State of Pakhtun nationalism

By Nasser Yousaf in The Dawn, July 22
The list of most-wanted persons carrying head money of millions of rupees could not have been more telling. Consisting of titles like ‘Qari,’ ‘Hafiz,’ ‘Mullah,’ ‘Maulana,’ ‘Mufti,’ the list reads like an ecclesiastical hierarchical map.
It was the NWFP government that took the initiative by coming up with the list with a maximum head money of Rs5m for the insurgent-in-chief of Swat. It would not do, the Government of Pakistan subsequently decreed, as it enhanced the scalp price manifold to match the magnitude of the gruesome cruelty unleashed by those included in the list. But with titles one holier than the other it is the spiritual aspect of the list that overweighs its enticing materialist value and thus merits greater attention.
There is little doubt that the ongoing spate of unrest in Pakhtunkhwa carries distinguishing and indeed ineffaceable marks of religious makings. But this is an argument that the apologists pooh-pooh as they are observed tirelessly trying to portray the operation against the militants as an international conspiracy against the Pakhtuns. And who really are those apologists who are taking recourse to crass analogies and outdated references to paint this relentless reign of terror let loose by the terrorists as having a great deal to do with Pakhtun renaissance? Such bizarre arguments only help strengthen conjectures.
The militants fighting throughout the length and breadth of the northwest are not doing so for the fun of it. Their level of resistance indicates the hard work that has, over the years, gone into the building of war machinery worthy of envy. Of course, such a piece of machinery would have malfunctioned without efficient ‘mouths’ oiling it day in and day out. If such ‘mouths’ are to be believed then Pakhtun nationalism has indeed undergone a metamorphosis and like Kafka’s gigantic pest is now stuck to the wall, refusing to fade until it dies of hunger and disease. But how can it die if so many hands and mouths are feeding and nourishing it?
Kafka’s Metamorphosis is not an easy story to read as it pitilessly suffocates its readers as does the current chapter in Pakhtun history. Gregor, Kafka’s lead character, was an able-bodied workingman until he saw himself transformed into a gigantic pest. Gregor ultimately perishes of hunger after his family abandons him to his fate. Here an uncanny analogy can be drawn with our present predicament, with some of our men of beautiful brains and bodies having metamorphosed into lingering pests and groomed to survive.
The apologists writing in the country’s mainstream newspapers and talking ad nauseum in numerous talk shows are doing a great disservice to the Pakhtuns by calling the ongoing operation against the militants anti-Pakhtun. They are the last people whom the Pakhtuns would want to be represented by. Pakhtuns are not lunatic warriors seized with fighting and settling all the world’s dirty wars. But where then are the original Pakhtun nationalists and why don’t they stand up? Must they not take the entire blame for refusing to come out of their leaderless little world of platitudes?
Pakhtun nationalism as envisioned, preached and practised by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan is dying and quite ignominiously at that. Unwittingly perhaps, the death pangs of nationalism started with the burial of the red-shirt old patriarch in the then Soviet-occupied Afghanistan.
At that time, some among us saw the event as the flowering of the assiduously planted tree when a tumultuous crowd accompanying the cortege violated the currency of the Durand Line with impunity. But that was not so; Ghaffar Khan’s shabbily constructed tomb in the heart of Jalalabad wore a picture of utter apathy no sooner had the last shovel of earth been thrown on it.
It was then bandied about that the great Khan had willed to be buried in the free land of Afghanistan as opposed to his native village in Charsadda. The veracity of the will was never seriously doubted despite the fact that back home it would deprive the nationalists of a solid platform whereon they could religiously renew their resolve for the pursuance of their objectives. With due respect to his soul and to the lack of foresight of those of his heirs who flaunted the will, its implementation has turned out to be as miscalculated as the nationalists’ love affair with the guilty Soviet occupiers.
Just when three million displaced Pakhtuns and Afghans were looking for solace and support, the nationalists handed them on a platter to a ravenous clergy looking for a constituency. Thus while the zealots feasted on war-induced resources and ploughed deeper into the camps and ranks of the distraught refugees, the nationalists busied themselves with empty sloganeering. It was perhaps precisely at that time in history when religion-based nationalism was mid-wifed; it has now metamorphosed into its most perverted form.
Ghaffar Khan’s nationalism was the most innocuous form of nationalism the world had ever seen. The non-violent struggle waged by the father formed the core theme of his eldest son Ghani Khan’s poetry, as the latter would sing:
‘Jang la dey Mansoor rawan thop o na tufang lari’ or ‘Mansoor (Bacha Khan) is marching to war sans armoury.’
But much water, and that too thick with the blood of innocent Pakhtuns, has since flowed under the Attock bridge.
One vividly recalls how Ghaffar’s politician son Wali Khan would command the respect of the Punjabi intelligentsia and liberals whenever he got an opportunity to speak to them. All that wealth of respect seems to have been buried with the great Khans as one now hears quite unsavoury stuff from the folks across the bridge in the halls and restaurants and on the pavements.
Nationalism identified with ‘Pakhtu’ and ‘Pukhtana’ was a wonderful equation; the one being presently forced down our throats is bitter. One wonders if non-violent Pakhtun nationalism will ever be revived. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/09-state-of-pakhtun-nationalism-szh-03