Bacha Khan, a Forgotten Pashtun Leader

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Written by Spogmay Waziri Kakar

The only great leader whose name stands out in the history of Pashtuns is Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as ‘Bacha Khan’, ‘Fakhr-e-Afghan’, and the ‘Frontier Ghandi’. Many Pashtuns observed his 26^th death anniversary on January 20^th–a day that coincided with Martin Luther King (MLK), Jr. Day. In the United States, this is a designated holiday to commemorate and celebrate the contributions of the civil rights champion who fought for the rights of African Americans. A social and political reformer, and a spiritual leader, Bacha Khan was an independence activist known for his non-violent opposition to British India. Both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bacha Khan foughtagainst injustice and inequality through non-violent means, initiating non-violent movements, for their people in their respective regions. But while MLK’s struggles and speeches are kept alive in America 46 years after his death, ironically, Bacha Khan is turning into a forgotten hero in his own land and among the people he spent his entire life struggling for—the Pashtuns.

While Pashtuns are generally highlighted in the history as aggressive people, individuals like Bacha Khan are rarely mentioned. Bacha Khan was a champion of non-violent resistance to injustice and inequality, similar to Mahatama Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. However, today, Bacha Khan’s name is not included in the group of these non-violent resistance gurus. Bacha Khan and Gandhi were close friends, and they both shared similar philosophies and ideas. They both fought against injustice. While Gandhi is a household name and an international icon, Bacha Khan’s contributions are rarely acknowledged.

While Pashtuns on both sides of the border were quick to respond to Nelson Mandela’s death on social media, they were quiet on the death anniversary of Bacha Khan. When Americans marked the 50^th anniversary of MLK’s famous “I have a dream” speech, many Pashtuns wrote about him and his famous quotes were circulated widely on different social media networks. Some of his famous sayings were even translated into Pashto on social media platforms. However, very few people shared Bacha Khan’s quotes.

Will Bacha Khan turn into a fictional character who will only be remembered in stories of those who knew him? Will the future Pashtun generations not know the great Pashtun leader they once had?

To understand why Bacha Khan is turning into a forgotten leader, it is important to know the history of the region he belonged to. In 1946, when the Indian congress accepted the British partition plan, the Khudai Khidmatgar (“Servants of God”), the Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement led by Bacha Khan, demanded inclusion of an option to establish an independent state of Pashtunistan. Yet, in August 1947, only India and Pakistan emerged from the British Indian Empire. Bacha Khan felt betrayed because he wasn’t consulted about the partition plan, which he opposed along religious lines. While Gandhi’s legacy was carried on by his people in his country, Bacha Khan, however, was left stateless, sandwiched between Pakistan on one side and Afghanistan on the other. Since Pashtuns live on both sides of the contentious border, Durand Line, Bacha Khan was forgotten due to the political policies of both countries.

The truth is that Bacha Khan was a stateless leader and a stateless leader is not recognized as a citizen by any country, let alone as a leader. It is the people within a country that make a great leader into a hero and carry on his legacy so that future generations can learn from him. Every single child in India knows about Mahatma Gandhi, just as every child in America knows about Martin Luther King, Jr. Bacha Khan carried out similar struggles against British India and played a critical role in the history of Pashtuns, but he is not mentioned in history books of the region he lived in.

Bacha Khan spent many years in prison first under the British rule as a result of his struggles against their injustices. Later, he spent many years in prison in Pakistan, where he was treated worse than he was in the British-owned prisons. In the early years, it was his educational activities that caught the attention of British who tried to prevent him. He knew education was the key to change the Pashtuns. He was imprisoned and ill-treated but still preached peace and harmony.

Since Bacha Khan was against the partition plan, he is generally viewed in Pakistan as an unpatriotic leader. He, however, changed his stance after the creation of Pakistan and fought against those who deprived Pashtuns from their rights. There was a push in Pakistan after its independence from British India to promote patriotism and any leader who didn’t fit their narrow definition of patriotism was left out, and Bacha Khan was one of them. Pakistan excluded any leader from the history curriculums who was associated with Pashtun nationalism because it feared that a rise in Pashtun nationalism could mean losing a part of the Pakistani land to Afghanistan since the Durand Line cut the Pashtun population in half and no Pashtun leader has officially recognized this border.

On the Afghan side, Bacha Khan is viewed as an outsider among non-Pashtuns. While he was highly respected during the communist regime in Kabul, he was forgotten during King Zahir Shah’s reign and then during the mujahidin and the Taliban era. Bacha Khan is not included in Afghan history books either because many other ethnicities fear it could promote Pashtun nationalism; this is because there is a push on the Afghan side as well to promote national unity among different ethnicities.

Bacha Khan always felt connected to his Pashtun population, no matter which side of the border they lived on. It was his will to be buried in Afghanistan, where he made several visits during his lifetime. Bacha Khan’s non-violent resistance movement offers a lot for Pashtuns to learn from. He suffered brutally in the hands of injustice, but he persevered and remained true to his principles and struggles.

The quotes, speeches, and civil rights struggles of MLK, Jr. and Ghandhi are taught in schools and colleges throughout their countries and abroad, and they are part of the history of their countries. Unfortunately, not even a small chapter is dedicated to Bacha Khan in either Pakistan or Afghanistan—where Pashtuns live. I attended an Afghan school from K-12 and not a single time were we taught about this great Pashtun leader. Instead, we were taught about many Arab heroes, who fought and conquered lands.

Bacha Khan was a man years ahead of his time who thought creating a Pakistan along religious lines might turn out to be problematic and who thought the only way for Pashtuns to succeed was through education. Bacha Khan continued his struggles to his last day through non-violent means. Just as Americans have a day to commemorate MLK, Jr. or Indians have many days to honor Gandhi, Bacha Khan needs to be remembered and honored for many things: for the many years of his life behind bars and still continuing to be non-violent and for all the sacrifices he endured and never turned to violence.

Source: http://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/political/406-bacha-khan-a-forgotten-pashtun-leader

Stereotyping Pakhtuns

 

Written by N Yousufzai

The lady holding my résumé looked at my attire or perhaps at me from head to toe –she spent a few more minutes on my résumé and then surprisingly asked, “Are you sure – you are a Pakhtun?” I smiled and nodded. She asked me the same question a few more times before she started my job interview. After the interview, she announced: “we are pleased to offer you the job.” Then the charming lady asked me if I wanted to join her on lunch as she was going to cafeteria? I agreed, because I did not want to sound rude on a job interview and secondly, I wanted to know what surprised her on seeing a Pakhtun woman.

Over the lunch, before I could ask anything she started herself that she was from Faisalabad in Punjab, Pakistan, and that she had never met a Pakhtun before. But she had heard a thousand “terrible stories” about the Pakhtuns. Astonished at the word “terrible,” I asked, “Would you mind telling me the details of those terrible stories?” She smiled and said, “Don’t take me wrong but I have always heard that Pakhtun women are not like us, I mean independent and educated, but when my friend referred you for this job, he did not mention your ethnic background but spoke very high of you.”  I was still waiting for the terrible stories she had heard. She continued: “So Pashtun are very rigid people, they kill their woman if they refuse anything against the will of their male?”

She looked at me for confirmation, or at least for a reply. I told her I did not want to say much but some of my female cousins and I had been abroad for education on our own.

Obviously that wasn’t the first time I have left people astonished after telling them that I am a Pakhtun and studying abroad on my own. The image that Pakhtuns have in parts of Pakistan and in neighboring countries—even abroad—is not positive. Besides being considered rigid and callous, we are also labeled as foolish, who out of their foolishness are too much hospitable and trusting.

Pakhtun- best part of the “comedy business”

There has been a sustained campaign against the Pakhtuns stereotyping them in the representational media such as television dramas, advertisements, and entertainment programs. Now, the stereotypes have become so deep-rooted that the young generation is taking it as given. The example of such stereotyping piece of work was recently witnessed in the advertisement of a popular Pakistani mobile network U-fone. I was surprised to know that the artists who directed and performed in the ad were all graduates of one of the top art schools of Pakistan, National College of the Arts (NCA).  Also, some of the most popular comedians such as Omar Sharif and Shakil are famous for cracking up audience with their “Pathan” and  “Khans” jokes. Bushra Ansari, the famous TV artist, who currently is a judge in a talent show Pakistani Idol, said in her remarks about Peshawar, “I know a little bit of Pashto too: topak zama qanoon (gun is my law).

Same comments but from a different ethnicity make a difference?

Famous celebrity Junaid Jamshed’s misogynist comments did not make any headline when he in a popular morning show on TV suggested that a wise man would never let his wife drive. The notorious politician Sheikh Rashid commented on a question regarding marriage, “why to bother buying a cow when milk is available for free in the market!” In their case, their ethnicity was never even mentioned, while in the case of cricket star Shahid Afridi's misogynist comments, his Pakhtun ethnicity stood out more than his words. His comments went viral and every second person on social media linked his words to his ethnicity.

Pakistan will own some Pakhtuns and leave others.

We see in media headlines that a “Taliban commander from a "Pashtun tribe" was killed in a drone strike;” in the same bulletin we watch that "a Pakistani girl", Malala Yousufzai,has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But the one who died a violent death after a bloody stint in terrorism is lionized, while the schoolgirl who stood against extremism and terrorism is demonized. This is so because a violent and uncouth Hakimullah Masud fits in the stereotyped image of his tribe is acceptable, but a remarkable Malala, who defies the deep-rooted negative characteristics associated with Pakhtuns, is vilified as the ‘Other.’

Your Urdu accent is “hilarious”

Last but not the least, our accent is constantly targeted as well. Our Pashto-ish Urdu is copied and laughed at. First they declared the non-indigenous Urdu, a national language and now they have a problem with my accent because I can’t pronounce the little “h” like they do. For example, it comes out 'Pataan' when I want to say 'Pathan.'-I have even heard people criticizing the well-known journalist Salim Safi for his accent on Geo Television

The racist and sexist jokes irritates me and should irritate everyone, let’s stop being victim of discrimination, raise the awareness and let the harasser know what you feel about it. The stereotypes and harassment has to stop; the media and educated youth of Pakistan will have to take the responsibility and counter any kind of racial harassment and discrimination

Stereotyping is dangerous and it has real life implications. Stereotypes, as well-known cultural theorist Stuart Hall notes, reduce a people to simplified and exaggerated characteristics. Through stereotypes, it is implied that everything that is necessary to know about a people can be known by referring to the traits of the stereotypes. Thus, Shahid Afridi is to be known by the traits associated with his nation or tribe and not by his individual human characteristics. Stereotypes are reductive in nature by declaring: “this is what you are, and this is all you are.”

By stereotyping Pakhtuns as foolhardy and violent, they are denied the attributes of the cultured and the sophisticated. Thus, they become unfit for being taken seriously as a nation that, like any other nation, is equally creative, artistic, and humane. They never get this representation in the Pakistani media, because it does not fit in their stereotyped image. This is how power is exercised to control Pakhtuns through exclusion from the center of power.

source: http://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/social/434-stereotyping-pakhtuns