Tuesday 4 September 2018

How to water down Greater Afghanistan dream?

We must remember that there was no Afghanistan until the British appointed the King of Kabul as the spokesperson over all peoples to South of the Amu Darya. The British gave cannons to the King of Kabul to carry out the subjugation. [Just as they gave cannons – and money – to Nader Shah Afshar to invade, cripple and impoverish Mughal Delhi!].

The rest of Afghan history is that of brutally suppressing the Hazara, the Kapil people (wrongly called Kafiristani, now Nuristanis; arguably remnants of ancient Dardic and the Kamboh), the Gujjar & Shina of the extreme northeast. Each one of these ethnicities can be encouraged to water down greater Afghanistan dreams.

KP also has large swashes of Hindko speakers, who are the real natives. The Bannuchi are a Non-Pakhtun people. As are many Khels within the Pakhtun Khels. Hidden to all are the Avari, related to the Daghestani Avars, an oppressed people among the Khattak. Extending recognition to them will water down greater Afghanistan claims.

Similarly, there was no Baluchistan until the British gave it that name as a reward for their servitude against Iran. The original name was Seistan, meaning land of the Scythians. Pakistani ethnologists and historians have to identify and emphasize the unique ethnicities within Baluchistan. They have the Med (from the Iranian Medes), assimilated Scythian clans that need to be freed from their Baluch tribal affiliations, the Kali people (at least 2 million of these souls), the descendants of the Maratha armies brought in as slaves after the 3rd Battle of Panipat, plus many others that were contemporaries of the ancient Brahui.


Courtesy of Jaffer Jamil

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