Term Paper 1

South Asia Case Studies

Submitted by: Mohammed Rashid

POLITICAL DYNAMICS OF ETHNIC NATIONALISM IN

PAKISTAN
- A CASE STUDY OF PASHTUNS

Introduction

Pashtun, Pakhtun or Pathan (can be used interchangeably) are the people living in the
southern parts of Afghanistan and northern parts of Pakistan, divided by British-
imposed Durand Line of 1893. Whereas in Pakistan they are only about 14 percent of
the total population, in Afghanistan they constitute an ethnic majority.

In an oft-quoted incident in the late 1980s Khan Abdul Wali Khan (head of the Awami
National Party), was asked by a journalist whether he was a Pashtun first, a Pakistani
first or a Muslim first. He famously replied that, he had been a Pashtun for 3000 years
and a Pakistani for 25 years.1

Pakistan is a highly diverse or plural society in terms of its ethnic, linguistic and
religious composition. In this context Stephen Cohen aptly remarks that Pakistan is
one of the worlds most ethnically and linguistically complex states.2 In terms of
ethnic composition, Pakistan comprised six major ethnic groups at the time of its
emergence. There were Bengalis, Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhis, Baluch, and
Muhajirs (Muslim migrants from India).

The paper will try to examine the nature of ethnic nationalism with a focus on Pashtuns
in Pakistan. If there exist an entity called Pashtun nationalism or if like most other
nationalism, it is an imagined and mythical construct that defies definition. It will
examine the portrayal of Pashtuns as martial race and the notion of Pashtuns as
revengeful, savage, uncivilized people. Furthr this paper will highlight the important
political phenomena linked between Pashtun identity, Islam and Talibanization. The
focus will be only upon the nationalism of North West Frontier Province (NWFP)
(Now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) of Pakistan.
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Ethnicities in Pakistan

During the first decade after partition, the Urdu-speaking Muhajir along with the
Punjabis had come to occupy a dominant position in Pakistans political and
bureaucratic arena. According to Mahendra Singh For these centrist political elite
(Punjabi Muhajir) Urdu as a national language and Islamic identity became the
foundation for engineering a common national outlook within this multinational state.3
A classic divide between the centrists(Punjabi-Muhajir elite) and the autonomy-
seekers who belong to the remaining four provinces, has existed since the time the
Pakistan movement began to look like a reality. They have rapidly stressed on a
doctrinaire uniformity whose basis is the conformity to the principle of one nation
(Pakistan), one language (Urdu), and one religion (Islam).

The successful secession of Bangladesh was considered a resurgence of regional and

ethnic identities. It was followed by the Pakhtun and Baluchi nationalist assertion in
1970s, Sindhi nationalism in 1980s and Muhajir movement in 1990s.

The Pakhtuns have a significant presence in the professional organization and the
leadership of Pakistan, especially in its military. The Pakhtuns held the key positions
in the civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan and in terms of their number were
ahead of the two small provinces, Sindh and Baluchistan.4

The psychological gulf between the federal government and the minorities and the
marginalization of the Baluch and the Sindhis are exemplified by the fact that the
Baluchi and Sindhi regiments of the army have only token Baluch and Sindhi
representation. As Pashtun constitute around 51% of Pakistans army.

Essentialization of Pashtun Identities

When the British captured the southern part of Afghanistan and made it part of their
Indian empire in 1849, the Pashtun tribes offered bloody and protracted resistance to
the colonial army. So overwhelmed were the British by the resistance that they seemed
to have found the exact oppositethe otherof their civilized selves, in the shape
of the insolent Pashtuns- the noble savage. This started the Orientalist discourse of
Pashtun society as a wild land of unruly and independent people, who could be
neither conquered nor tamed by the invading armies. They were eulogized as a martial
race that would rather die for its pakhtunwali (Pashtun code of honor) than submit to
the will of alien power.
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It must be noted that the next few decades (especially during and after the 1857
Mutiny), the colonialists would face even more determined resistance from various
non-Pashtun Muslims and non-Muslims of the region. 5

Not only British and American Orientalist discourse stereotyped Pashtuns as a special
race of brave and shrewd people. It has become so widespread and so influential that
the modernists Asians too have resorted to such hackneyed images of Pashtuns in their
presentations. Surprisingly, one of the most damning descriptions comes from
Jawaharlal Nehru, when he said:

They are very child-like people, with the virtues and failings of children. It is not
easy for them to intrigue and so their actions have a certain simplicity and
sincerity which command attention.6

Almost all the videos and blogs about Pashtuns available on the internet are full of
stories about bravery of the Pashtuns, there are historical references on how Mughal
Emperor Babur appreciated Pashtuns and inducted them in his Army. There are stories
about Pashtuns brave resistance against Genghis Khan. And in one of the famous
anecdote about the great Alexanders letter to his mother, Alexander described his
encounters with Pashtuns as:

I am involved in the land of a lion like and brave people, where every foot of
the ground is like a wall of street, confronting my soldier. You have brought only
one son into the world, but everyone in this land can be called an Alexander.7

However, the counter argument to this stereotype could be the question why the same
tribe was later beaten on a number of occasions by Nadir Shah, Maharaja Ranjit Singh
and British. The reason a race become martial is not a genetic. In this case of Pashtun I
argue it is the location (i.e. a historical trade route) which made todays Pashtun
dominated region vulnerable to invaders in the past and that resistance which is a part
of human behavior has been romanticized as a trait unique to Pashtuns.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, one of the most prominent Pashtun leader of anti-British
movement and ally of Gandhi. Romanticized the past and glorified the Pashtuns history
in a manner that betrayed liberal thinking and progressive approach. For instance in his
autobiography he goes into details of what Pashtuns used to be and what has become of
them:

There was no moral bankruptcy in Pashtuns like in todays world. There were
no spices, no tea. Interest, alcohol and sex without wedlock were considered very
bad and if anyone was suspected of indulging in these things he would be
ostracized. There were no diseases; men and women had good and strong bodies.
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Grown-up girls and boys would play together till late in the night. They look
upon each other as brothers and sisters. Moral standards were very high8

Ebb and flow of Pashtun Nationalism

As an external factor the changes in the state system of Afghanistan have contributed to
the rise of Pashtun Nationalism. The first modernist and nationalist ruler of
Afghanistan, Amanullahs (1901-19) nationalist policies succeeded in creating a sense
of Pashtun nationalism. (He Introduced constitution in Pashto language)

But at the same time Amanullahs centralizing policies threatened to weaken the local
power base of tribal chiefs, who launched a movement, supported by British to depose
the monarch. The Pashtun nationalists in the NWFP considered this a colonial
conspiracy against an independent-minded nationalist ruler.

All this was happening when anti-colonial and nationalist movement under the
leadership of Gandhi had already gripped the Indian subcontinent. Later, Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan (also called as frontier Gandhi), whose two main source of influence
were Amanullah and his nationalist policies and Gandhis non-violent anti-colonial
movement, launched a peasant movement: Khudai Khidmatgar (Red Shirts/ Surkh
Posh) It was a reformist movement that claimed to struggle for social justice. It was an
anti-colonial nationalist movement which professed awaken Pashtuns and to unite them
against colonial rule by reminding them of their glorious past.9

Under the leadership of Ghaffar Khan, Pashtun nationalists demanded an independent

state because they could see that in a future Pakistan they would be dominated by the
Punjabis. And if Pashtuns became part of Afghanistan they would have to give up the
politics of Pashtun nationalism because Afghanistan was already ruled by Pashtuns.
The new national identity was imagined and constructed, which shared past with
Afghanistan but did not want a future with it. 10

The Soviet invasion and rise of Taliban put a nail in the coffin of Pashtun irredentism.
Before the invasion, Hafizullah Amin, the leftist Afghan Prime minister, held out the
prospect of a greater Pakhtoonistan; after it with Soviet occupier in charge, Kabul
backed away, adopting Moscows view that Pakistan should not be dismembered.
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National Awami Party-

National Awami party (NAP) politically represents Pashtuns ethnicity and has support
in Baluchistan and Sindh, including the commercial capital, Karachi, due to the
substantial Pashtun populations in those provinces.

In the 2002 parliamentary and provincial elections the party suffered badly for its
association with parties that supported the US-led ousting of the Taliban government in
Afghanistan and the MMA right-wing, religious alliance won control of the North-
West Frontier Province (NWFP).

But in 2008, riding on a tide of disillusion with the politicized mullahs, it took control
of the province and became a coalition partner of the PPP (Pakistans people party) in
the federal government. In 2010 the provincial assembly renamed the NWFP to Khyber
Pakthunkhwa, introducing a reference to Pashtun identity that sparked protests by the
Hazara minority. Although the ANP advocates dialogue with moderate tribal leaders
in the tribal agencies, which are largely Pashtun, over 100 of its members have been
killed by the Taliban since 2008 and it is a principal target of the Islamist attacks that
aim to disrupt the 2013 election campaign.11

Now, NAP has 6 seats out of 99 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2 out of 342 in National
Assembly and 12 out of 100 in senate of Pakistan.

Ethnic Nationalism

Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism that sees the boundary of the nation as
circumscribed by the boundary of the nation as circumscribed by the boundary of a
particular ethnic group. Ethnic nationalism places the emphasis on an individuals
community of birth, thereby making common descent and ancestry the most salient
features of the nation.12

Nationalism as a concept is not easy to define, there are many definitions and many of
them overlap. There is a widespread trend to see nationalism either created by
industrialization (argues Ernest Gellner), print capitalism and communication (argues
Benedict Anderson) or as a group feeling (argues Antony Smith) that is awakened by
the spread of modernity.13

The idea of Antony Smith appeared most misplaced in the case of Pashtuns
nationalism, because it fails to distinguish between ethnicity as a racial, cultural and
linguistic group feeling, and ethnicity as a political movement. Pashtuns are no lesser
diverse linguistically, culturally as any other ethnic group.
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According to the argument of Ernest Gellners the rise in nationalist sentiment is a

result of industrialization, If industrialization is taken as measure of development, the
Pakhtun region was one of the most backward and underdeveloped in British India.
Even today, the NWFP is one of the most backward regions of Pakistan.

Benedicts Anderson argument about print capitalism and communication also doesnt
fit, as the Pashtun nationalism emerged at the time when Pashtun society was neither
literate nor industrialized. The argument which appeared most convincing and in line
with the Pashtun nationalism is John Brueillys, he argues that nationalism does not
have much to do with ethnicity or ethnic background, but rather more to do with
political motivation.

Breuillys definition relates well to Gellners in the sense that they both argue in favor
of political motivation. Nationalists are seen to create their own ideology out of their
own subjective sense of national culture. 14

Islam and Pashtun culture

Prior to 1979, Islam played a supplementary and secondary role in the articulation of
Pashtun nationalism. Pashtunwali, a moderate version of Islam and the Persian
language played a role in cementing Afghan and Pashtun nationalism.

It was after the Soviet Invasion of Aghanistan in 1979 that radical forms of Islam
began to supplant the consciousness of Pashtun nationalism. After the 1980s, Sharia
law replaced civil laws and the modern methods of statecrafts and Islamic
fundamentalism came to monopolize political power.

Pashtun nationalists believe that the superimposed Islamic fundamentalism undermines

50 million Pashtuns on either side of the Durand line. Some Pashtuns claim that the
Pashtunwali (ancient code commitment to revenge, hospitality and honor) is
democratic and has established rules and systems that have been passed down
generations by Pashtun forefathers.

However, this too is contested terrain as there are other Pashtuns who find the code
outdated and feminists in particular challenge the Pashtunwali honor code with regard
to its relationship with women. Nonetheless, like other nationalism, Pashtun
nationalism tends to draw upon a long and pristine tradition, given by the forefathers,
according to which all aspects of life must be ordered.15
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Pashtuns as Taliban

Bushra Gohar, a veteran Politician from Awami National Party (ANP) is staunch
opponent of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. She says, Not all Pashtuns are Taliban
and you have Punjabi Taliban also. Taliban is a mindset.16

Because of the simplistic portrayal of Pashtuns as savage and uncivilized people who
can be so blinded by the revenge that they become stripped of any capacity to
differentiate between innocent and guilty, it becomes very easy to portray all
Pashtuns as Taliban and vice versa.

Taj Farhat, highlights the facts the notion of revenge in Pashtun culture is
circumscribed by strict rules that govern the conditions for it. She explained about the
doctrinal differences between Pashtun code of conduct (Pakhtunwali) and Taliban as

There is nothing in the code of Pakhtunwali that sanctions or even justifies

indiscriminate use of violence in revenge. Revenge is a qualified notion in the
code. There are clear limits to who can be targeted for revenge. Such limits are
not respected by the Taliban. Innocent people, women and children (even from
the enemys family) are never the target of revenge killings according to the code
of Pakhtunwali.17

There is no doubt that notion of revenge in contemporary world has been replaced by
the idea of justice, which has to be ensured by modern state. The individualized notion
of revenge has given way to collective notion of justice, and the state as the repository
of the collective will is expected to punish culprits and arrange for retribution. It is
possible to disagree with the personalized idea of revenge in tribal codes.

There are some major differences between Sharia and Pakhtunwali code. While the
Sharia version of Taliban is dangerous and has created many atrocities on all the tribal
people of NWFP region. The Pakhtunwali, exaggerates the notion of honor, freedom
and bravery, but not those of inequality, hierarchy and authority. In fact, Pakthunwali
abhors any authority other than that collectively imposed by the community. Even
today, when Pakhtun society cannot be describe as tribal, its value system (though not
the legal system), continues to be regulated by tribal codes and customs.

Before the rise of Taliban no one ever heard of attacks on musicians and music shop.
The common fallacy about tribal culture forbidding dancing, singing and other art
formsand the dispute with the Taliban over thisis a good example:

In FATAs culture the drum and dance have always played an important role.
However, since the Talibans occupation of the area, these two age-old traditions
have been banned. Hence, only outsiders who are not well-informed would think
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that the local people would be supporting the occupiers who have replaced their
melodious Pashto music with Jehadi anthems. 18

The Taliban, considers Shiite Muslims as kafirs (infidels) liable to murder. The
Taliban particularly singled out the Shiite soldiers of the Pakistan Army for beheading
when they were captured. Intermarriages among Sunni and Shiite Muslims were
accepted as a part of Pashtun communities.

Taliban have violently insulted the Jirga (council of tribal leaders) by attacking them
with suicide bombing. While both Pashtun and Taliban are oppressive towards woman
there are dissimilarity between the two one can quarrel about the misogynist and
patriarchal form of this tribal system one can nonetheless understand the argument that
there are serious breakdown and point of interruption between the Taliban and Pashtun
Nationalism.

Like any other ethnic groups, Pashtuns are as diverse a social and cultural group. It is
important to acknowledge the multiplicity of Pashtun culture as well as the fact that
their religiosity can be sometimes be overrate by outsiders.

Taliban as destruction of Pashtun nationalism

Stephen Cohen in the Idea of Pakistan writes that from Islamabads perspective, the
Taliban is the perfect instrument to end forever the idea of Pashtoonistan. Trained in
Pakistans madaris, the Taliban was certainly Afghan and Pashtun, but it was also
under the influence of Islamabad, both directly via Pakistan intelligence, and directly
through Islamist parties, notably the Jamiat-e Ulema-e Islam, one of the Talibans
tutors.19

During Pakistans democratic decade- the 1990s- it had appeared that the relatively
secular and national political parties had edged out irredentist and separatist movement,
including the Islamist and NAP (Nationalist Awami Party).

Pashtuns sentiments were outraged by what they saw as a massacre of fellow Pashtuns
by Americans with official Pakistani plotIslamabad had provided airfields and based
for American forces operating in Afghanistan and subsequently provided useful
intelligence about the location of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. The Islamist parties
themselves put aside their quarrels and theological debates long enough to campaign
on a common platformone that was anti-American and pro-Taliban and Pashtun
and pooled their votes against mainstream parties that had a more benign view of the
United States.20
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His argument revolves around the fact that while both Taliban and Pashtuns are anti-
US or any western occupation. Taliban seems to be working more in favor of Pakistan.
Pashtun sentiments has been hurt by both the attack of US and Pakistans effort to
Talibanized them. It has revoked those historical sentiments being attacked by
outsiders and facing them bravely.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that historical Essentialization of Pashtun identity still persists and it
will continue to exist because of politicization or arise due to exploitation. Like any
identity Pashtun identity is not monolithic. Nothing has damaged Pashtuns more than
certain myths about their character constructed by themselves and others but it has
never been easy for any identity to remain aloof from stereotype.

British orientalist and also Ghaffar Khan played
identity in history. As far as contemporary
concerned, many of them have little sympathy for
predominantly Pashtuns. Pashtuns nationalist have
state system of Pakistan and their main concern
than their ethnicity.
a big role in strengthening Pashtun
Pashtun nationalist of Pakistan are
Taliban, even though the Taliban are
now completely integrated into the
seems to be power hierarchy rather

Pashtun nationalism had emerged as an anti-colonial movement of the small Khans and
Peasants. In contemporary times, the Pashtun nationalism has material and political
effect that cannot be dismissed. This has made Awami National Party (ANP) a political
pressure group. The changing political stances of ANP reflect their politics which
revolve around bargaining for ministerial portfolio and government permits.

In a nutshell, Pashtun nationalist movement is one of those nationalist movements

which actually doesnt demand separate state but trying to make the Pakistan state its
own. It has turned into the party of those who aspired to control administrative power
in the province and to have a sizeable share in the Pakistani state system.

1
Rubina Saigal, The Multiple Self: Interface between Pashtun Nationalist and Religious Conflict on the Frontier,
In Tanweer Fazal, ed. Minority Nationalism in South Asia (New Delhi: Taylor and Francis, 2012), p.56.
2
Stephen P Cohen, the Idea of Pakistan, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006), p.205.
3
Mahendr Singh, Federalism in South Asia, (New Delhi: Routledge, 2014), pp 92-93.
4
Ibid, page 98.
5
The enigmatic Pakhtun, http://www.dawn.com/news/1090492/the-enigmatic-pakhtun, accessed on 10th
Novemberl 2014.
6
Adeel Khan, Politics of Identity- ethnic nationalism and the state in Pakistan (New Delhi: Sage Publication,
2004), p. 87.
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7
Pashtuns: Alexander the great also got in trouble here, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/opinion/31iht-
edbearden_ed3__3.html, accessed on 15th November 2014.
8
Adeel khan, Politics of Identity- ethnic nationalism and the state in Pakistan (New Delhi: Sage Publication),p. 93.

9
Ghaffar khan, quoted in Easwaran, 1984, p.25. As cited by Adeel khan, Politics of Identity- ethnic nationalism
and the state in Pakistan (New Delhi: Sage Publication), p. 92, fn28.
10
Bennet-Jones, Pakistan-eyes of the storm,(Yale University Press, 2003) p.38.
11
Pashtun party seeks national role, http://www.english.rfi.fr/asia-pacific/20130429-awami-national-party,
accessed 18th April 2014.
12
Alexander J. Motyl (editor), Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Vol2, (London: Academic Press, 2001), p. 151.
13
What is nationalism, http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm, accessed 12th Nov 2014.
14
Definitions on the concept of Nationalism, http://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/definitions-on-the-
concept-of-nationalism-sociology-essay.php#ixzz2zPboiDX5

15
Ibid, pp.79-80.
16
The Friday Times, February 03-09, 2012.
17
TaJ, Farhat. Fantasizing about FATA. The News, February 24, 2009.
18
Ibid.
19
Stephen P Cohen, the Idea of Pakistan, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 218-219.

20
Ibid.