History of the Pashtun people
1- I will start by pointing out that the correct spelling of Sher Shah’s tribal surname is Sur (سور), not Suri (سوري). This error was originally made by early European writers and repeated by others. In all the pre-modern inscriptions and sources, the nisba of Sher Shah is written as Sur. It is also spelled as … Read more
Mir Chakar Rind is often glorified as the “King of Baluchistan”, and some modern accounts bestow upon him the epithet “the great.” However, a rigorous examination of history reveals a different picture. Far from a king, Chakar Rind appears to have been no more than a tribal chieftain, his stature inflated by legend and fiction. … Read more
Tomb of Panju Khan Khajjak (Sibi district, Baluchistan). He was a contemporary of Timur Shah Durrani. “Three Khajjak headmen of the time- Sardar Panju Khan Hamimzai, Jangi Khan Doulatzai, Itabar Khan Umarzai – are mentioned in a royal Afghan farman which is dated 1179 A H /1782 A.D. In this farman each of them has … Read more
Kwatta’h (کوټه) in Pashto means ‘a mound, a heap, a pile of earth, stones, etc’. The town of Afghan district of Shal was called Kwattah from its being situated on a mound. English writers erroneously called the town Quetta. A story is told by Brahuis that that Ahmad Shah Abdali in conferring the district on … Read more
After Panipat war of 1761, Najib Khan Yousafzai, entitled Najib ad-Dawlah, became the regent of Delhi. Najib’s Baloch proteges formed a line of defence along the south-western frontier of his domain. The Baloch settlements were in the modern Rohtak district, — such as Jhajhar, Bahadurgarh, Farrukhnagar and Tauru — the petty Barons of which clung … Read more
According to Makhzan-i-Afghani of Naimatullah Haravi [composed in 1612 A.D], Khajak was one of the 18 sons of Panni, son of Dani, son of Ghurghusht. The Khajjaks and some of the Panni clans have been invariably mistaken by the British writers for the Kakars. Charles Masson turns the Khajjaks into a Baloch tribe. The Khajaks … Read more
In the 18th century, a chieftain of the Kakar Pashtuns managed to annihilate the entire Baloch army of Mir Naseer Khan of Kalat in about 1867. This catastrophic defeat of the Baloch army occurred in the Dozakh Tangi of present-day Ziarat district, Balochistan. The scale of this Baloch defeat bears striking resemblance to the catastrophic … Read more
“The Jafars are a small Sarbani Pathan tribe, descended from Miyana, the brother of Tarin, Shirani, and Barech, and thus connected with the Lunis and Zmarais. They own lands in Musa Khel Tehsil of the Loralai district. With the passage of time the Jafars have acquired a number of Baluch and Jatraki traits and now … Read more