Pakhtun Culture and Talibanization: A Hypothetical Scenario

By Farhat Taj
Here I share with the readers a hypothetical scenario that has been emerging in my thoughts for some time.
The scenario needs further empirical and theoretical information to be substantiated or rejected. But I still share it
with the readers because the thought of this scenario has kept me disturbed for some time. Here is the scenario.
Extremism, Economy, Women and Rejection
In the part III of this article I mentioned my talk with three Bosnian Taliban. Further discussions with them and
some other people including some other Bosnian Taliban, in Sarajevo revealed two important things about those
extremist Muslim young men. One, they were rejected by the economy of their country. They told me they sent
around job applications. Everywhere the applications got rejected. The Bosnian employers, it seemed, were not
keen on taking those ‘Wahabis’ as those extremist Muslims were called in Bosnia, in their staff. I am still in contact
with one of the three Bosnain Taliban through phone calls.
Some weeks back he told me he finally got a job. But how? After he shaved off his long blond beard and
presented himself to the employer as clean shaven ‘normal’ Bosnian man.
Two, they were also rejected by women in their society. Without going into the gender dynamics of the Bosnian
society from a feminist perspective, what I can safely say is that the Bosnian women are general educated and
empower to the extent that no one could force them into marriage. Because they were free to choose, they were
opting for more ‘normal’ Bosnian or other European men, both Muslim and non-Muslim, rather than the ‘Wahabis’.

A similar discussion with some other people outside Bosnia revealed that there are young extremist Muslim men in
other Muslim societies around the world who are rejected by both economy and women in their countries. I do
not have the statistics. But it seems there are a considerable number of such Muslim men around the world.
Where do they go now?

Towards the Central Battle Field of Jihad- the Pakhtun Main Land such men will naturally turn their faces
towards the Pakhtun main land where the international and local Jihadis have waged their Jihad against the
‘wayward’ local people, their ‘rulers who are supposedly more loyal to the US than their religion’, against the non-
Muslim NATO and US forces in Afghanistan and the West in general.
This land holds a promise that they cherish the most: martyrdom in Jihad- a direct ticket to paradise, if they got
killed in the Jihad. If they did not get killed, there is enough room for them in the Jihad economy that is
flourishing in the area to absorb those jobless indoctrinated young men. There are reports that the Jihadis are
paid much better than the soldiers of Pakistan army.
What about women now? Educated autonomous women do not fit into the Jihadi worldview. The Jihadis want
perpetual reproduction from woman so that there is a constant supply of foot soldiers for Jihad. This becomes
difficult with educated women. Social scientists all over the world have established that there is a strong link
between female education and fertility.
The more educated a woman, the more she is likely to have less children. Moreover, women in the Jihadi
worldview must be moldable to the Jihadi agenda: if needed on road, running high on raw passion, so they must
be on roads; when needed to be home, they must be home. Remember the burqa-clad women of Jamia Hafsa on
rampage on roads of Islamabad.

Thus women in this worldview must be pliant obedient servant (domestic and sexual) and perpetual
reproductive machines or at best they must be educated in jihadi madrassas where they are taught to believe that
subjugation to men and continuous reproduction are the ideals the women must long for. Thus in the Pakhtun
main land the extremist Muslim men from all over the world find the Jihad economy open to them and the
Pakhtun women forced under terror to be subservient wives of them.
Moreover, this also explains why the Taliban have destroyed girls’ schools in their controlled areas or have
converted some girls’ schools in female Jihadi madrassas. Deprived of education and confined in homes under
terror, the Taliban are ‘grooming’ the Pakhtun girls to be future wives and even concubines of the Jihadis, both
local and foreigners, and mothers of the future foot soldiers of Jihad.
 I heard in a Dawn TV news report some weeks ago that Taliban in their controlled areas in Bara, Khyber agency
have been asking (read pressuring) people to ‘give’ their daughters in marriage to the ‘Mujahidin’. I said
pressuring because I know at least one example of this kind.
There is an Afghan refugee woman in Norway. Once she cried to me and said she was missing her daughter who
she and her husband married off in the tender age of 12 years. I said why. She said at that time they were in
Afghanistan in an area under control of the Taliban, who used to take away young unmarried girls from their
families. Afterwards no one in the community happened to know the whereabouts of the girls. Seeing this, she
said, she and her husband decided to marry off their daughter to one of their relatives- the point was that married
to the relative, we will see her; taken by the Taliban we would never know where she disappeared.
Reproductive Violence, ‘Filthy Jihadi Blood’ and the Long War on Terror

The Pakhtun women will be made to suffer a worst kind of sexual and reproductive violence. They will be made
to constantly produce children for the wrong fathers- the Jihadi fathers. Over the time a generation of ‘filthy-Jihadi
blood’ will come into being among the Pakhtun. The generation of ‘filthy Jihadi Blood’means a generation made of
Pakhtun maternal blood and filthy Arab Jihadi paternal blood or filthy Chechen Jihadi paternal blood or filthy
Uzbek Jihadi paternal blood and so on. It is not for racial reasons that I say that the blood (Arab, Chechen, Uzbeg
etc) is filthy.
It is filthy because it is Jihadi-blood flowing in the body of a Jihadi father. Constant reproductive violence on the
Pakhtun women will make sure a perpetual supply of foot soldiers and suicide bombers for a protracted Jihad on
the Pakhtun land.

On the other hand the US has been warning that the war on terror is going to be a long war. The former US Vice-
President Dick Cheney has been saying that the US must prepare itself to fight the war on terror for decades.
Visiting the US Central Command area in Afghanistan the US Joint Chief of Staff, the Marine Gen. Peter Pace also
said that the ‘war on terror is going to last at least another 20 to 30 years’. So, it seems that both Jihadis and the
US are aiming at long drawn war on the Pakhtun land at the cost of the Pakhtun blood and socio-cultural values.
A Possible Nuclear attack on the Pakhtun Main Land
 When the generation of filthy Jihadi blood comes of age, the world will get even more uneasy about the safety
of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The possibility of the weapons falling into the hands of the Jihadis will look ever
more real to the West. The Jihadis fight for paradise in the life after death. So, I do not see any war fatigue
befalling them. The US on the other hand may encounter a war fatigue.

With the Jihadis threats to the US security looming large as ever, the US, on the other hand, will not like to leave
the war on terror unfinished. In such case the US will hit the Pakhtun main land with nuclear weapons to put an
abrupt end to the filthy Jihadi generation and their international Jihadi allies on the main land and thus to the war
on terror.

The US has used atom bombs to put an abrupt end to the protracted II World War. What can stop the US from
using the weapons of mass destruction again if the ‘right’ combination of circumstances came into being? The
Pakhtun people, their land and culture, all will burn to ashes in such an attack. Neither the international Jihadis
nor the US will give even a hoot about the destruction of the Pakhtun people and land. The Jihadis would say:
‘congratulation to the Pakhtun- Lucky they- their ‘sacrifices’ will surly win them a place in paradise. The US will
ignore them as ‘collateral damage’.

One thing that may deter the US from a nuclear attack on the Pakhtun main land is that the attack may affect
the near by countries, India and China, where the US have vital economic and other interests. For that the US
may use ‘smart’ nuclear bombs to attack the Pakhtun main land.
A ‘smart’ nuclear bomb is a bomb whose scale of destruction can be limited to the target area. Does the US
possess such ‘smart’ nuclear bombs? Is the construction of such bombs scientifically possible? I don’t know. But
even if they do not exist in the world today, can they be made in the next 15-20 years? Is this scientifically
possible in the next 15-20 years? I don’t know. I think a person who has the scientific know how of the subject,
like Dr. Hoodbhoy , the Professor of Physics at the Qaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, can educate us on the
issue.
Reality Analysis of the Hypothetical Scenario
 I said in the onset that this is a hypothetical scenario. More theoretical and empirical evidence is required to
substantiate or reject it. But I am still putting across this scenario to the readers, especially the concerned
Pakhtun. As I look at the events and phenomena unfolding in the Pakhtun main land in the context of the war on
terror between the international Jihadis and the US, this hypothetical scenario is emerging in my mind. This
scenario has kept me disturbed for quite some time. I, therefore, share it with the readers.

I will invite the readers, especially the Pakhtun to discuss the scenario and put forward more empirical and
theoretical evidence to reject or substantiate the likelihood of such a scenario. If they concluded that such a
scenario is unlikely, I will be very happy. If they concluded that there is some likelihood of such an eventuality,
then, the Pakhtun must be very concerned. They must start thinking of strategies to prevent such an eventuality
right from today.

What can that strategies be? I don’t know. But a key strategy should be girls’ education. The Pakhtun must
rebuild all the girls’ schools destroyed by the Taliban. They must build girls’ schools and colleges in the area where
there have never been such institutions. They must press the government of Pakistan for that. Where the
government is unwilling or unable or even too slow to build, the affluent Pakhtun must come forward to finance
community schools and colleges in the areas.
Due to its geography, the Pakhtun land has always been exposed to foreign invasions and onslaughts. The
conduct of Pakhtun resistance to such foreign invasions and onslaughts has been men’s business. Although we
have yet to fully research the women’s full role in such resistance, let for the time being we take what appears in
the up front for the whole, i.e. assume that the resistance has been men’s work. The dynamics of the resistance
have dramatically changed in the context of the war on terror. The Pakhtun women,it seems, have to be an up
frontal part of this resistance.
If the Jihadis are eyeing on the Pakhtun women, they (the women) must have the necessary skills to play their
role in the Pakhtun resistance to the Jihadi agenda. Education is the bases of all such skill. Girls’ education is
important in its own right for social development and well being of any human society.
But in the context of the war on terror the Pakhtun must take the girls’ education as strategy for their national
survival. I am sure these young girls when armed with education will prove to be an excellent defense against the
Jihadi designs of leading the Pakhtun people, culture and land towards a complete catastrophe as seen in the
above hypothetical scenario.
 (To be continued)
Farhat Taj is Norway based Ph D researcher. She can be reached at ergen34@yahoo.com

Pakhtun Culture and Talibanization: the Romanticism and the Clash of Values (Part
II)
By Farhat Taj
Professor Bakhshi Opendra is a philosopher of Indian origin based in a UK university. Once I asked him why the
British colonizers had romanticized the Pakhtun, especially when the British had look down upon almost all natives
in other areas they colonized. His answer was: ‘simple. The Brit was tall and well built. The Pakhtun was tall and
well built. The Brit was good fighter. The Pakhtun was good fighter. The two clashed. The Brit got beaten up.
Instead of admitting his mistake that it was the he (the Brit) who intruded into the Pakhtun’s territory and not the
otherwise, the Brit began romanticizing the Pakhtun. The Pakhtun is so brave; such a natural fighter is he etc!
Colonization of major portion of the earth must have made the British arrogant. It must have been too much for
their arrogant pride to admit to their mistake of attacking the Pakhtun territory and therefore they rationalized
their defeat by attributing super human qualities to the Pakhtun. This is understandable.
But why do the Pakistani intelligentsia, journalistic circles certain political leaders, even ordinary people, like
students, teachers, other professionals and housewives romanticize the Pakhtun by attributing to them too much
religiosity? When the Pakhtun voted for PPP and ANP in Feb. 2008 elections, I thought this is it! The Pakhtun have
chosen the parties that are closest to whatever level of democracy and secularism Pakistan has ever been able to
achieve. So thought the ANP leader Asfandyar Wali, who in a post elections interview declared that the Pakhtun
have sent have a powerful message to the world that they reject religious extremism. Unfortunately, even this
 affected no change in the attitude of the wider Pakistani society and the Pakhtun continued to be identified as
Taliban or pro Taliban and their culture compatible with Talibanization.
Now this is not to suggest that Pakhtuns are not religious at all. Most Pakhtuns have deep respect for their
religion, Islam. But at the same time they have worldly pursuits in life that are very important for them. Whether
they would give up their worldly pursuits for the sake of religion as interpreted by their fellow Pakhtun-the
Taliban- at the gunpoint is a big question mark. To explain it better I will give an example. Many Pakhtun
businessmen are notorious for taking heavy interests on the loans they make to people. Once I asked an Alhaj (a
person who had visited the holy Muslim site in Saudi Arabia many times) Pakhtun who also happened to be quite
regular in saying five times prayer that why he takes so much interest on the loans when the Quarn forbids it. His
answer was: ‘That (Quran) is my religions and this (taking interest) is my business. I do not mix them up. But I
keep both. I need both’.
In the fist part of this article I tried to show how Talibanization is incompatible with the Pakhtun culture. Now I
will try to depict how Talibanization is violently clashing with Pakhtun values. For example, sectarian diversity is
one of such values. Most Pakhtun are Sunny Muslim. A significant minority is Shiite. Expect minor and sporadic
troubles (which many believe were more tribal than theological) the Sunny and Shiite Pakhtun have been living in
peace.
There have always been mix Sunny-Shiite Pakhtun communities and even families, with father Shiite, mother
Sunny or otherwise. Sunny Pakhtun have been participating in Ashura celebrations, not in the actual rituals (some
did this as well) but extending a helping hand in the arrangements for the celebrations, like keeping sabil of
water, sweet drinks etc. Call it superstitious, but many Sunny Pakhtun believe (I personally know several) that if
you have a longstanding unfulfilled wish, you go to the Ashura procession; make the wish to God there and the
wish will be realized. There have always been Sunny Pakhtun going to the Ashura processions for fulfillment of
their wishes. The Taliban is eliminating this diversity. For Taliban a Shiite is kafir and a Sunny who interacts with
Shiite is also Kafir. Both must be killed.
On Peshawar-Parachinar road, Shiite passengers were dismounted by the Taliban in the areas under their control
from the public transport and brutally beheaded just because they happened to be Shiite. The Taliban checked
out ID cards of passengers. Anyone having Ali, Hassan, Hussain in their name were assumed to be Shiite. They
also did body search and those with marks of Zanjirzani (a ritual when Shiite Muslim beat on their backs with a
bunch of chains until the flush wounds and bleeds during the Ashura celebration) were recognized to be Shiite
and dismounted to be beheaded. This brutality forced the Shiite from Parachinar to travel via Afghanistan to come
to Peshawar and the rest of Pakistan.
The Taliban especially beheaded the Shiite among the captured of soldiers of Pakistan army and put their
graphic videos on U Tube. The Taliban so traumatized the Shiite Pakhtun that they sent SOS calls to Shiite across
the border in Afghanistan. The help came from Afghanistan but as a result innocent Sunny in the Shiite majority
areas were murdered in cold blood or banished from their homes. Agreed that Shiite-Sunny conflict in the Pakhtun
areas began due to past international and national events(Iranian Revolution, Afghan War, Zia’s Islamization etc).
But now the tension is at its highest. Sunny Pakhtun Taliban have confronted their Shiite fellow Pakhtun with an
impossible choice: they must perish or convert to the Taliban’s style Sunny Islam.

The Taliban are attacking the family values of the Pakhtun. A woman’s clothing and mobility in the public sphere
are the absolute right and privilege of the family. Unrelated men interfering with those two issues are seen as
violating the family honor, which can easily lead to honor-related crimes. Now, unrelated Taliban men openly
order women to wear burqa or face consequences. If they did not abide by the order, Taliban publicly beat them-
a scene unthinkable in the Pakhtun society. Such incidents have been reported from the Taliban control Swat and
other area. In cities across NWFP the Taliban have threatened women to not to go shopping and stay in doors.
They have publicly killed women, some for working with NGO’s, some they accused of prostitutions and some of
adultery. So, it’s not the family but unrelated Taliban men controlling the women.

The British may have romanticized the Pakhtun for their bravery and honor. But now the Taliban are openly
violating the norms of family honor of the Pakhtun and not much honor related crimes are happening! The
Reason: the ordinary Pakhtun are no match to the heavily armed, indoctrinated and battle hardened militant
Taliban Pakhtun. In the Taliban worldview a woman can only be a prostitute or bigger in the public. When the
Taliban took over Afghanistan, they banned women from jobs , including war widows who were the only breed
winners of their families. Resultantly the women had no option but to beg or prostitute themselves.
Another Pakhtun value that the Taliban have been so violently insulting is the reverence for Jirga- the council of
tribal elders. Evolved in centuries of the Pakhtun history, the institution of Jirga has always been respected by
Pakhtun in all circumstances. Even the blood thirsty warring parties would temporarily cease hostility during Jirga
and under the instructions of Jirga. The Taliban have attacked with suicide bombings at least two grand Jirgas,
one in Darra Adam Khel and the other in Orakzai agency, killing that entire tribal leadership of the areas. The
Taliban have even been attacking funeral ceremonies, an extremely disgustful act in any culture.
The apologists of the Taliban have been saying on media that attacks on Jirga and funeral ceremonies have
been the handiwork of spy agencies of the enemy countries-India and Israel. Well, India and Israel may or may
not be providing money or weapons to the Taliban. But before accusing them we got to see that the Pakhtun
Taliban are tearing apart the social order of their own society through violence. They are determined and this is
the problem. Any real or perceived help from India or Israel, in my view, is of secondary importance. Even if there
is no Indian or Israeli help (real or perceived) the determined Taliban may get it from elsewhere.
The apologists of Taliban also argue on media: ‘did the Taliban do this before the military operations in FATA?’Yes
they did. Remember, even before 9/11 Muallana Sufi Mohammad of Tehrik Nifaz Sharia Mohammadi in Malaknad
openly asked her followers to capture and take in Nikah then and there any female NGO worker that they spotted
in the Malakand agency. The NGO’s workers of the area were terrified. In another incident of before 9/11 female
activists of the pro-Taliban Jumaat islami attacked in a girls’ college in NWFP the participants of a Mina bazaar and
forced the administration to close down the event because some of the girls were wearing kurta pajama that the
Jumaat activists said was ‘Un Isamic Hindu culture’.
The reason such bizarre incidents happen more frequently now is that earlier the Taliban’s savagery was
focused on Afghanistan. Now they have turned their eyes to Pakistan. Their acts of terrorism in Afghanistan were
wrong, just as they are wrong in Pakistan. It was wrong of the establishment of Pakistan to back the Taliban in
Afghanistan while fully knowing how savage they were.
People in the wider Pakistani society must understand that the Pakhtun are under attacks by the ferocious
religious extremist Pakhtun supported by the global forces of the violent Jihad. They deserve help and support of
the rest of the Pakistani society, not just for moral reasons, but for their own interests. Non-Pakhtun Pakistanis
must remember if the Pakhtun society collapsed under the weight of Talibnization, the rest of Pakistan will follow
shortly and probably more swiftly.
 (To be continued)
Farhat Taj is a PhD Reasearcher at the University of Oslo.

Pakhtun Culture and Talibanization: Some Fantasies from Abroad (Part-III)

By Farhat Taj
How the Pakhtun are seen by people in far away lands across the seas? I will present some examples to show a
glimpse of how the ‘others’ abroad view the Pakhtun.

Sarajevo, Bosnia, July 2007

Bosnia is a beautiful Muslim majority country in Europe. The society is secular in line with the wider European
practice. There was a war in Bosnia in the 1990’s when it broke away from the former Yugoslavia. Jihadis from
many parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan, flocked to Bosnia to ‘help’ the Bosnian Muslims against the
Orthodox Christian Serbs. The war is over now. What happened to the Jihadis? Did they go back to their countries
or did they stay put in Bosnia? To find this, I traveled to Bosnia.

There in Bosnia I met three bearded ethnic Bosnia men who I will call the Bosnian Taliban. I sat with them in a
café downtown Sarajevo, the beautiful capital city of Bosnia. They were angry young men in 20’s. Angry at their
society, which they said was too secular and miles away from the’ true Islam’. ‘True Islam’ in their view was the
narrow, extremist and puritan Wahabi version of Islam. They rejected with disdain the Islam prevalent in Bosnia-
the peaceful Turkish Sufi Islam, a very different Islam from the extremist version of the religion that they up held
and that people in Pakistan and Afghanistan confront violently.
We talked about the international jihadi activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They supported such activities. It
was the time when the Lal Masjid Operation was in full swing. They told me they hate Gen. Mushaaraf for
ordering the raid of the mosque.

One of them said he really likes the Pakhtun women (he was especially referring to the Pakhtun women in
Afghnaistan). He gave this explanation:
 ‘The Pakhtun women are very different the Bosnia women. The Bosnian women violate the limits of Islam
prescribed for women. They chase worldly luxuries. They do not care for the life after death. The Pakhtun women
fully subscribe to the limits prescribed by Islam. They do not interfere with the world outside homes, which is the
men’s prerogative under Islam. The Pakhtun women support Jihad. They urge their husbands to go for Jihad and
fight for Islam’.
The last two sentences that he uttered had me swing from one state of mind to another in the space of just one
second. First I became angry, then stunningly surprised and then rational. I thought to myself he had said such
an absolute non sense that he does not even deserve a serious response. So I made up a joke then and there.
I said:
‘brother, actually you are right. The Pakhtun women do urge their husbands to go to Jihad. But I am afraid you
do not know why they do this. They do this because they are in love affairs with other men outside marriage.
They see no other ways to get rid of their existing husbands. Therefore, they urge their husbands to go to Jihad
hoping that they would perish in Jihad and they (the women) will be free to go to their lovers’.
One of the three men laughed. The other two remained serious. Expression on their faces told me they did not
like the joke.
 One of the three men said:
‘I always pray to Allah to give enough power to a Mujahid brother in Pakistan to kill Benazir Bhutto’.
I became angry again, but soon restrained the anger. I thought to myself I am a guest in this country. I have no
business getting angry with people here. I have to be responsible in whatever I say. So I said:
‘do you have any ideas how deeply offensive is that thing you said about BB. It is not just BB’s right to life (a right
fully protected under the Islamic teachings) that you have insulted but also the right of millions of people in
Pakistan to vote her in or out of power?’

He said democracy is un-Islamic; Mohtarma BB Shaheed violated Islam by becoming a woman head of the
government in Pakistan and so did those people of Pakistan, including the Pakhtun, who voted her in power.
In the sad days following her assassinations I often thought of that Bosnian Talib. I thought he and his Mujahid
brothers all over the world must be happy men now. They have silenced a very defiant voice of our country
against the dictatorship and religious extremism. The Mujahid brothers knew what she was up to.
Addressing the Norwegian-Pakistani community in Oslo on 8th May 2007, she spoke in details about the
dangers posed by the religious militants to, what she called, ‘peace loving hardworking decent people from FATA
to Karachi’. She said she had faith in the ability of the Pakhtun people to defeat the religious militancy in their
areas. She said when her party came to power she will make sure all the necessary government support is given
to people in FATA and NWFP for the purpose. Before she could reach that point she was physically eliminated by
some Mujahid brother.
Sometimes I think who could that Mujahid brother be. The Pakhtun Mujahid brother- Baituallah Masud- who was
accused for her assassination by the government of Gen. Musharaf? The Punjabi Mujahid brother- Gen (rtd) Gul
Hamid- the former spy chief who she herself nominated as her would-assassin in her letter to Gen. Musharaf
before her arrival in Pakistan or some other Mujahid brother(s)? I hope the proposed UN investigation of her
assassination would provide some answers.
UK

In the 2nd part of this article I said that the British colonizers romanticized the Pakhtun. It seems that the new
generation of the British people is distancing itself from the romanticism of their elders and is seeing the Pakhtun
through the lenses of a stereotypical orientalism. Consider for example a report published in the Daily Telegraph
dated 15, November 2001 titled as ‘How the British Empire Failed to Tame the Terrorist Fakir of Ipi’. Several
points raised in this report are a gross distortion of the Pakhtun history and culture. The report compares the Fakir
of Ipi, the man who led the resistance to the British colonial in Waziristan, with Osama Bin Lade. The comparison
is preposterous. The Fakir was a Pakhtun son of the Pakhtun soil, Waziristan. Osama Bin Laden is an alien to the
Pakhtun soil. Osama Bin Laden ran way from his own country, is a fugitive from the law of his own country and
from many other countries. The Fakir lived and died on his own soil, Waziristan. Osama Bin Laden is fighting for
the utopia of a global Islamist Khalafat. The Fakir, as the report admits at one point, was pursuing the aim of an
independent Pakhtunistan. Unlike Osama Bib Laden, who unleashed death and destruction on the US cities on
9/11, the Fakir never ventured near the British islands. He was resisting the British colonization of his ancestral
area, Waziristan. How does that makes his terrorist, I fail to understand.
 The report quotes parts of an interviewed with Frank Leeson, the British Khasadar Officer who worked in
Waziristan in 1940’s. Frank Leeson, age 82 years, now lives in a peaceful rural area of UK.
What struck me most in the report is this information.
‘The Fakir’s men also fought dirty. Captured and wounded enemy troops would be killed by having boiling water
poured on them or be castrated by womenfolk.’

Did this really happen in the Pakhtun history of armed conflicts with foreigners? Well, the todays’s Pakhtun
Taliban who lowered themselves to utmost savagery by torturing their captives in the most uncivilized manner.
But did such acts, the boiling water and that thing about women, did they really happen? I do not rule out the
possibility of individual Pakhtun lowering themselves to such mean and brutal acts of violence.

But as per my knowledge of the Pakhtun history of armed conflicts, the Pakhtun fighters did not adopt such
means of torture in the conduct of their resistance to the British colonization. But to confirm it for sure, I needed
to bury myself in the books of Pakhtun history of battles. Due to my own going commitment with the University of
Oslo, I did not have time for this. So, instead I followed the easy road to confirm or otherwise this information: I
traveled to UK to meet Frank Leeson. I asked him:
‘Please recall all your memories of Waziristan and tell me did you ever hear or see such things (the boiling water
and the thing about womenfolk) happening to the captured British or British-Indian soldiers’.
I showed him the news report. Frank Leeson said he never heard or saw such things happening to the British or
British-Indian soldiers captured by the Wazir,Masud or Dawar in Waziristan.
The reason I picked this report from the Daily Telegraph is that I wish to tell the concerned Pakhtun that they
should be on guard. They should have an eye on what is being said about their history and culture and cross
check that with facts in their history and culture. They should challenge everything that is fabricated. If that which
is reported in the Daily Telegraph had really happened (the boiling water and the thing about womenfolk) in the
Waziristan’s history of resistance to the British colonization, the Pakhtun researchers and historians must
described the full context under which that happened. If that did not happen, they must prove with evidence that
this is a fabricated story and also try to expose the possible motives of those who spread such stories about the
Pakhtun history.
The Kindom of Norway and Kingdom of Denmark
The image of Pakhtun in Norway and Denmark seems to be an extension of the image of the Pakhtun in
Pakistan,i.e. the Pakhtun are very religious. When the PPP and ANP won the Feb. 2008 election in NWFP, I heard
and saw many Norwegian/Danish Pakistanis (non Pakhtun Norwegian/Danish Pakistanis) expressed their
surprised. They were expecting that Jamiat Ulama Islam of Maullana Fazal Rehman and Jumaat Isami will make a
landslide victory in the Pakhtun areas. ‘Musharaf must have fixed up this election to please the Americans’,I heard
some people saying. Unfortunately, I heard even an ethnic Danish scholar expressing almost a similar view. My
answer to all such people has been this:
‘Religion is important for the Pakhtun. But please do not over blow the importance of religion for them. The
Pakhtun are human beings with human needs. Like people everywhere they need education, health, jobs and
above all peace. They thought the religious parties would provide for those needs and voted for them. The
religious parties failed to deliver on those things. The Pakhtun dumped the religious parties and picked up the PPP
and ANP. If now the PPP and ANP fail to deliver on the promises they made, the Pakhtun will dump them as well’.
My answer got different reactions from different people. Some people agreed with me, some just kept silence and
some did not agree- they continue to romanticize the Pakhtun as ‘very religious’ people ( so religious that they are
ever ready to slaughter their human needs for education, health, jobs and peace for the sake a religious cause
everywhere in universe, be it in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnia, Moon, Mars, Saturn or Ploto).

Unfortunately to the Pakhtun, their land has become the central battle ground of the war of terror. Because of
this reason, the world, it seems, is hungry for information about Pakhtun, their history, culture, current situation,
almost everything Pakhtun. There are not many information coming from the Pakhtun themselves (at least this is
what I have observed). The world turns to any sources that it thinks might have information about Pakhtun. Such
sources often provide wrong information, some unintentionally and some on purpose.
The Pakhtun must reach out to the world and let the world know them better. How that can be done? I don’t
know the details. But a general idea would be that Pakhtun from different background must network, discuss and
make plans to interact with the wider world. Such exercise must be time consuming, intellectually intensive and
 financially expensive. Therefore, some Pakhtun should put their many into it (I understand there are many
affluent Pakhtun, both in the mainland and in diaspora), some their time and expertise. This may mean less sleep
at least some nights a week/month and less time with friends/family. Because such activities may have to be
adjusted within the established responsibilities- work, time with family/friends/ sleep-rest at night. I understand
such activities/ exercises have to be taken by the Pakhtun, if they wish to dismantle some of the fantasies
constructed about them by the ‘others’ around the world.

(To be Continued)

Farhat Taj is Ph D Researcher at the University of Oslo. She can be contacted at bergen34@yahoo.com

Compatibility: The Pakhtun Culture, Talibanization and Obscenity

By Farhat Taj
One of the good things that have happened to Pakistan is the free media. The media’s educative and
informative role in the society is commendable. The media, however, disappoint when it exhibits biases most
probably unintentionally or when it promotes a particular view without even cross checking the facts on the
ground.
Such views constitute constructed realities in the public eye that are based on ideological fantasies or vested
interest or ignorance of some people whose voices are reflected in the media. Solutions are then recommended
based on the constructed realities to critical problems of national level. The solutions, disconnected from t facts on
the ground, can affect no change.
In their zeal to be seen as ‘expert’ or at least ‘informed commentators’ on the Pakhtun culture, scores of
discussants in media depict that Talibanization is somehow compatible with the Pakhtun culture. That confinement
of women to homes, compulsory wearing of burqa, ban on female mobility in public sphere, minus those
accompanied by related men, ban on girls’ education, ban on music, compulsory beards, killing people by slitting
their throats, preference of madrassa over school education , compulsory punishments for not saying the daily five
time obligatory Islamic prayers, and above all, going mad in revenge spree and eliminating innocent and
perceived enemies without discrimination, all is Pakhtun culture.
They argue the Taliban’s Islam is not Islam, it is Pakhtun culture. The key premise seems to that a religion,
especially a text based religion like Islam, is interpretation and interpretation is affected by culture. So, Islam,
when seen through the lenses of Pakhtunwali turns out to be Talibanization.
One of those who project this view of Pakhtun culture is the ex-ISI chief General (Retd) Hamid Gul. His
credential as pro-Taliban, pro-religious extremists in general and his role in Afghan Jihad that brought destruction
of Afghanistan and the rise of radical Islam in Pakistan is beyond doubt. Still, surprisingly, the media anchors do
not put him questions to investigate his view of the Pakhtun culture.
A journalist, Orea Maqbol Jan, in a TV talk show, Kalam Kar, claimed that even a Hindu woman in Pakhtun culture
will have to wear shuttlecock burqa. To my utter disappointment, even Salman Ahmed of Junoon, one of my
favorite musicians, displayed a similar distorted view of the Pakhtun culture. Addressing a gathering in Denmark
he referred to his talk with the mullah ‘electricity’ in NWFP. Salman Ahmed said that ‘this (rejection of music) is
his(mullah’s) culture’.
The mullah ‘electricity’ is presumably mullah Bijli ghar. A laughing stock among Pakhtuns, one wonders since
when mullah Biji Ghar became a symbol of the entire Pakhtun culture.
Equally disappointing is the self-proclaimed voice of the Pakhtuns, Imara Khan of Tehrik Insaf Party. He argues
that the Taliban’s spree of death and destruction is caused by the revengeful Pakhtuns, whose family members
were supposedly killed in the on going military operation in FATA and other areas of NWFP. He rejects that
religious extremism, systematically spread in FATA by the state agencies, may have anything to do with the
atrocities committed by the Taliban in Pakistan (and Afghanistan).

Imran Khan’s argument portrays the Pakhtuns as savage and uncivilized people who can be so blinded by
revenge that they become stripped of any capacity to differentiate between the innocent and the ‘guilty’. It implies
that Paktuns can be driven so mad in revenge that they would bomb their own educational and health institutions,
destroy the livelihoods of the fellow Pakhtuns and murder innocent people, both Pakhtun and non-Pakhtun, across
Pakistan. Although, I have yet to see a Pakhtun so maddened by revenge, I still suppose there may be some
people of this kind. I argue this is the personal decision of those people and has no justification in the code of
 Pakhtunwali for the purpose. Moreover, people so maddened by revenge may exist in any culture of the world.

These are but a few names who present such a false view of the Pukhtun culture on media. There are scores of
other. These people show disrespect to the Pakhtun culture, some out of ignorance (like Sulman Ahmed, I guess),
some for ideological reasons (Gul Hamid), some for professional reasons (just to be seen as expert on the
something, like the journalist) and some for petty political reasons (like Imaran Khan) . In addition to the
disrespect to the Pakhtun cultures, these people display utter disregard to some of the established notions of the
social science.
Most social scientists all over the world agree that human cultures are internally diverse, flexible and
adaptable. There are dominant norms in a culture and also less dominant norms. They coexist side by side. Even
the expression of the dominant norms can be diverse. Cultures are not written in stone. They are flexible:
members of the culture may mange to push the limits of the culture within the framework of that culture. In line
with the changing requirements of the time cultures may adapt new ideas and norms from other cultures and
societies. All this holds true for the Pukhtun culture. I will try to explain with some examples.
Shuttlecock burqa that many identify with Pakhtun culture is diminishing norm in some Pakhtun communities or
localities. It is not a universal norm all over the Pakhtun land. A nearly universal norm is chader. But length of
chader varies from area to area, family to family and even woman to woman. The way it is worn by women also
varies: some may cover their faces with chader, some may not.
Most Pakhtun communities stand for girls’ education: this is precisely the reason why the Taliban, whose
worldview has not room for girls’ education, are destroying girls’ schools and colleges. One can name tens of girls’
schools and colleges in the Pakhtun area that government of Pakistan would have simply ignored to build. But
thanks to the Pakhtun elders of the areas, mostly fathers and grandfathers, who pleaded with the government to
build those girls educational institutions in their area and their requests finally moved the government in building
those institutions.
The Taliban have now destroyed or destroying those institutions. In almost very city and town of the Pakhtuns
there have been growing number of communities and individual families, who have had exposure to education
and modernity. Women in such communities and families have taken up non traditional roles in the public sphare.
Before the rise of the Taliban no one had ever heard of any Pakhtun community or individuals violently reacting
the women who have broken the confinements of the traditional gender roles.

Taliban bans music, which is an integral part of the Pakhtun traditions. Before the rise of the Taliban no one
ever heard of attacks on musicians and music shops. There have always been men with and without beard among
the Pakhtuns. Those with beard never forced the others to grow beard. There have always been Pakhtun who
were regular in saying daily prayers and those were not so regular and even those who hardly say any prayers for
years and years. Before the Taliban, it was unheard of that those who are regular in saying daily prayers would
force the other to be regular.
Imran Khan’s assertion that the Taliban unleashing the reign of terror on Pakistan are Pakhtuns driven by
revenge essentionilizes the notion of revenge to the Pakhtun culture. Essentionalism has been greatly challenged
by social scientists all over the world. Essentionlaism is the belief that people have an unchanging 'essence' that
wipes off the possibility of changeable human behaviour. Most social scientists will disagree that each and very
Pakhtun would take to violent means in the name of revenge. Agreed that revenge is an important notion of the
code of Pakhtunwali, but, nevertheless, this a notion. When put in practice it may take different forms, not
necessarrly the violent forms.

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 enemy’s
family) are never the targets of revenge killing according to the code of Pakhtunwali.
The Taliban’s world view is rooted in the narrow interpretation of Islam that has international connections with
religious extremists across the globe. This worldview is unified, inflexible and violently resistant to adaptability.
This is the exact opposite of the Pakhtun culture. Unlike Talibanization, the Pakhtun culture is rooted in the
centuries old human history and traditions that evolved in a geographical location.
During an interview with Fredrik Baarth, a famous Norwegian scholar of the Pakhtun culture, this writer asked him
whether he sees any compatibility between the Pakhtun culture and Talibanization. His answer was: ‘in terms of
Pakhtun culture, Talibanization is obscenity’. So, there you have it! Anyone who knows the Pakhtun culture and is
not motivated by a vested interest would reject any notion of compatibility between Talibanization and the
Pakhtun culture.
(To be continued)
Farhat Taj is a PhD research fellow at the Centre for Women and Gender Studies, University of Oslo.