Thread by @Parikramah

1/n Quick thread on #Afghanistan's indigenous Hindus & the present state of the Pakhtuns. Based on speaking with a Hindu lady who lived and worked there, speaks Dari and Pashto, did several field projects there, & was invited to speak at US State Dept. on security-related issues.

2/n Most Afghan Hindus are indigenous to Afghanistan, in the sense that they are the oldest inhabitants there at this point. There are some who went there from India only a few centuries ago, and are no less "Afghan", but most have been there prior to all others known today.

3/n Some indigenous Afghan Hindus are classified as Tajik & even Uzbek. More educated in today's times, & follow Persianate culture, i.e., they are basically Persian & Turkic Hindus.

But majority of native Afghan Hindus are Pakhta (#Sanskrit Pakta), or Pakhtun/Pashtun...

4/n Further east in the Subcontinent, we mistakenly call Pashtuns "Pathan", probably due to historical confusion with Pathania Rajputs (from around Pathankot, Punjab).

Native Pakhta Hindus are generally less educated, and follow traditional Pakhtunwali - the Pashtun Maryada.

5/n Traditional Pashtun Muslims also obey Pashtunwali over & above Islamic Shari'ah.

Pashtun Muslims usually refer to Pashtun Hindus as "Lala" - completely unrelated to the Punjabi/Hindi word for trader/merchant. Rather, it is Pashto term of respect/affection for older brother.

6/n This is because traditional Pashtun Muslims retain awareness of their Hindu ancestry & so the existence of remaining few Pashtun Hindus is critical for their historical ethnic identity & traits. They consider Pashtun Hindus to embody more ancient & "correct" Pashtun traits.

7/n Folk customs confirm. E.g., if a Pashtun child has a speech defect/delay, they feed him "naan-e-Hindu": naan from the hand of a Hindu Pashtun. Gandhar once produced #Sanskrit scholars, so the idea of correct speech/pronunciation is tied to those who still read that language.

8/n The great #Sanskrit grammarian Panini is supposed to have been from this community, from Salatura, in traditional Pashtun territory, as attested by Xuan Zang's observation of his memorial there. This book gives some details.

9/n In large parts of the northern Subcontinent as well as Iran, areas that had Arabic script imposed deformed the phonetics of the people of those regions. #Sanskrit-based script is essential to preserving the integrity of Sanskrit-based languages. Post-Islam, #Pashto lost that.

10/n Traditional Pashtun calendars are also influenced by lunisolar Hindu calendar. But all this apart, the separate identity & ethnic history of Pashtuns will be lost if they are made to ignore their Hindu past - this is being openly said by prominent Pashtun academics like ...

11/n ...Afghan academics like Prof. Dr. Abdul Khaliq Rashid of Ghazni, currently living in Canada & scholar of Dari & Pashto. Apart from the intrinsic link of the Pashtun identity with ancient Hinduism, intellectuals like him also say this link is being deliberately erased...

12/n Afghan Pashtun intellectuals allege that Islamists & especially Pakistanis, including their "Gul Khans" (Paki Pashtuns brainwashed by the establishment) are deliberately erasing the ancient Hindu history of Pashtuns for several reasons.

13/n These Pashtun intellectuals allege that Anglo-Pakistani propaganda is pushing the idea that nothing is known for certain about Pashtuns before the 13th century CE at the earliest. They are also trying to pass off native Afghan Pashtun Hindus as originally "Punjabis".

14/n By trying to typecast Afghan Hindus as "Punjabi", Pakistan hopes to remove the last strands of Pashtun identity's rootedness in the region, erode Pashtunwali as a separate culture, & make them more malleable. Exporting "Punjabiat" also has geostrategic benefits to the east.

15/n Exporting Punjabiat has same goals as exporting Kashmiriat did last century: make gullible #Kashmiri Hindus feel racially & culturally separate from the rest of Hindus, dilute Indian history of the region, suggest Turko-Iranic roots, & sing peans to syncretism of Islam.

16/n Afghans urge that India recognize Pashtun Hindus. Many Pashtun Hindu refugees in India have historically been forced to dissolve their identity in becoming Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi later & eventually lose their language. Just 1 example:

hindustantimes.com/more-lifestyle…

17/n Typical Islamist method of denying Hindu Pashtun identity is to suggest they are Indian migrants who have been given protection & so adopted the tribal name & language. Complete nonsense. Nowhere in the world do folk customs evolve to call protected guests "older brother".

18/n Dharma has produced the oldest living religion on earth (Vedic Hinduism) & the newest established religion (#Sikhi), with Jainism & Buddhism inbetween. At least 3 of those have had a significant presence in Afghanistan, which Islamists want to erase through Talibanization.

n/n So, it is imp. for all Dharmics to raise awareness of indigenous Pashtun Hindu culture in Afghanistan & reinforce the claim they have on their homeland. Imp. for Afghan Sikhs too, tho majority of them are more recent migrants (as recent as Javed Akhtar's ancestors in India).