Vibrancy of Pashtuns always neglected in history books

Islamabad:The vibrancy of Pashtun past has always remained a neglected area in the history books, as most of these books were written by outsiders and lack perspective from the locals.

These views were shared by Dr. Robert Nichol, American historian and author of two books on Pashtun nation in a lecture titled ‘Fact, Narrative and True Histories: Presenting the Pashtun Past.’ The lecture was organised by the Pakistan-US Alumni.

Dr. Nichol is a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of South Asia Regional Studies. He has learned Persian, Pashtu and Urdu and read widely in the literature of his period in these languages as well as thoroughly investigating British archival material in Peshawar, Lahore, New Delhi and London.

He said that available material on the history of Pashtuns has presented a distorted picture of the nation that is actually rich in culture, language, literature and agriculture. He said that Peshawar Valley has always been connected to all the regions in Asia and was the route of great conquerors. “The history written at that time was narrated according to the perspective of those who came to rule these areas,” said Dr. Nichol.

He said that Pashtun populations of today’s Pakistan and the Peshawar region have always participated within the great historical flows of wider inter-regional and world history. “This area has never been an isolated place of isolated people. Participation in these flows, in turn, has meant that Pashtun identity has not been of an unchanging, primordial character,” he said.

Nichol described how two centuries of agricultural migration into northern India meant that a Pashtun community of around one hundred thousand was already present when the British began asserting hegemony over the area in the late eighteenth century. “Historically, the Pashtun population has circulated within and outside the region to seek opportunities.” He said that almost half of the labour from Pakistan in the Gulf region is Pashtun. “These Pashtuns are contributing millions of rupees in the Pakistan’s economy in the form of remittances,” he said after a certain period, these migrants come back to their native towns, which in turn contribute in the uplift of these areas.

Nichols believed that recent public opinion has not viewed the Pashtuns kindly. Residing primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Pashtuns have gained notoriety in the west through their association with al-Qaeda and Taliban. Nevertheless, Nichols believes that the Pashtuns have for centuries been anything, but a hidebound, insular community.The news.