This is the synopsis of a documentary which I had in mind some months ago. It might help as a wake up call for the Pashtuns to stand for their rights and better future.
Rokhan
25 June 2011
A Documentary Film on Pashtuns
Purpose:
To make a documentary film which shows the historic glory of Pashtuns across the timeline of history and call for struggle for a better future.
Background:
Music on traditional pashtun music instruments (rabab).
Poetry of Malang
Voice of Abseen Yousafzai or vocalist of the same caliber.
Google World maps to be used to show historical territories.
Pictures of Pashtun historic personalities.
Scenes of Pashtun territories (if possible).
Theme for Script
Start : Pukhtana de tola lass sara yaw kandi…… by Ahmed shah baba
Current Situation : depicting deteriorating situation of Pashtuns as compared to historic glory of Pashtuns
Past Situation: The glorious history and challnging geography of Pashtuns along with their virtues ,values and ethical code called Pakhtunwali
Examples : Pashtun Personalities & dynasties across timeline of history
Analysis : Causes of Rise and Fall
Conclusion : Call for joining /forming a movement for the politico-economic emancipation and intellectual renaissance of Pashtuns
Plan of Action :
- Struggle for the stability and development of Afghanistan
- Struggle for equal rights in governance over the Pashtun land initially and total independence ultimately in Pakistan
- Struggle for the Revival of Pashto and unification of Pashtuns in India
waiting for the documentary...best of lucK :)
ReplyDeletewhy do you want pashtuns to be united with india?
ReplyDeleteyes as an indian I wish you good luck in all endeavors but what i wish is independent pashtoons and independent of everyone in the region
good luck
Hi Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI meant the unifications of Pashtuns "within" India so they are recognised as a nation / ethnic group and hence their language Pashto is given an official status like other ethnic groups and languages. regards Pir Rokhan
hi pir rokhan
ReplyDeletesorry, i misunderstood you earlier. India is divided into various states on the basis of language they speak. for examples, Dravidian speak four language though they are ethnically similar. and generally people are classified according to religion, shia, sunni, ahmeddiya,then wahabi, barelvi, deobandi are all clubbed as muslims and their primary language like urdu and arabic are already having official status. I don't remember any indian speaking pashto except those pashtoons who are in delhi and got political asylum, though I have seen Iranian descendents speaking persian. Persian is also not having official status. incidentally you can write civil services exam and become top bureaucrat with Arabic as a subject. i would like to see pashto in the list as well secondly, pashtoons in india looks more indian than afghan pashtoon. google Irfan pathan, yususf pathan etc.
finally, in india, general term for pashtoon is pathan. and once you utter word pathan it is imagined that all of them are Talibanic terrorist, you people need to seriously mend your image in india.
BTW some of your pashtoons got political asylum in India and have hotels in Lajpat Nagar market in delhi, thanks for those dishes.
regards
J Kumar
Hi Kumar
ReplyDeleteThe fact that no Indian speaks Pashto is the effect and not cause of the govt policy of not granting official status to Pashto like other languages [does not necessarily mean there might be some ethnic bias]. To know more about the Pathans of India just read the link:
http://www.khyber.org/articles/2007/StudyofthePathanCommunitiesinF.shtml
I am sure after reviving their language the "Pathans" of India will convert to “Pashtuns" and would be able to contribute more to the progress of India as is obvious from their history in the subcontinent. [Read for example about Suri Dynasty, Lodhi dynasty etc].
The Taliban and terrorism image about Pashtuns was imported by the Pakistani military and Arabs for their India-centric /strategic depth and wahabist policies respectively. The proof is the fact that Bacha Khan who was a colleague of your Bapoo [Mahatma Gandhi] was a non violent freedom fighter like Gandhi and others. Another example from the south Pakhtunkhwa [now called Baluchistan] is Samad Khan Achakzai who was martyred by the Pakistani establishment in the recent history. Ofcourse I would not mention all those saints who came from Afghanistan - the homeland of Afghans, and spread the word of love and peace.
hi pir rokhan
ReplyDeleteWhat you are planning is very difficult but still possible. My ancestor’s language was Sanskrit, though language is still alive but majority of us generally speak Hindustani, a mixture of hindi and urdu. Sanskrit is now thing of past.
Everyone in india knows about bacha khan, we know him as Abdul Gaffar Khan, frontier Gandhi, recipient of highest civilian award, who unequivocally opposed partition of India, and said to his ideal, MK Gandhi, you have thrown us to dogs, I can’t quantify how much we Indians are responsible for present condition of pashtoons. We should have found out some way for pashtoons then. How are you planning to revert punjabized pashtoon back into pashto speaking? India is place of prophet(pbuh)’s one ummah, in india , majority hindus do not understand muslim politics and muslims are united in india like prophet thought of
I understand Punjabi policy but what about violence between pastoons and my estranged cousins known as muhajirs few days ago in karachi. Video showed gun battle between two groups. And that makes me feel pashtoons are equally responsible for such things. though MQM is party of rogues but ANP proved they are no less
The tragedy is everyone wishes to play their game in Afghanistan, I know india is doing its part by building afghan parliament, already handed over delram-zaranj highway. And other projects are also in pashtoon dominated area. Pashtoons are the major part of Taliban. And Taliban is still stronger than any other group in Af-Pak region. Secondly, are majority of pashtoon sure what they want, pashtoonistan or multi ethnic Afghanistan?
regards
J Kumar
Hi Kumar
ReplyDeleteThe status of Pashto is different from Sanskrit which unfortunately is an obsolete language or may be known only to some Brahmans. Pashto is one of the official and national languages in Afghanistan and is spoken in all four provinces of Pakistan too. Now with ANP coming to power they introduced it in schools as a compulsory subject too.
I agree with the indifference of India towards Pashtuns however the referendum for joining India or Pakistan was boycotted by Khudai Khidmatgar movement also known as Red shirts [lead by Bacha Khan] due to the absence of third option [joining Afghanistan] and hence it was fake and Pashtuns were compelled to join Pakistan. The Pashtunistan movement got its momentum but it was suppressed by the Punjabi dominated establishment in the early decades after the division of India. Now in 1993 the Durand treaty has expired and Afghanistan will use her legal right to claim its territory back from Pakistan according to Int'l law. All nationalists know this for a fact.
The new generation however is indoctrinated by a false version of history in Pakistani schools and they are compelled to chant “Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan” but at the same time get killed by the same bombs as the fruits of military policies in Pashtunland for the last three decades.
The revival of Pashto despite Punjabisation / Urdufication however is getting momentum due to the wave of political consciousness due to media and the intellectuals have also realised it.
Afghanistan has always been a chess ground of int'l forces but as was pointed out by one of the great poets of South Asia in his Persian poetry: “Afghanistan is the heart of Asia, whatever happens there will get reflected in Asia”. So it is in the best interest of neighboring countries to help rebuild Afghanistan failing which it the control of Afghanistan might fall into the hands of religious fanatics and hence in the control of Pakistan which implies lack of peace due to the undue control of military in Pakistan. It is another story that Pakistan itself is struggling for her survival due to the intrinsic contradiction between the extremist and the secular forces.
Pashto is as obsolete in India as Sanskrit. If referendum had anything beside India and Pakistan then probably more countries would have formed. Regarding later life of Baccha Khan it is well known in India, Even ANP is his party. Now Imran Khan, another pashtoon is hot favourite of pakistan and may even win next election. then it is possible that even ANP might think of remaining in Pakistan, I think both Ayub and Yahya were pashtoons only but their policy towards Indians are well known, I even doubt if Imran's rise would change anything in the region, Pak military's most powerful genrals were pashtoons:)
Deleteregards
J Kumar
Regarding ANP, MQM , PPP clashes ,one should know that this clash is a conspiracy of the establishment to keep both these parties engaged as they pose a genuine threat by virtue of their mandate to the hegemonial designs and exploitation of Sindhi-Pashtun resources by the Punjabi dominated establishment in Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteKarachi was muhajir dominated city, arrivals of pashtoons has shifted demographic balance and muhajirs don't want to lose power in Karachi, hence the killings. Even Balochs are in rebellion and fear the migration of Pashtoons would soon overpopulate their region.
DeleteJ Kuma
The relation between Pashtunistan and Multi -ethnic Afghanistan is not of "either-or" but is of "and" due to political realities prevalent in the region. In other words Pashtunistan and Multi-ethnic Afghanistan are not mutually exclusive but are two evolutionary stages of the same reality.
ReplyDeleteSo Pashtoons would take side of the concept which, in future, they find more stable and lucrative. In case pashtoonistan becomes reality, what about other regions?
DeleteI personally don't like to see pakistan divided further though
An idea for a documentary on Pukhtuns? Nu pakhpala pe kaar shoro kana, sa la isaar ye?! You can write the script for it, and I (a female!) will narrate it :) Very simple.
ReplyDeleteI'll be waiting for the script.
Mananana.
wa da zra sara kha da 6 da poktoo da para soak paida sho gene mung pokhtana kho mra shawe yoo
ReplyDeleteAllah di sta mal she