1 A brief introduction to Pashtuns
Who are Pashtuns?
Pashtuns are an ethnic group residing in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and are also known by exonyms such as Afghan, Pathan, Pakhtun and Pukhtoon (Ahmed, 2013, pp. 13â14). There is little consensus on the past or ancient history of Pashtuns, yet the first authentic account of Pashtuns can be found in Tarikh-al-Hind by Al-Biruni, who resided in South Asia from 1016 to 1048 (as cited in ul Haq, Khan, & Nuri, 2005). He defines Pashtuns as tribes who were ârebelliousâ and resided in frontiers of âIndia towards the westâ (as cited in ul Haq et al., 2005, p. 1).
According to unofficial sources, the total number of Pashtun population in both Afghanistan and Pakistan ranges between 40 and 45 million, with exact numbers hard to gauge (Khattak & Bezhan, 2018 para 12; Siddique, 2014). In Pakistanâs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, the Pashtuns make up the second-largest ethnic group within Pakistan, whereas the largest concentration of Pashtun people, over 3 million, is based in Pakistanâs largest city of Karachi.
Pashtuns consider Qais Abdul Rashid as their ancestor, and several genealogies of Pashtuns have been structured around him (Caroe, 1960, p. 922; Siddique, 2014). It is said that by 1000 AD, most of the regions inhabited by Pashtuns had become Muslim and accepted Islam as their religion of practice. It is also said that Qais had three blood-sons â Sarban, Bhittan and Ghurghust â and one adopted son, Karlan (Caroe, 1960). The mother tongue of most Pashtuns is Pashto, an Indo-European language. A majority of Pashtuns are from the Sunni sect of Islam whereas some tribes, such as Turi, Bangash and Orakzai, also follow the Shia sect of Islam (Siddique, 2014; Yousaf, Rashid, & Gul, 2018).
In terms of the contemporary history of Pashtuns, the Afghan (Pashtun) state was founded by the Durrani King, Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1747 (Bartlotti, 2000; Caroe, 1960, p. 935). Before the formation of this state, Pashtuns living in the Afghan areas were either part of the Mughal Empire or the Persian Empire. Caroe (1960, pp. 920â922) argues that because of this state formation, coming on the back of two centuries of turmoil, there arose anti-Pashtun sentiments among the tribes located in western parts of Afghanistan (who leaned towards Persia), whereas the eastern tribes (now a part of Pakistan) developed an affinity towards New Delhi (Indian sub-continent). This tension also led to the western tribes using the Persian denomination of Afghan to identify their people, whereas the Eastern tribes used Pathan, an Indo-colonial term for Pathans or Pashtuns (Caroe, 1960, p. 922).
In the 13th century, before the Abdalis, Afghanistan was controlled by the Mongol empires, and in the 14th century, King Timur (Tamerlane) established the Timurid dynasty (1370â1506) (Runion, 2007, p. xvi). Then, for the next 200 years, the Safavid dynasty, following Shiite Islam, ruled over most parts of Afghanistan. Moreover, between 1506 and 1707, various parts of Afghanistan were shared between the Mughal and Safavid empires (Runion, 2007, p. xvi). Then in 1709, the Sunni Ghilzai (Ghilji) Pashtun tribes revolted against the Safavids (following Shiite Islam). As a result, the Ghilzai (Ghilji) tribe established an independent kingdom of Kandahar in 1709, after leading a successful rising against Gorgin Khan, the Persian governor of Kandahar (Wahab & Youngerman, 2007, p. 68). This was followed by the Abdalis gaining control and establishing the independent kingdom of Herat in 1715 (Kraml, 2012).
In 1722, after Mirwaisâs death, his son Mahmud Ghilzai took control of most parts of Afghanistan and held his reign for seven years before he was assassinated and Nadir Shah restored the Safavid Empire in parts that were lost mainly to Afghans. In 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated and one of his generals, Ahmed Shah Abdali, took control over the Eastern parts of Afghanistan. It was after a highly influential Jirga consisting of influential tribal elders that Ahmed Shah Abdali was unanimously named the King of Afghanistan in 1747 (Wahab & Youngerman, 2007, p. 69).
Ahmed Shah, previously known as Ahmed Khan, did not seek the position, yet the Jirga, after a deadlock, decided that he was the Dur-e-Durran (âpearl of pearlsâ) among all the candidates, and hence the tribe name Durranis was used for the Abdalis afterwards (Barfield, 2010, p. 98). Ahmed Shahâs election was seen by many as a surprise as he belonged to a less powerful Sadozai branch of the Popalzai tribe. But because of his connections and support expanding beyond Pashtuns, he was the only choice who could help create a Pashtun heartland and expand Pashtun influence in the country, along with regaining control over Kandahar from Ghiljis (Barfield, 2010; Kraml, 2012).
Even though Ahmed Shah rose to power within a Pashtun tribal culture defined by segmentary allegiances and an egalitarian structure, his model of governance was more aristocratic and systematic, as he sought to ensure that any transfer of power was confined to his own family (Barfield, 2010). One benefit of Ahmed Shahâs Pashtun background was that many Pashtun tribes were granted certain privileges and tax exemptions, along with a right to self-government (Kraml, 2012).
In 1761, Ahmed Shah led a strong army against the Marathas, who had gained power by defeating the Mughal kings in India (Cooper, 1989). This allowed him to take control of New Delhi and Northern India. There were various power struggles within the Afghan kingdom from the time of Ahmad Shahâs coronation as king in 1747 to the first Anglo-Afghan war in 1839â1842. Yet the Pashtun tribes kept themselves out of these power struggles on the condition that whoever came to power respected their traditions and their place within the Afghan society (Barfield, 2004).
The situation changed in Afghanistan after the second Anglo-Afghan war (1878â1880) when the new King Abdur Rehman abolished all forms of decentralised governments and tried establishing his autocratic rule with help and support from Britain (Kraml, 2012). It was during the Anglo-Afghan wars that the British Raj consolidated its control and hold over New Delhi and faced trouble taming the Pashtun tribes on its western border in Afghanistan. As a means of ensuring greater control over these tribes, Sir Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary to the British government in India, reached a deal with King Abdur Rehman in 1893 to create an administrative border called the Durand Line, dividing Pashtuns on both sides of the border between British India and Afghanistan in return for rich subsidies for the king from the British government (Barfield, 2010; Kraml, 2012). This agreement was, in many ways, seen as a coerced deal forced upon the Afghan king by the British government. The British governmentâs decision to create the Durand Line was under a âforward-movingâ policy it adopted in British India, creating railway lines and roads reaching as far as Balochistan (then part of Afghanistan) (Caroe, 1958).
The Durand Line was controversial. Even though the Line was a product of an agreement between the British government and the Afghan monarchy, subsequent Afghan governments never accepted this division; this tension led to the third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919, which finally forced the Afghan side to cease its explicit demands for the return of the lost territory that it suffered as a result of the Durand Line.
During the process of Indian partition and independence from the British Raj in 1947, Pakistan sought control of the Pashtun tribal areas. It utilised the international law res transit cum sua onera (treaties of extinct states concerning boundary lines), in which all rights and duties arising from past treaties pass on to the successor states (Malik, 2016, p. 81). On this basis, the Pashtun tribal areas â later renamed the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) â were absorbed by the Pakistani state. However, Pashtun tribes continued to exist and survive on both sides of the Pakistani and Afghan border.
For clarity, the Pashtuns discussed in this book are concentrated in the former-FATA region in the North West region of Pakistan. The region until recently was a semi-autonomous region governed by the 1901 Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR). The region covers a total area of 27,000 sq km and also shares a 600-km long border with Afghanistan (Siddique, 2014). An overwhelming majority of the tribal areas are of Pashtun ethnicity, where major tribes include the Shinwaris, Afridis, Mehsuds, Wazirs, Jajis, Orazkais, Daurs (or Dawar), Turis, Safis and Mohmands (Siddique, 2014; Yousaf et al., 2018, pp. 14â24). The region was divided into seven administrative units called the âagenciesâ, which included Bajaur, Orakzai, Mohmand, Khyber, North and South Waziristan and Kurram. The region also consisted of six settled areas called frontier regions (FR) including Bannu, Kohat, FR Peshawar (not to be confused with Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province), Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Tank. The agencies and FRs were renamed as âtribal districtsâ after their merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after the May 2018 constitutional reforms in Pakistan.
The Pashtuns residing in these regions, even today, practise the cultural codes of Pashtunwali, the Pashtun culture, a brief description of which is provided in the forthcoming section.
Pashtunwali â the way of the Pashtuns
Pashtunwali (literally translated as the âway of the Pashtunsâ) is a set of cultural values and tenets of Pashtun society that plays a major role in maintaining social order in this society (see Kakar, 2004a; Spain, 1972). Historically, the academic accounts of Pashtunwali go as far back as 1815 when Elphinstone (1842, p. 262), spelling it as âPooshtoonwulleeâ, mentioned the cultural code calling it the customary law of the Pashtun people.
Yousufzai and Gohar (2005) argue that Pashtunwali is a combination of conventions, traditions and a code of honour that govern the social system of Pashtuns. Pashtunwali includes tenets such as Jirga (tribal councils), nang (honour), melmastya (hospitality, which is complemented by an assembly room [hujra] to discuss everyday affairs and shelter travellers or guests), badal (reciprocity, sometimes also interpreted as revenge), tarboorwali (agnatic rivalry) and siyali (competition among extended family). For Pashtun tribes organised in the tribal areas, Pashtunwali, particularly its concept of âhonourâ, and tribal lineage and kinship ties are important traditional characteristics that define the way of life and dominant values of these tribes as much as the formal religious code of Islam (Ahmed, 2013, p. 22).
Yousufzai and Gohar (2005, p. 22) identify the code of Pashtunwali in the context of a discussion of Jirga:
The context of Jirga is based on a shared understanding of history, values, traditions, culture, local environment, and above all the Pushto language. These local practices are more popularly known as âPukhtoonwaliâ (Pashtunwali), the code of Pukhtoon (Pashtun) life.
(Yousufzai & Gohar, 2005, p. 22)
A major fact that is rarely acknowledged by policymakers when dealing with Pashtun tribes is the importance of Pashtunwali as the sole customary code for resolution of conflicts and personal grievances in remote Pashtun areas of Afghanistan (Drumbl, 2007, p. 192). Consequently, a focus on Pashtunwali and the various values it seeks to advance is necessary if we are to understand traditional indigenous dispute resolution and conflict management mechanisms of Pashtun tribes, such as the Jirga.
The following is a brief description of some of the major tenets of Pashtunwali:
Aitbar
Aitbar in its literal translation means âtrustâ, which is an implicit understanding among the Pashtuns that every dealing, transaction and decision in every walk ...
