The Pashtun nationalist movements have a rich history in this region but this will focus on the period from British rule to 2024 only. During the British colonial era, Pashtuns were often portrayed negatively as fierce warriors. Due to poor relations with Pashtuns, British writers frequently used the term "Pashtun" in a negative light, sometimes interchangeably with terms like violence, fanaticism, and a community with oppressed women. Many British colonial writers were simply racist products of the British military expeditions.
The British separation of Pashtuns made them a minority in the subcontinent, and the negative image propagated by these writers led to Pashtuns being treated as second-class citizens. This image persisted due to the lack of Pashtun voices in academia, forcing many to rely on the biased writings of these British authors for their research on Pashtuns.
Time passed with this skewed perception of Pashtuns until the great leader, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan), launched the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement (KKM) in 1929. The KKM was a non-violent protest against colonial rule in Pashtun areas of the subcontinent. It is said to be the longest civil disobedience movement against imperialists globally. The KKM aimed to bring social reforms and uplift the status of Pashtuns in Indian society, focusing on male and female education and freedom from British rule.
The KKM played a crucial role in Pashtun history, marking the first time Bacha Khan led Pashtuns in a non-violent struggle against British rule, challenging their portrayal as fanatics and warriors. The movement became more politically active after the Qissa Khwani Bazaar Massacre, where British troops fired on unarmed Khudai Khidmatgars, killing hundreds. Despite its non-violent stance, the KKM and its leaders continue to face criticism from some Westerners who still misrepresent Bacha Khan as a fanatic tribesman.
After 1947, Pakistani leadership adopted a similar stance, viewing Bacha Khan as a traitor due to his alliance with the National Congress. The movement was banned, and many members were jailed or suppressed by the Muslim League-led government. Despite pledging allegiance to Pakistan, Bacha Khan and his followers faced repression and internal colonialism. They continued to question Pakistan's military-religious establishment, leading to accusations of being Kafirs and traitors, reminiscent of colonial times when British and religious elders formed "Anjuman Asfiya" to label Bacha Khan as a "Kafir."
Bacha Khan had to prove his ideology's compatibility with Islam. The struggle of Bacha Khan and the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement continued through structures like NAP and ANP, with his son, Wali Khan, maintaining the legacy.
The dynamics around the Pashtun belt took another twist with the Afghan-Soviet War. The Taliban movement was initially perceived as a Pashtun movement in Afghanistan, intertwining the identities of Pashtun and Taliban. This overlap was manipulated by the Pakistan Military-Establishment to fulfill their regional aspirations. Despite this, Talibanization never aligned with Pashtunwali, as Fredrik Barth noted, "in terms of Pashtun culture, Talibanization is obscenity." However, it was presented as the latest form of Pashtun nationalism, often confused with Pan-Islamism.
The Taliban era in Pashtun history is significant and complex, deserving more than a brief summary. After the 9/11 attacks, NATO forces, led by the U.S., invaded Afghanistan, pushing the Taliban into the buffer region of FATA, considered safe havens at the time. Over the years, the Taliban were categorized into Good Taliban, Bad Taliban, and Foreign Militants. Each group disrupted the FATA region, though some Aman-Lashkars successfully defended their tribes.
The Pakistani military launched operations in FATA against Bad Taliban and Foreign Militants while supporting Good Taliban, such as the Haqqanis. The role of Pakistani Islamic parties during this period was highly questionable. The Taliban chapter brought immense suffering to the Pashtuns, reinforcing negative stereotypes like those propagated by British colonial writers. Even by 2024, Pashtuns are still labeled as weird, fanatics, violent, sympathizers of the Taliban, and potential terrorists, despite the efforts of Bacha Khan, his comrades, and the KKM.
The Taliban issue complicated Pashtun nationalism, with Pashtuns sometimes labeled as violent by the British, then observing the longest non-violent civil disobedience movement in history, and later being labeled as potential world terrorists. During the Talibanization and military operations, a vacuum in Pashtun nationalism emerged. In 2014, a young group of students led by Manzoor Pashteen launched the Mehsud Tahaffuz Movement (MTM). Initially, Pashteen led a small group advocating for the rights of the Mehsud tribe, focusing on removing landmines and securing basic rights, as the TTP leadership was predominantly from the Mehsud tribe.
The movement took a significant turn with the police encounter of Naqeeb Ullah Mehsud, transforming the MTM into the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). By 2018, the PTM led numerous large protests and sit-ins in the capital, gaining deserved popularity. In an environment where the Taliban were still sheltered in FATA and Pashtuns were labeled as potential world terrorists, the PTM, a non-violent movement, successfully provided a counter-narrative. A video of a young Manzoor Pashteen can still be found online, where he states in English, "We will show to the world that we (Pashtuns) are peaceful people."
The PTM was distinct as it was initiated by the people of FATA, who were previously labeled as politically unaware. It was started by young students, which is unusual since the opinion of elders typically holds sway in the Tribal belt. It wasn't controlled by a formal structure. The popularity of Manzoor Pashteen and the PTM in 2018 helped them gain the support of the educated class of Pashtuns on social media. Manzoor Pashteen voiced criticisms against the Military-Establishment that no political party had dared to, despite all parties suffering under them at different times. Alongside Mohsin Dawar, Ali Wazir, and other comrades, Pashteen conducted numerous large gatherings throughout KPK.
The state's response to PTM was harsh, imposing a blackout from electronic media and labeling them as foreign agents and traitors. This mirrors the early days of Pakistan when Bacha Khan was labeled a traitor, despite both movements being non-violent and demanding human rights, justice, and freedom. In 2018, PTM's demands included finding and punishing those involved in Naqeeb's killing, establishing a committee to evaluate extrajudicial killings and fake encounters, taking missing persons' cases to the Court of Pakistan, ending forced disappearances, clearing landmines in Waziristan, and stopping the systematic suspicion of local people as militants.
The state's harsh response to PTM stemmed from the movement questioning the unquestionable in Pakistan. The Military-Establishment labeled Manzoor Pashteen as a foreign agent funded by India and the Afghan government. PTM was always viewed with suspicion by the state. To weaken the movement, there were constant arrests of PTM leaders and sometimes the killing of key members. Ali Wazir, a PTM leader, was repeatedly arrested despite being a Member of the National Assembly.
After being blacklisted from electronic media, social media became a crucial tool for PTM's campaign. Research on PTM's social media presence found that 80% of their tweets were unique, and 30% were in English. Social media significantly helped the movement survive and progress despite the media blackout. PTM continued its struggle for Pashtun rights on the mainstream since 2018. They also held many peace marches against the new wave of Talibanization with the Awami National Party in different regions of KPK since 2022. This led to organizing a grand Pashtun Jirga on October 11 in Khyber, which holds significant importance in Pashtun nationalism.
The state took harsh measures to stop the event, including firing on unarmed people and banning the "Non-Violent, Peaceful" PTM as an anti-state and terrorist organization. Many key people were abducted from every district. Despite these harsh measures, the state failed to stop the energetic, peaceful Pashtuns from their National Jirga. The state even threatened to block the IDs and passports of everyone who attended the Jirga, to which Iftikhar Hussain responded on the first day of the Jirga, "What if we stop asking for ID and Passport from Pakistan?"
Looking back from the British Colonial Period to 2024, one can see a cycle of Pashtuns being represented as "Violent" to "Non-Violent." During the British period, Pashtuns were considered violent fanatics. Then Bacha Khan launched the peaceful and non-violent KKM, countering the previous narrative. Talibanization was installed in the Pashtun Belt by various players, again labeling Pashtuns as violent and potential terrorists. However, this terrorist narrative was countered by the peaceful movement of Manzoor Pashteen. One constant in this cycle of violent and non-violent is the suffering of Pashtuns.
The role of religious parties and leaders is peculiar. They opposed the Khudai Khidmatgar (Non-Violent) Movement, supported Talibanization, and countered the nationalism ideology to counter the peaceful and non-violent PTM. Another point to ponder is that "Violent" things were installed, but "Non-Violent" movements were initiated by the Pashtuns themselves.
-Sharjil Hakim
The writer is a third-semester student at Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar.
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