#pushtun

[khaperai]

Pashtun Khattak dancer 1909

[rhianna]

Aryans in the East / by Jan M. Kasim.

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Main AuthorKasim, Jan Mohd, 1912-Language(s)English PublishedBoston : Meador Publishing Co., 1935. SubjectsPushtuns. Afghanistan >  Afghanistan / History. Note"The historical, geographical, social and political events of the past and present 'Aryan land of Asia', 'Afghanistan'."--p. [5] Physical Description91 p. : ill. (map) plates, 2 port. (incl. front.) ; 20 cm.

Kasim, J. Mohd. (1935). Aryans in the East. Boston: Meador Publishing Co..

[retropakistan]

Wedding : Peshawar

Pushtun tribesmen with drums (dhol) and other traditional instruments lead a marriage ceremony and play their way through a crowded street of Peshawar in 1952.

Courtesy : Also Pakistan - V (Dawn News)

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[molkolsdal]

Shilpi Batra Adwani with Bagodai Babai, a Pashtun Hindu migrant seen here in a restored Kakari kameez. The heavily embroidered garment traditionally had coins sewn into the bodice to indicate wealth and status.

The former Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, meeting the community members.

The women are part of a community of Pushtun Hindus that lived in the Baloch areas of Quetta, Loralai, Bori and Maikhter, and belong to the Kakari tribes still living there.

Tattooed ‘blue-skinned’ Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots

by Suhasini Haidar

As they walk through the corridors of the exhibition, looking at photographs of themselves in traditional clothes, the women begin to sing first. At first, the tune is tentative. Then, as more and more join in, it becomes a roaring chorus, and they clap to words of the song, ‘Sheen Khalai’, and dance the ‘Attan’ folk dance in the way they were taught seven decades ago. ‘Sheen Khalai’ (blue skin) is not just a name for these women and men, many of them well over 90 years old, it is the story of their identity, one that brings forth tears even today. They fled with their families from the tribal areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Partition in 1947.

The women are part of a community of Pushtun Hindus that lived in the Baloch areas of Quetta, Loralai, Bori and Maikhter, and belong to the Kakari tribes still living there. 1947 was a second partition for their villages, as the British-imposed Durand Line in 1893 had already given their villages to Pakistan, despite the people’s Pushtun lineage.

In 1947, they were forced out of their homes overnight. “The government told us to leave quickly and go to India. We didn’t even look back at our homes, just ran,” says Lakshmi Devi, who can’t remember her age now, but says she was a teenager then. Like many other Hindu families from Sindh and Balochistan, Lakshmi Devi, her father and siblings were sent to resettle in the village of Unniara in Rajasthan, about 130 km south of Jaipur. But once they reached, they realised that while being Hindu brought them shelter, it didn’t bring them acceptance, given their ‘Sheen Khalai’.

“It was their blue skin, the colour of the face tattoos that women in tribal areas have, that set them apart from their neighbours, and even from the Hindu women of Pakistan,” explains Shilpi Batra Advani, a documentary filmmaker from a Pushtun Hindu family. Ms. Advani is completing a film on the Sheen Khalai. “My own grandmother started to cover her face, and was shy around outsiders, because she feared being shunned for the tribal tattoos that were looked down upon,” she adds.

Some had trouble renting a home, others were viewed with suspicion by neighbours. “We tried to scrub and scrub, but the tattoos wouldn’t fade away,” says 103- year old Pyari Devi in Ms. Advani’s film. As a result, most found it easier to assimilate as Pakistani-Hindu women not as Pushtuns, dressed in saris and salwar suits, and spoke the local language publicly while teaching their children Pashto.

In her quest for information about their past, Shilpi Advani, with her mother Yashoda’s help, began work on the film about the roughly 500-600 Hindu Pushtun community members in India. She interviewed elders for their memories, and coaxed women into pulling out old traditional tribal clothes from the bottom of their suitcases, like the ‘kakari kameez’ they would have worn in their villages. Most were frayed at the edges, but still rich with embroidery, mirror work and colourful tassels, which Ms. Advani restored.

During the course of her research, Ms. Advani spent a year and a half in Kabul and spoke to journalists about her family’s villages in Balochistan across the line. One day, she received a video over a social media site: it was an interview with an old villager in Balochistan’s Maikhter who remembered his neighbour Prakash and his two daughters had left for India one hurried night. The name rang a bell and Ms. Advani traced back the family in Rajasthan for her film. The audience watching the interviews claps with joy at a glimpse of the village.

But the biggest joy comes from a special visitor who inaugurates the exhibition and speaks to them: former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. Ms. Advani reached out to him in Kabul five years ago. “Hearing women singing these old songs is a very special experience. This was them asserting their identity, asserting that no force, or separation or partition can destroy this,” Mr. Karzai told The Hindu.

...

Ms. Advani says her project is for the official recognition of her community. “This is about validation, about giving us a name after all these years of hiding our identity,” she explains.

One by one, the women and men of the Pushtun Hindu community step up to tell their stories, of how they preserved their heritage despite all the odds. “We have changed our clothes (pahnava),” nonagenarian Shanti Devi says in fluent Pashto. “But our hearts and tongues remain Pushtun.”

“We have always wondered what we are, since no one owned us,” says Leelaram, who is in his late eighties. “Are we Afghan, or Pakistani or Indian or Hindu or Pushtun?” he asks, and then to answer his own question, he adds, “Today, we have become Pushtuns again.” They all cheer and break into another song, a happy wedding song about ‘beautiful Laila’ that they learnt when they were very young.

Here, just for this moment in the aptly named Frontier Colony in Jaipur, borders have blended, the subcontinent is not so divided and history is not so unkind to this tiny community of ‘Sheen Khalai’, as they sing these words: Tora shpa da tora khun, sheenkhalai na da Maloom/ Tora Shpa ba khudai runya ki, sheenkhalai ba khudai paida ki (It's a dark night and in a dark room,/ Your Sheen Khalai has disappeared./ But the dawn will break and light will start to enter the room./ Sheen Khalai will start to glow again.)

[lukckmervilthings-blog]

(LUKCK MERVIL)

[arbabnaseebkasi]

Pashtoon culture Day. Pushtun; Pakhtun; Pashtoon; Pathan; Afghan. (Pashto: ‫پښتني هڅوب‬‎) is based on Pashtunwali, which is an ancient way of life, as well as speaking of the Pashto language and wearing Pashtun dress. The culture of the Pashtun people is highlighted since at least the time of Herodotus (484–425 BC) or Alexander the Great, when he explored the Afghanistan and Pakistan region in 330 BC. The Pashtun culture has little outside influence over the ages. Some authors and historian explain that it is 5000 years old tribe and some explain it as more than 7000 years old tradition. Fundamental of Pashtoon culture: 1. Jarga. 2. Pashtoonwali 3. Hujra 4. Attan / Rask / Dance Tribes of Pashtoon Regarding tribes you will find minium sixty main tribes in Pashtoon which further sub categories. Traditional Pashto music is mostly klasik ghazals, using rubab or sitar, tabla, portable harmonium, flute and several other musical instruments. Attan in Pakistan and Afghanistan. All of these may be practiced and mixed by Pashtuns in other valleys, and it's not uncommon to see Pashtuns of one province being better at a different region's style. Pashto: ‫اتڼ‬‎; ALA-LC Romanization: Ataṇ, also referred to as Atan or Attan Attan Dance In this dance, the dancers perform to the beat of the music. It is typically performed by men and women. It involves 2–5 steps, ending with a clap given while facing the center, after which the process is repeated. The hips and arms are put in a sequential movement including left and right tilts, with the wrists twisting in sequence. Ultimately a hand is projected outward and brought in a 'scoop-like' fashion towards the center where the other hand meets it for a clap. This dance is typically performed with the musician dictating the duration and speed. Type of Attan There are various types of attan. You will find out in every district people normally would know minium 2 to 5 types of attan. You will find many type of attan if you would visit all Pashtoon region in Pakistan and Afghanistan so you may find more than 30 different types of Attan. Traditional Attan / Dance In this dance, the dancers perform to the beat of the musi https://www.instagram.com/p/B2wT885BK7B/?igshid=ss88mwgskge9

[himanahu20-blog]

500 hundred abandoned bodies were recovered from Punjab Nishtar HospitalMany corpses have had their chests ripped open and their human organs removed, and the large shalwars of the corpses indicate that they are #Balochs or #pushtuns

#Horrible #Breaking500 hundred abandoned bodies were recovered from Punjab Nishtar HospitalMany corpses have had their chests ripped open and their human organs removed, and the large shalwars of the corpses indicate that they are #Balochs or #pushtuns pic.twitter.com/vfLNZfcIvM— Nilofar Ayoubi (@NilofarAyoubi) October 14, 2022

[samuelcarveraccidentman]

IT HAS FOR so long been a country of such unmet potential that the scale of Pakistan’s dereliction towards its people is easily forgotten. Yet on every measure of progress, Pakistanis fare atrociously. More than 20m children are deprived of school. Less than 30% of women are employed. Exports have grown at a fifth of the rate in Bangladesh and India over the past 20 years. And now the ambitions of the new government under Imran Khan, who at least acknowledges his country’s problems (see Briefing), are thwarted by a balance-of-payments crisis. If Mr Khan gets an IMF bail-out, it will be Pakistan’s 22nd. The persistence of poverty and maladministration, and the instability they foster, is a disaster for the world’s sixth-most-populous country. Thanks to its nuclear weapons and plentiful religious zealots, it poses a danger for the world, too.

Many, including Mr Khan, blame venal politicians for Pakistan’s problems. Others argue that Pakistan sits in a uniquely hostile part of the world, between war-torn Afghanistan and implacable India. Both these woes are used to justify the power of the armed forces. Yet the army’s pre-eminence is precisely what lies at the heart of Pakistan’s troubles. The army lords it over civilian politicians. Last year it helped cast out the previous prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and engineer Mr Khan’s rise (as it once did Mr Sharif’s).



Since the founding of Pakistan in 1947, the army has not just defended state ideology but defined it, in two destructive ways. The country exists to safeguard Islam, not a tolerant, prosperous citizenry. And the army, believing the country to be surrounded by enemies, promotes a doctrine of persecution and paranoia.

The effects are dire. Religiosity has bred an extremism that at times has looked like tearing Pakistan apart. The state backed those who took up arms in the name of Islam. Although they initially waged war on Pakistan’s perceived enemies, before long they began to wreak havoc at home. Some 60,000 Pakistanis have died at the hands of militants, most of whom come under the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The army at last moved against them following an appalling school massacre in 2014. Yet even today it shelters violent groups it finds useful. Some leaders of the Afghan Taliban reside in Quetta. The presumed instigator of a series of attacks in Mumbai in 2008, which killed 174, remains a free man.

Melding religion and state has other costs, including the harsh suppression of local identities—hence long-running insurgencies in Baloch and Pushtun areas. Religious minorities, such as the Ahmadis, are cruelly persecuted. As for the paranoia, the army is no more the state’s glorious guardian than India is the implacable foe. Of the four wars between the two countries, all of which Pakistan lost, India launched only one, in 1971—to put an end to the genocide Pakistan was unleashing in what became Bangladesh. Even if politicking before a coming general election obscures it, development interests India more than picking fights.

The paranoid doctrine helps the armed forces commandeer resources. More money goes to them than on development. Worse, it has bred a habit of geopolitical blackmail: help us financially or we might add to your perils in a very dangerous part of the world. This is at the root of Pakistan’s addiction to aid, despite its prickly nationalism. The latest iteration of this is China’s $60bn investment in roads, railways, power plants and ports, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The fantasy that, without other transformations, prosperity can be brought in from outside is underscored by CPEC’s transport links. Without an opening to India, they will never fulfil their potential. But the army blocks any rapprochement.

Mr Khan’s government can do much to improve things. It should increase its tax take by clamping down on evasion, give independence to the monetary authority and unify the official and black-market exchange rates. Above all, it should seek to boost competitiveness and integrate Pakistan’s economy with the world’s. All that can raise growth.

Yet the challenge is so much greater. By mid-century, Pakistan’s population will have increased by half. Only sizzling rates of economic growth can guarantee Pakistanis a decent life, and that demands profound change in how the economy works, people are taught and welfare is conceived. Failing so many, in contrast, really will be felt beyond the country’s borders.

Transformation depends on Pakistan doing away with the state’s twin props of religion and paranoia—and with them the army’s power. Mr Khan is not obviously the catalyst for radical change. But he must recognise the problem. He has made a start by standing up to demagogues baying for the death of Asia Bibi, a Christian labourer falsely accused of blasphemy.

However, wholesale reform is beyond the reach of any one individual, including the prime minister. Many politicians, businesspeople, intellectuals, journalists and even whisky-swilling generals would far rather a more secular Pakistan. They should speak out. Yes, for some there are risks, not least to their lives or liberty. But for most—especially if they act together—the elites have nothing to lose but their hypocrisy

[berberanews]

Afghan tu waa dad noocma ah?

Afghan tu waa dad noocma ah?

WQ Maxamed Cabdi Xasan Diridhaba Waxaan ku noola dalka Pakistan muddo 6 sanno ku siman oo aan arday ka ahaa, intaan koonka/adduunyada ku noola ee aan ummado kala duwan arkaayay lana dhaqmay, Muslim iyo gaal, laba dal dadkood ma arag ummado ka fiican, ka akhlaaq wanaagsan, ka naxariis badan, kana geesisan. 1. Qoomiyadda Pushtun ka Afghanistan Qoomiyadda Pushtunka loo yaqaano waa qoomiyadda 50% ah…

[rhianna]

Bibliographic Record

Author

Pennell, T. L. (Theodore Leighton), 1867-1912

Title   Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier

A Record of Sixteen Years' Close Intercourse with the Natives of the Indian Marches

Language   English

LoC Class

DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia

Subject

Afghans

Subject

Missions -- Asia, Central

Subject

Punjab (India) -- Social life and customs

Subject

Afghanistan -- Social life and customs

Subject

Pennell, T. L. (Theodore Leighton), 1867-1912

Subject

Pushtuns

Subject

Missions, Medical -- Pakistan -- North-West Frontier Province

Subject

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) -- Social life and customs

Category   Text

EBook-No.32231

Release Date  May 3, 2010

Copyright Status  Public domain in the USA.

[centolutions]

#63) Learn to say "Thank You." in a new language

One of the people on contract at work was leaving the team.  During his ‘farewell’ call, I asked if he spoke Pushtun, the most commonly spoken language around Kabul, Afghanistan where he grew up.  He said he did, so I threw out a “Namanaa”, which he was appreciative to hear.

Come to find out he owns a gas station and a kabab restaurant, so the next time I’m driving through his current hometown (outside of D.C.), I’ll look him up to see if I can re-use an Afghani ‘Thank You’ in person. 

[amirjahangir]

Pakistan’s First Pashto Web-Series to be Launched by RINSTRA and Classic Broadcasting

Classic Broadcasting and RINSTRA to produce first Pashto web-series “GUDAI”

Islamabad, PK – 04 December 2020 – Pashto has around 60 million native speakers and around 35 million people in Pakistan speak the language, yet the Pashto film and drama industry is unable to grow due to poor scripts, indecent content, and piracy. RINSTRA in collaboration with Classic Broadcasting is producing first ever Pashto web-series for its digital platform www.rinstra.com

GUDAI is a short form web-series, which addresses the issue of child marriage in the society. The series is written and directed by Bakht Rawan Bakht. The series introduces new and emerging artists from the Pushto Community like Manadar Sadiq , Bibi Shereena, Shabana Azmi, Roma and Adnan Bakht in the lead. The series is setting a new milestone for the Pashtu content enthusiasts, both the content creators and consumers.

Chairman and Co-founder, Rinstra Technologies and Vice President DICE Foundation USA, Dr. Adil Akhtar said, “RINSTRA is working to give opportunities to the young talent of Pakistan and it is necessary to have rising stars from all cultural groups so we can get entertained by locally produced content featuring our local artists and true stories, it is necessary to improve the script, story line and enhance the quality of production of series in the regional languages. “GUDAI”, will prove to be the first step towards, she further said.”

Adnan Shaukat, Chief Executive Officer, for Classic Broadcasting, shared his views and said, “content diversity is a big challenge for the media industry in Pakistan, whereas regional mediums have been sidelined by the mainstream media due to lack of vision by the industry players”. He further said, “the platform economy has opened new vistas of opportunities for international content market. This will create new writers, artists, and entrepreneurs in the coming days, contributing to the prosperity of the people and the correcting the true image of Pakistan globally.

Amir Jahangir, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer for RINSTRA said, “We are proud to partner with Classic Broadcasting to create this opportunity for storytellers in Pashto. This offers a huge opportunity for the film and drama makers, musicians, current affairs, and sports content enthusiasts. He further said, “the Pushtun culture offers rich content formation opportunities. The RINSTRA platform offers global access to the content creators and they can share Pashto content across the globe, including Pushtun diaspora in the Middle East, Europe, North America and beyond.

The poor quality and unrealistic plot have presented a side of Pukhtun culture which is dissonant with the one which many Pukhtuns want to present to the world. Women are objectified and men own both the gun and the girl, a draw for the youth who do have not many avenues for entertainment. With “GUDAI” RINSTRA and Classic Broadcasting will push the industry for better storytelling and production quality to revive the Pashto film and drama industry, especially for the platform economy.

Classic Broadcasting (Pvt.) Limited has wide range of expertise including news and documentary production to satellite uplink, playout and video streaming. For over 12 years, Classic Broadcasting has stood at the forefront of International News and Documentary Production for platforms including Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CGTN, Phoenix TV and more.

RINSTRA is Pakistan’s first short-form digital media platform for on-demand streaming and for creation of user generated original content on iRINSTRA. Pakistan’s first digital platform, RINSTRA provides entrepreneurship opportunities to emerging and established content creators and film makers in Pakistan and beyond. RINSTRA gives content creators access to a large Pakistani community around the globe.

RINSTRA Technologies is registered in Pakistan as a limited by liability company under the companies ordinance 2017 of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The leadership and management of RINSTRA represents key media professionals in Pakistan, Middle East, Europe and the North Americas. RINSTRA has been incubated by DICE CAM (Creative Art & Media) Platform of DICE Foundation since February 2020 and is scheduled for global launch in December this year.

You can start exploring RINSTRA and the creative content from Pakistan today at www.rinstra.com or App Store and Google Play Store.

[lukckmervilthings-blog]

(LUKCK MERVIL)

[clairebeauchampfan]

The Hazara are a minority ethnic group in Afghanistan of Mongolian extraction who mostly live in the central mountain belt and who have long been oppressed by the majority Pashtun people, who make up the bulk of the Taliban. The discrimination is on racist and religious grounds, the Hazara being Shias and the Pushtun being mostly Sunnis. Other minorities include Tajiks, Uzbeks and Aimaqs.

Weeping for the girls of Afghanistan. What future do they have?

(Before any dumbass says she doesn’t look like an Afghani, I would say from her appearance  she is/was a Hazara, one of the ethnic and linguistic  sub-divisions of Afghanistan (and Iran) who have East Asian features). You’ll all remember the National Geographic cover girl, with the green eyes

[aftaabmagazine]

Majrouh’s Translated Landays

[caption: “Kochi Girl” by Biz Rasam ]

"Majrouh invoked the region of his childhood, near the Kunar River between Jalalabad and Nuristan. He endlessly insisted on the violence of life, the debts of honor, the vendettas, and the suffering of women. It was the first time he spoke the word لنډۍ 'landay.' Together with his sister, he collected these very short songs from the valleys."   — Andre Velter, from the afterword from "The Midnight Guide"  originally written in French.

The renowned author Sayd Bahodine Majrouh’s translated into French a number of landays— traditional single couplets sung by Pushtun women.  These are a few of the English translated versions from “Songs of Love and War: Afghan Women’s Poetry.”

I have made myself beautiful in my worn clothes, Like a flowering garden in a devastated village.

Now mountains are separating us, Birds alone will be our messengers and harbingers their songs.

My friend, which of these two to choose? Mourning and exile arrived at my door together.

Come onto my pathway one more time, Your footprints are already fading in the dust.

Pick the flowers by the handful, I am a garden that knows that it belongs to you.

If you sleep you will have nothing but dust, I belong to those who all night long watch over me.