History of the Pashtun people
Gor Khuttree is an important monument in the old city of Peshawar. It can be either appraoched from Chowk Yadgar or from Hastnagari Gate. In ancient times it was a Buddhist establishment which later assumed a Hindu character. The earliest account of the site is given by Babur. Both Akbar and Jahangir regard it as … Read more
Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was a contemporary of Bahlul Lodi, Sikandar Lodi and Ibrahim Lodi. It appears that some of the disciples of Guru Nanak were Pashtuns, as corroborated by the following anecdote recorded in “Tazkira-i Pir Hassu Teli” of Surat Singh (completed in 1647 AD). Guru Nanak was born and raised in the … Read more
Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was a contemporary of Bahlul Lodi, Sikandar Lodi and Ibrahim Lodi. He served as storekeeper of the Daulat Khan Lodi’s grain before 1526. The author of Dabistan-i-Mazahib (written in 1655), writes: “Nanak was a Bedi, and the Bedis are a sub-caste of the Khatris. He acquired repute during the reign of … 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
A group of blue-clad Pashtuns left a lasting impression on Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), to the extent that the latter made it compulsory for his followers to wear blue dress in homage to those Pashtuns. According to Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, once when Guru Gobind Singh (the founder of Khalsa) was hunted down by Mughal troops, he found … Read more
On social media i have seen some posts by Punjabis of Pakistan in which they are asserting that Shalwar Kameez is a Punjabi dress and that other communities of Pakistan have adopted their dress. I also saw a tweet by a Punjabi girl few days ago in which she was criticizing Bangladeshis for appropriating their … Read more
By Nafees Ur Rehman Looks like the movie Kesari, Kesari Trailer got it all wrong with who were the invaders and who were the defenders. Pashtuns were defending their land and INVADERS were the British-Indian army. I think it should not be that hard to understand. Pashtuns numbering 10,000 is unsubstantiated. Please go to the … Read more
On twitter Salman Rashid, a retired fauji and a travel-writer, got overwhelmed by ethnic emotions and hailed Hari Singh Nalwa as follow:- He conjures up a lie that Pashtun mothers were hushing their kids with the name of Hari Singh in Kohat as late as 1960s (1). Hari Singh neither governed Kohat nor he ever … Read more
Majority of the Tanolis (or Tanaolis) insist on being of Pashtun origin but their rulers have accounted themselves to be of Barlas Mughal origin. Tanoli or Tanawali is actually an adjective denoting their abode Tanawal. They are divided into two divisions, Pul-Al and Hando-Al, the former occupies Lower Tunawal, and the latter occupy Upper Tunawal … Read more
In 1709, a sudden calamity fell upon Punjab, which shocked everyone in the Mughal empire. A Sikh leader by name of Banda Singh Bairagi (mentioned as “false Guru” in Mughal sources) committed barbarities which were never before heard of in India. The author of “Siar-ul-Mutakhireen” (written in 1780) writes: ” He (Guru Gobind) was succeeded by … Read more