History of the Pashtun people
During the medieval period, Pashtuns dominated the horse trade with India even through the horses were bred by Turkoman and Uzbek nomads in Turkestan. After the Pashtun dealers had bought the horses at low prices from the nomadic tribes of Turkestan, they were fattened for one or two months in the various meadows around Kabul. … Read more
The famous Indian tweep Bharadwaj (aka True Indology) has shared a British map of Kandahar city dated to 1880, in which one of the four gates of the city is named “temple gate”. He assumes that it is temple of Shiva and states that it is “a testament to the durability and continuity of Hindu … Read more
Raja Khan Kabuli in 1840 writes that rulers of Kashkar (Chitral) have “their subjects under such subjection as to sell them like animals”. He further writes: “Slaves are cheaper at Kashkar than anywhere else, viz. 100 rupees each (a girl or a boy). 200 or 300 are yearly exported via Dardu and Badakhshan to Turkistan.” … Read more
The Pashtun code of revenge against the wrongdoers became a proverb in India. John Briggs in 1829 writes: “Afghan revenge has become proverbial in India . It is said , a man is never safe from the revenge of an elephant , a nag ( the cobra snake), or an Afghan”. So this famous saying … Read more
In 1842 Hazaras in the vicinity of Ghazni approached British and expressed their wish and desire that British invaders should exterminate the Pashtun race and repopulate the country (eastern Afghanistan) with Indians and Hazaras. Henry Rawlinson in his diary (unpublished) writes: “The Huzareh all visited us and did their best to supply us. They have … Read more
By Nafees Ur Rehman His gruesome punishments and ruthless ‘justice’ drove half of the population of Peshawar away from the city. Here we look at his career as a Governor of Peshawar. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 left many war veterans without job assignments, and some of those veterans, … Read more
Sayyids of Kunar: For centuries the long and narrow valley of Kunar with Pashat as its main town had been ruled by a Pashtunized Sayyid family of Arab descent. They were descendants of Sayyid Ali Tirmizi, popularly referred to as Pir Baba by Pashtuns. The latter had accompanied Zahir al-Din Babur from Tirmiz. His shrine … Read more
Origin legend According to the legends prevalent amongst the Orakzai elders, Tirah was formerly occupied by the Hindu non-Pashtun race, called the Tirahis whose descendants are, to this day, found in some villages as ‘Hamsaya‘ (dependents) of the Orakzai. Tirahis were ruled by different rajas whose names can still be traced in several places in … Read more
Sherani tribesmen , 1868. From Watson and Kaye’s collection Sheranis dwell in Kasi Ghar or Koh-i-Suleiman, considered to be the cradle of Afghan race. They have Zmari (Miana) land on their south, the Gomal Pass separate them from the Wazirs on the north, Zhob valley; from the land of Mando Khels on their west, … Read more
The Jadoon or Gadoon tribe of Pashtuns is primarily settled in Swabi and Abbottabd districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are said to be descended from Zhadun, son of parnaey, and brother of Kakar, the two latter being sons of Danaey, son of Ghurghast, son of Qais Abdul Rashid. Jadoon was one of the 18 sons … Read more