021)
Iran: 169,000 (2022)
Pakistan: 40,097,131 (2023)
Tajikistan: 32,400 (2017)
United Arab Emirates: 338,315 (2008)
United Kingdom: 100,000 (2009)

Pashtuns, also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are a nomadic, pastoral, Eastern Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. They historically were also referred to as Afghans until the 1970s, after the term's meaning had become a demonym for members of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

The group's native language is Pashto, an Iranian language in the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. Additionally, Dari serves as the second language of Pashtuns in Afghanistan, while those in Pakistan and India speak Hindi-Urdu and other regional languages as their second language.

There are an estimated 350–400 Pashtun tribes and clans with a variety of origin theories. The total population of the Pashtun people worldwide is estimated to be around 49 million, although this figure is disputed due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979. They are the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan and one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, constituting around 18.24 percent of the total Pakistani population and around 35-42 percent of the total Afghan population. In India, significant and historical communities of the Pashtun diaspora exist in the northern region of Rohilkhand as well as in major Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai.

Ancient historical references: Pashtun

A tribe called Pakthās, one of the tribes that fought against Sudas in the Dasarajna, or "Battle of the Ten Kings", are mentioned in the seventh mandala of the Rigveda, a text of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dated between c. 1500 and 1200 BCE:

Together came the Pakthas (पक्थास), the Bhalanas, the Alinas, the Sivas, the Visanins. Yet to the Trtsus came the Ārya's Comrade, through love of spoil and heroes' war, to lead them.

— Rigveda, Book 7, Hymn 18, Verse 7
Heinrich Zimmer connects them with a tribe mentioned by Herodotus (Pactyans) in 430 BCE in the Histories:

Other Indians dwell near the town of Caspatyrus[Κασπατύρῳ] and the Pactyic [Πακτυϊκῇ] country, north of the rest of India; these live like the Bactrians; they are of all Indians the most warlike, and it is they who are sent for the gold; for in these parts all is desolate because of the sand.

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book III, Chapter 102, Section 1
These Pactyans lived on the eastern frontier of the Achaemenid Arachosia Satrapy as early as the 1st millennium BCE, present-day Afghanistan.[88] Herodotus also mentions a tribe of known as Aparytai (Ἀπαρύται). Thomas Holdich has linked them with the Afridi tribe:[90][91][92]

The Sattagydae, Gandarii, Dadicae, and Aparytae (Ἀπαρύται) paid together a hundred and seventy talents; this was the seventh province

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book III, Chapter 91, Section 4
Joseph Marquart made the connection of the Pashtuns with names such as the Parsiētai (Παρσιῆται), Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) that were cited by Ptolemy 150 CE:

"The northern regions of the country are inhabited by the Bolitai, the western regions by the Aristophyloi below whom live the Parsioi (Πάρσιοι). The southern regions are inhabited by the Parsiētai (Παρσιῆται), the eastern regions by the Ambautai. The towns and villages lying in the country of the Paropanisadai are these: Parsiana Zarzaua/Barzaura Artoarta Baborana Kapisa niphanda"

— Ptolemy, 150 CE, 6.18.3-4
Strabo, the Greek geographer, in the Geographica (written between 43 BC to 23 AD) makes mention of the Scythian tribe Pasiani (Πασιανοί), which has also been identified with Pashtuns given that Pashto is an Eastern-Iranian language, much like the Scythian languages:

"Most of the Scythians...each separate tribe has its peculiar name. All, or the greatest part of them, are nomades. The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana, the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the country on the other side of the Iaxartes (Syr Darya)"

— Strabo, The Geography, Book XI, Chapter 8, Section 2
This is considered a different rendering of Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι). Johnny Cheung, reflecting on Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) and Strabo's Pasiani (Πασιανοί) states: "Both forms show slight phonetic substitutions, viz. of υ for ι, and the loss of r in Pasianoi is due to perseveration from the preceding Asianoi. They are therefore the most likely candidates as the (linguistic) ancestors of modern day Pashtuns."


]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtuns#Further_reading

The ethnogenesis of the Pashtun ethnic group is unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who may be their early ancestors, and old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the eastern Iranian plateau. However, there are many conflicting theories amongst historians and the Pashtuns themselves.

Mohan Lal stated in 1846 that "the origin of the Afghans is so obscure, that no one, even among the oldest and most clever of the tribe, can give satisfactory information on this point. " Others have suggested that a single origin of the Pashtuns is unlikely but rather they are a tribal confederation.

"Looking for the origin of Pashtuns and the Afghans is something like exploring the source of the Amazon. Is there one specific beginning? And are the Pashtuns originally identical with the Afghans? Although the Pashtuns nowadays constitute a clear ethnic group with their own language and culture, there is no evidence whatsoever that all modern Pashtuns share the same ethnic origin. In fact it is highly unlikely."

— Vogelsang, 2002

There are an estimated 350–400 Pashtun tribes and clans with a variety of origin theories. The total population of the Pashtun people worldwide is estimated to be around 49 million, although this figure is disputed due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979. They are the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan and one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, constituting around 18.24 percent of the total Pakistani population and around 35-42 percent of the total Afghan population. In India, significant and historical communities of the Pashtun diaspora exist in the northern region of Rohilkhand as well as in major Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai.

Geographic distribution

Pashtun-inhabited areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan (including the southern borders of the former Soviet Union, the northeastern borders of Iran, and the northwestern borders of India disputed with Pakistan), in the early 1980s.

Pashtuns are found all over Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially between south of the Indus River, the Hindu Kush or around the Sulaiman Mountains. Big cities with a Pashtuns-majority include Jalalabad, Kandahar, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Khost, Kohat, Lashkar Gah, Mardan, Mingora, Peshawar, Quetta, among others. Pashtuns also live in Abbottabad, Farah, Ghazni, Herat, Islamabad, Kabul, Karachi, Kunduz, Lahore, Mazar-i-Sharif, Multan, Rawalpindi, and several other cities.

The city of Karachi in Pakistan is home to the world's largest urban community of Pashtuns, larger than Kabul and Peshawar.[53]

Further information:
Pashtuns of Kashmir, Pathans of Punjab, Pathans of Sindh, Pathans of Rajasthan, Pathans of Gujarat, Pathans of Uttar Pradesh, and Pathans of Madhya Pradesh
Pashtuns in India are often commonly referred to as Pathans (the Hindustani word for Pashtun) both by themselves and other ethnic groups of the subcontinent. Some Indians claim descent from Pashtun soldiers who settled in India by marrying local women during the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent. Many Pathans chose to live in the Republic of India after the partition of India and Khan Mohammad Atif, a professor at the University of Lucknow, estimates that "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan".

Historically, Pashtuns have settled in various cities of India before and during the British Raj in colonial India. These include Bombay (now called Mumbai), Farrukhabad, Delhi, Calcutta, Saharanpur, Rohilkhand, Jaipur and Bangalore. The settlers are descended from both Pashtuns of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan (British India before 1947). In some regions in India, they are sometimes referred to as Kabuliwala.

In India significant Pashtun diaspora communities exist. While speakers of Pashto in the country only number 21,677 as of 2011, estimates of the ethnic or ancestral Pashtun population in India range from 3,200,000 to 11,482,000 to as high as double their population in Afghanistan (approximately 30 million).

The Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is named after the Rohilla community of Pashtun ancestry. They also live in the states of Maharashtra in central India and West Bengal in eastern India that each have a population of over a million with Pashtun ancestry;[66] both Bombay and Calcutta were primary locations of Pashtun migrants from Afghanistan during the colonial era. There are also populations over 100,000 each in the cities of Jaipur in Rajasthan and Bangalore in Karnataka.[66] Bombay (now called Mumbai) and Calcutta both have a Pashtun population of over 1 million, whilst Jaipur and Bangalore have an estimate of around 100,000. The Pashtuns in Bangalore include the khan siblings Feroz, Sanjay and Akbar Khan, whose father settled in Bangalore from Ghazni.

During the 19th century, when the British were accepting peasants from British India as indentured servants to work in the Caribbean, South Africa and other places, Rohillas who had lost their empire and were unemployed and restless, were sent to places as far as Trinidad, Surinam, Guyana, and Fiji, to work with other Indians on the sugarcane fields and perform manual labour.

Many of these immigrants stayed there and formed unique communities of their own. Some of them assimilated with the other South Asian Muslim nationalities to form a common Indian Muslim community in tandem with the larger Indian community, losing their distinctive heritage. Some Pashtuns travelled as far as Australia during the same era.

Middle historical references: Afghan

In the Middle Ages until the advent of modern Afghanistan in the 18th century, the Pashtuns were often referred to as "Afghans". The etymological view supported by numerous noted scholars is that the name Afghan evidently derives from Sanskrit Aśvakan, or the Assakenoi of Arrian, which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush. Aśvakan literally means "horsemen", "horse breeders", or "cavalrymen" (from aśva or aspa, the Sanskrit and Avestan words for "horse"). This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen,[105] J. W. McCrindle, M. V. de Saint Martin, and É. Reclus,

Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan (αβγανανο): "To Ormuzd Bunukan from Bredag Watanan, the chief of the Afghans"
The earliest mention of the name Afghan (Abgân) is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE, In the 4th century the word "Afghans/Afghana" (αβγανανο) as a reference to a particular people is mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan.

"To Ormuzd Bunukan ,from Bredag Watanan ... greetings and homage from ... ) , the ( sotang ( ? ) of Parpaz ( under ) [ the glorious ) yabghu of Hephthal , the chief of the Afghans , ' the judge of Tukharistan and Gharchistan . Moreover , ' a letter [ has come hither ] from you , so I have heard how [ you have ] written ' ' to me concerning ] my health . I arrived in good health , ( and ) ( afterwards ( ? ) ' ' I heard that a message ] was sent thither to you ( saying ) thus : ... look after the farming but the order was given to you thus. You should hand over the grain and then request it from the citizens store: I will not order, so.....I Myself order And I in Respect of winter sends men thither to you then look after the farming, To Ormuzd Bunukan, Greetings"

— the Bactrian documents, 4th century
"because [you] (pl.), the clan of the Afghans, said thus to me:...And you should not have denied? the men of Rob[117] [that] the Afghans took (away) the horses"

— the Bactrian documents, 4th century, Sims-Williams 2007b, pp. 90-91
"[To ...]-bid the Afghan... Moreover, they are in [War]nu(?) because of the Afghans, so [you should] impose a penalty on Nat Kharagan ... ...lord of Warnu with ... ... ...the Afghan... ... "

— the Bactrian documents, 4th century, Sims-Williams 2007b, pp. 90-91
The name Afghan is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of "Avagāṇa" [अवगाण][118] by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in his Brihat-samhita.

"It would be unfavourable to the people of Chola, the Afghans (Avagāṇa), the white Huns and the Chinese."

— Varāha Mihira, 6th century CE, chapt. 11, verse 61
The word Afghan also appeared in the 982 Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where a reference is made to a village, Saul, which was probably located near Gardez, Afghanistan.

"Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans".

The same book also speaks of a king in Ninhar (Nangarhar), who had Muslim, Afghan and Hindu wives. In the 11th century, Afghans are mentioned in Al-Biruni's Tarikh-ul Hind ("History of the Indus"), which describes groups of rebellious Afghans in the tribal lands west of the Indus River in what is today Pakistan.

Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler, in his Tarikh-i Yamini recorded that many Afghans and Khiljis (possibly the modern Ghilji) enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin after Jayapala was defeated. Al-Utbi further stated that Afghans and Ghiljis made a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi's army and were sent on his expedition to Tocharistan, while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans, as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi. It is recorded that Afghans were also enrolled in the Ghurid Kingdom (1148–1215). By the beginning of the Khilji dynasty in 1290, Afghans have been well known in northern India.

Ibn Battuta, when visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khilji dynasty, also wrote about the Afghans.
"We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is called Kuh Sulayman. It is told that the prophet Sulayman [Solomon] ascended this mountain and having looked out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it."

— Ibn Battuta, 1333
Ferishta, a 16th-century Muslim historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent, stated:

He [Khalid bin Abdullah son of Khalid bin Walid] retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into the Sulaiman Mountains, situated between Multan and Peshawar, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs, who had become a proselyte to Mahomedism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history.

The one Lodhi, the other Sur; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name. I have read in the Mutla-ul-Anwar, a work written by a respectable author, and which I procured at Burhanpur, a town of Khandesh in the Deccan, that the Afghans are Copts of the race of the Pharaohs; and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea, many of the Copts became converts to the Jewish faith; but others, stubborn and self-willed, refusing to embrace the true faith, leaving their country, came to India, and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains, where they bore the name of Afghans.

A Place in Gorveik, North Waziristan where the charismatic Haji Mirzali Khan or the Faqir of Ipi used to reside while fighting the British Indian Empire.


He was the armed leader who forced the colonial authorities to bring their 40,000 soldiers to Waziristan out of total 80,000 British soldiers in India. However, they failed to subdue or buy his independent spirit of freedom and continued his struggle started in 1936 til 1947 when the British divided their Indian Empire into India and Pakistan.

The Lashkars and followers of Haji sahib rendered hundreds of sacred lives for the cause of freedom where the British used to heavily bomb the scattered villages of Waziristan in the late 1930s killing innocent women and children including the fighters of Faqir of Ipi, destroying and demolishing houses and arresting dozens of tribal leaders.

The tribes of Madda Khel Wazir were particularly bombed several times in 1937-38 and their tribal chiefs were compelled to surrender to the mighty and powerful political authorities. The Haji sahib and his followers were compelled to live in these caves for minimizing destruction of the common people as a result of the aerial bombardment of the villages. Columns of British security forces were dispatched every now and then from Miranshah and Razmak headquarters in order to capture, kill or buy the Faqir but they did not succeed.

Owing to the large number of British forces in Waziristan along with heavy weapons and airforce, the Haji sahib was unable to confront the imperialists on the ground in Waziristan, the Haji sahib used to send groups of fighters in the settled districts of Bannu and D.I. Khan for attacking British installations and were supported by the rural local population of these areas.

It should be noted that the Tanis, Zadran, khostwal, Mangal and other Pashtun tribes living on Afghan side of the Durand Line were joining his Lashkars on regular basis against the British.

Unfortunately, very few of us today know about his struggle for the cause of freedom. One may agree or not with his armed resistance but the sacrifices of hundreds of people for resisting imperialism despite meagre resources should not be forgotten.