History of the Pashtun people
Inayatullah, a native of Baramulla and eyewitness to the Pashtun invasion of Kashmir in 1947, was interviewed by Andrew Whitehead in 1997. 1-He dismissed the claim of 3,000 people being killed by raiders in Baramulla as false and revealed that few people (non-Muslims) were killed by them. 2- Baramulla was largely empty of people when … Read more
From 1564 to 1576 Bengal was ruled by a family of Pashtuns who were known as Karranis. The founder of that dynasty was Taj Khan Karrani who was one of the chief officers of Sher Shah Sur and Islam Shah Sur. After the fall of Sur dynasty in 1555, Taj Khan and his brothers ruled … Read more
The famous Rani of Jhansi, one of the leading figures of the Indian war of Independence of 1857, had Pashtuns gunners and her personal bodyguards were a thousand Pashtuns who died defending her to the last man in the final battle in which the Rani fell. (Ref: “Rani of Jhansi” by Jaiwant Paul, page 99 … Read more
A relatively unknown episode of the Panipat war (1758-1761) containing the account of Khushal Khan Khattak Shaheed (the one who got martyred) and the Gakhar vassals of Durrani empire when Punjab briefly became part of Maratha empire. In March 1758 Marathas, assisted by local Punjabis (Adina Beg and Sikhs) invaded Sirhind city of the Durrani … Read more
Pashto was spoken in Rampur region of Uttar Pradesh as late as 1815 AD. This was reported by Mountsuart Elphinstone in his book “the account of kingdom of Cabul” which was published in 1815. Elphinstone had visited Afghanistan in 1808 as ambassdor of British East India Company and met Shah Shuja Durrani in Peshawar. He … Read more
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
It is widely known that Sher Shah Suri built hundreds of serais in India for the comfort of travelers in the 16th century. However, few people are aware that Sher Shah also constructed a serai in Mecca. This information is derived from Zubdat al-Tawarikh by Shaikh Nurul Haq Delhvi, penned during the reign of Mughal … Read more
Abdur Rahman Baba belonged to the Baezai division of the Mohmand tribe. Abdur Rahman dwelt in the village of Hazar Khani in the tappa of Mohmands. He was a man of considerable learning, but lived the life of a darvesh, absorbed in religious contemplation separated from the world. He held no greater interaction than necessary … Read more
Persian text stitched onto the shawl, which reads: یا حسین فرمایش نواب اشرف والا محمد عظیم خان ‘O Hussain; ordered by the most noble governor Nawab Mohammed Azim Khan’ Mohammed Azim Khan Barakzai was one of the last Pashtun governors of Kashmir, between c. 1813 and 1819. He was a younger brother of Fath Ali … Read more
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