Pakistan and Afghanistan are currently the farthest they’ve been in very long. But there was a time when both countries were moving in the opposite direction.

When rumours began of Pakistan and Afghanistan forming a single state in the 50s. (🧵) Since the independence of Pakistan in 1947 the country had only seen a turbulent relationship with Afghanistan either due to Afghan irredentism or its own policy towards handling the frontier that Afghanistan was very interested in.

Then a shift took place in the early 50s.

There’s an Olive Tree in Pakistan which was brought from Palestine over a 150 years ago and planted here.

A tree planted by a Christian missionary which for over a century grew in complete silence till it was discovered a few years ago.

This is the story of that tree. (🧵) When the British first arrived in Punjab and its adjoining Trans Indus areas (later a part of NWFP), many amongst the officer class supported evangelism in the regions.

Various Christian missionaries wandered the rugged frontier in hopes of spreading Christianity.

It was the summer of 1919. As the Afghan forces clashed with the British in what became the third Anglo-Afghan war, a new front opened in the tallest portion of the Hindu Kush mountains.

Afghanistan and Chitral were about to collide. It was time for the battle of Birkot. (🧵) When the Third Anglo-Afghan war began the Afghan emir had asked Chitral’s mehtar to expel the British and join the cause. The ample rejection of this advice was followed by a series of Afghan raids and Chitrali counter raids into the bordering regions of both sides.

The Shalwar Kameez is Pakistan’s national attire and a dress now worn throughout the country.

But it only became this popular in the past century.

So what did our ancestors wear before the Shalwar Kameez?

A collection of unique attires. (🧵) The fashion of loose trousers combined with tunic like shirts arrived in our region in continuous waves from Central Asia starting with the Kushans two millennia ago

Over the course of time small local variants of this combination arose in various parts of today’s Pakistan.

In early 1915 a group of Afridi soldiers fighting on the western front defected to the German side.

Their exit was the cause of much talk, gossips, and questions all of which culminated with the spreading of the ultimate rumour:

Kaiser Wilhelm II had accepted Islam. (🧵) Mir Dast Afridi was a sepoy in the British Indian army posted in France. His quick thinking and courage during the 2nd battle of Ypres won him much fame and a Victoria cross from the empire.

Only Mir Dast had a brother in the same army. Who took a very different route.

It is quite surprising how Pakistan is the only country that doesn’t recognise Armenia as a state yet Armenians have had a vast presence in our regions for hundreds of years. Armenians travelled, traded, and settled across South Asia.

Old Lahore had an entire Armenian quarter. Armenian merchants must’ve started arriving in South Asia earlier but it was around the beginning of the 17th century where we learn of a thriving Armenian quarter in Lahore and of Armenians openly practicing their faith in the city, most probably owing to Akbar’s policies.

When the ancient Greeks ruled over much of what is today Pakistan, their states functioned on a currency of silver coins known as the ‘Drachmas’.

Thousands of years later in Pakistan’s extreme northwest the word for silver in the Khowar language is still ‘Drokhum’. The Greeks initially entered the Indus Basin through Alexander the Great’s expeditions along the Indus in 327 CE. Alexander left behind various provinces and governors almost all of whom were swiftly removed by the locals as Alexander exited and Greek authority was challenged.

In the early 50s an American couple trekking in Chinese Turkestan accidentally arrived to the rather untouched region of Hunza in the Karakoram mountains.

The couple couldn’t help but feel like they had accidentally discovered the lost fabled Himalayan kingdom of Shangri-La. The interesting thing is that the region is, after all, slightly connected to the tale. The origin of the Shangri-La tale comes from a 1933 Novel about a group of people in British India who are sent to Peshawar to be evacuated as a revolution grips the British colony.

Perching on a small hill in Mardan district is one of the most magnificent archaeological sites of Pakistan.

One of the regions largest ancient Buddhist monasterial complex, allow me to take you to Takht-i-Bahi - The Throne of the Water Spring. (🧵) Takht-i-Bahi is a Gandhāran monasterial complex that first began construction around 1 CE, during the reign of king Gondophares of the Indo-Parthian kingdom.

The king, ever famous due to his connection to St. Thomas, oversaw various Buddhist constructions in his era.

It was the year 1946. Matters had never been as grave in British India as this. Congress, one of the two major parties, ruled in most provinces including the unruly NWFP.

Its leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to visit the province but a disaster awaited him in the frontier. (🧵) The years leading up to independence were extremely volatile and anxious. In the ‘46 elections congress won most seats in various provinces which included NWFP owing to the popularity of congress’ ally Bacha Khan - The frontier Gandhi and his brother Dr. Khan Sahib.

Lesser Known Fact:

The 1857 war of independence is a famous event in Pakistan, though it saw little support here as compared to northern India.

However, there was another uprising 40 years later when the frontier rose up in arms against the British. The uprisings of 1897. (🧵) The revolt of 1897 was a series of uprisings against the British colonial forces by Pashtun tribes, which spread over parts of today’s Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. The uprisings lasted for a year & led to some of the most strenuous British expeditions in the north west.

Lesser Known Fact:

In the year 1894, an American artist journeyed through the vast land of Punjab.

As he arrived in Lahore he found in front of him a magnificent city bustling with life, a city which he tried to capture through his pencil.

Thread (🧵) 1/n Edwin Lord Weeks was an artist from Boston who spent the greater part of his life travelling around the world and capturing various scenes through his work. He was one of the finest artists to capture the essence of the orient for Americans.

Here are his works in Lahore.

Trucks covered in exquisite decorations is a very common sight in Pakistan. It is a dominant part of the country’s identity.

But how exactly did this explosion of colours, designs and motifs ever make it to our vehicles?

Thread on Pakistani Truck art and it’s origins (🧵). Pakistani truck art is an art form for the decoration of vehicles that developed in Pakistan during the initial decades following independence.

The style involves a riot of colours, images, illustrations, motifs, traditional designs, glass work, wood and metalworks, & more.

Lesser Known Fact:

The mountains of northern Pakistan are home to extremely rich traditions of mythical creatures.

Of these the most notorious are tales of the fire breathing dragons who wreaked havoc on the natives of the north.

Thread on Dragon folklore in North Pak. 1/n For centuries, the people of northern Pakistan, specifically the Khos (Chitralis/Khowar speakers), have known creatures of sheer terror who used to inhabit lakes and terrorise their areas. These dastardly creatures were known by the name of ‘Nahang’!