Re: Is it true about pathans??
Reading about Pashtuns from a bunch of non Pashtuns is always interesting...why don't you guys stick to your own races?
Khaqan Khawaja, if you are a real Khawaja then you should know that the Khawaja Khels are ethnic Pashtuns of the Khattak stock mixed with Arab Sayeds. Kashmiri are a mix of Afghan, Pashtun and original Kashmiri people. The Afghan Empire stretched from far corners of Herat till the far ends of Kashmir. During the 1940’s and 50's thousands of Pashtuns tribesmen were settled there to fight holy war against the Indians at the request of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. After Azad Kashmir was declared many settled there and married, and many came back with wives.
Pashtuns are not Jews, Mongolians, Arabs, Greeks or Iranians. These groups of people after failing to invade the Pashtuns settled down in their areas and over the course of time were assimilated into the Pashtuns just like the Nuristanis, Kafiristani, and Chitralis. The only thing that was left was their verbal stories of their great ancestral origins. The original tribes such as Apreedee (Afridi), Asvazai (Yousafzai), Shattak(Khattak), Shinwari, Bangash, Orakzai and Mangal etc. are present in the Rig Veda. There are tribes by the name of Mangal and Mengal in Balochistan and even in Bangladesh. The Hindus first came to know of their religions from these horsemen who due to their skin complexion and warrior nature became their gods or protectors after they hailed from Khyber on their horses. Check any Hindu history site to confirm. After the mixture of Turks, Persians and Arabs with the Pashtuns the Afghans were born. Later when Afghanistan was declared a nation Afghans were no more just these people the Tajiks (mix Persian, Arab and Turks) Uzbeks (Mix Asian, Russo, Persian) and Hazara (Mix Persian, Mongoloid, Arabs) also took up the name Afghan since they became the citizens of Afghanistan. From there on anyone that came from the Khyber was known as “Pathan” even if that person was not an ethnic Pashtun. The Pathan denotation was first used for Pashtuns, so was Afghans. Though today not all Afghans or Pathans are Pashtuns. Therefore the saying that all Pashtuns are Afghans and Pathans but not all Pathans and Afghans are Pashtuns. The enlightened class of Pashtun doesn’t recognize the “Pathan” denotation. They only recognize Pashtun or ethnic Afghan.
The untouched tribes refer to themselves as “Pakhtuns” rather “Pashtuns”. The term “Pashtun” is a modern and softer tongue, after the Persian influence over the region. The people of Peshawar, Kabul, and Kandahar will refer to themselves as Pashtuns while the people of the tribal areas will call each other Munga/Mu/Munz Pakhtuneh yu.
Now how or what is considered a Pakhtun/Pashtun amongst the eyes of the Pashtuns/Pakhtuns, that in itself is a different story.