Re: Another attempt at NWFP name change..
LastOfTheDinosaurs:
Let me give correct the figures.
Pashtun population of NWFP= 16 Millions
FATA=4 Millions
Karachi=1.1 Millions
Punjab=0.7 Millions
Interior Sindh=0.1 Millions
Baluchistan= 2.3 Millions
Moreover, the largest Pashtun City is Peshawar, where Pashtun Culture
prevails and which is home to about 1.2 Million Pashtuns. Moreover,
presenting Karachi as a proof of Pashtuns intergration into Pakistan is
holds no ground because, in Karachi they are a minority with no
economic, cultural, or political significance. Calling Karachi the
largest Pashtun is either non-sensical or aimed at misleading. Further,
these are not diasporas that decide the fate of nations but the
mainland people.
There are also more Muslim in Hindustan than in Pakistan.
Hindku-speakers are our brothers linked to us by ethnicity, culture,
geography, and shared interests. A lot of intermarriages are occuring
between them and Pashtuns and they are fastly being integrated into
Pashtun Culture, especially those of Kohat, Peshawar, and D.I. Khan. A
friend who recently visited India in a “Pakistan wafad” told me that
there was a special sense of affinity and shared identity among
Pashtuns and Hindku-speakers in India. And most of the Hindku speakers
are now either Pashto speakers or bi-lingual. Similarly, the Kohistani
speakers are also being fastly assimilated by Pashtuns. In the same way
people of Chitral and Pashtuns have a shared destiny because we
Pashtuns are their ONLY OUTLET to the south and they are our outlet to
the north.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t have respect for the culture and
languages of these communities. Their cultures must be preserved at all
costs but my point is, we have a shared destiney and they are as much
Pashtuns as others.
As for Afghanistan I cannot comment about Hazars and Uzbaks but Tajiks
and Pashtuns have lived together for millinia intermarrying and
accepting cultural influences from each other. Interestingly there are
more Tajiks in Afghanistan (about 7 millions) than in Tajakistan (5.3
millions). Today the biggest city of Tajiks is not Dushambe (pop. about
0.45 millions) north of Hindukush but Kabul (1.5 millions) south of
Hindkush, where Dari is prevalent and where they live together with
Pashtuns. There is a strong desire amongst Tajiks of Tajakistan to
look more towards the south than the north and to throw the yalk of
Russian domination off their necks.
There are a large number of Tajaks now Pashto speakers or bilingual and
there are a large number of Pashtuns that now Dari speakers or
bilingual. So is also true of Pashai and Nuristani people of
Afghanistan who are fastly becoming integrated with Pashtun people. In
short, the northerners ( the Dardic Pashais, Nuristanis, Chitralis, and
Hindku speakers) and north-westerners (Tajaks, Pashtuns) have a lot of
common ground to feel to be associated with each other.
Your figures seem off, but anyway, you put too much faith in other ethnicties love for Pashtuns, where none exists. I know what many Chitralis, Balochs, Hindukwans, Tajiks, and Hazaras have to say about Pashtuns. Its something I would not repeat.