Nikhil the Pashtun are not the only ethnic group living in Afghanistan or NWFP province of Pakistan.
I’m sure you know that way before the Pashtun (an Iranian ethnic group) and other Iranian hordes came and plundered present-day Afghanistan and the NWFP province of Pakistan there was an ancient and great civilisation here, it was called Gandhara with present day Peshawar as its capital, Gandhara wasn’t Iranian rather it was Indic and it’s language Gandhari (present day Hindko) is superior yet closely related to Hindi, Punjabi, Pothwari and other North Indian languages and despite being spoken in the same regions as Pashto (an Iranian language) for centuries barely has any resemblance to it.
The ancient Gandhara civilisation was not Pashtun, the Gandhari’s were an Indic people just like neighbouring northern India.
The Gandhari people were once Hindus but King Ashok converted the majority of them to Buddhism, it is said that Gandhari Buddhist monks were the first to set foot on the Americas way before Columbus.
Gandhari/Hindko is probably the oldest language in the world, forget the refined languages of today, this language is what it’s all about, the oldest university (whose ruins are in Taxila) used this language.
Princess Gandhari/Saubaleyi daughter of King Subala and wife of the Indian King Dhrita Rashtra was not a Pashtun/Afghan, rather she was a Hindkowan.
The Iranian ethnic groups such as the Pashtuns, Persians, Tajiks etc. came much later and settled in these lands.
The Kapoor family and the other Hindkowan (Pishori’s etc.) are the real native Gandhari’s. Today the Gandhari’s are none existent in Afghanistan and a minority in Pakistan's NWFP, Kashmir and Punjab scattered in small pockets, not enough importance is being given to their culture, so much so that they don’t even have their language taught in school or even a province of their own. Sadly it's partially their own fault because most of them today and would rather be known as Urdudaan’s and Pashtuns.
To best of my knowledge and practical experience 99.9% are Sindhi Hindus living in Sindh only. I have yet to see Punjabi, Pushto, Balaochi or non-Sindhi hindu in other provinces or even in Sindh province of Pakistan. After 1947 not only large number of Sindhi but also all non-Sindhi Hindus (From Punjab,NWFP) were booted out from Pakistan. That is the unfortunate FACT.
Sindhi and Punjabi belong to Indo-Aryan group. This group had Hinduism as its religion for most of its history. After India was conquered by Muslims, many Arab settlers settled in India mostly in Punjab and Sindh, as for original ethnic groups, many people accepted Islam. At the separation time (1947), almost all Punjabi Hindus and many Sindhi Hindus moved to India. Still some Punjabi Hindus can be found in Punjab.
Now,
Baloch are of Persian descent and they were never found in history to have accepted Hinduism (as of India). So even presently it is almost impossible to find some ethnic Balochi who is a Hindu.
Similarly Pathans were never found to have followed the Hinduism that was followed by Indo-Aryan groups.
It is said that the Pathans(Pustoon or therwise) are a lost Jewish tribe. Their long noses are an example. But long noses are a feature of Kashmiris too. It is said that Jesus went to Paradise. Paradise was a term for Kashmir at that time. It is said that the tomb of both Jesus and Adam is is Kashmir, with inscriptions in Hebrew.
About the Kapoors and other Khatri castes of NWFP and Baluchistan, it is surprising that their features should be sismilar to Pashtoons. Put them in a Salwar and Kurta and you really can't make any difference.
My family belonged to Quetta, in a place called Hindusbaug and we left in 1948. Later the place was called Muslimbaug. Apparently, the calls from the Quad-e-Azam fell on deaf ears and Hindus were no longer safe in Pakistan. What the Muslims felt they would face in a Hindu majority India, they put to action in a Muslim majority Pakistan. But then this has been the story everywhere. Zoroashtrains had to flee Persia and are now a miniscule minority. What Israel fears most from Muslims is that even if they weer to give a Palestine to Palestinians, the main aim of all the neighbours would be to throw the Jews into the sea. Sad but true, Muslims cannot live with any another religion peacefully. And within themselves still there is no peace. Only the greeting "May Peace be Upon You".
The Pashtuns and other Iranian tribes hadn’t come down from Central Asia yet when it was still Hindu/Budhhist.
The Pashtuns/ethnic Afghans were originally Zoroastrians (and a mix of other) and later converted to Buddhism and then Islam.
Don’t be offended I’m a Hindkowal myself.
The donkey wasn’t meant for all Hindkowal just those who are leaving their language to be Pashtuns.
They say my family is of Pashtun descent and I respect Pashtuns but I don’t feel the need to be one myself, it’s so hard and unnecesary to abandon the language one is born into.
Their feautures are not similar to Pathans/Pashtuns but they are usually fair skinned like them, that’s because the Indic and Iranian group are branches of the same family, the Indic group mixed with Dravidians in India but because the Indic Aryans first came through the west they mixed less with Dravidians in those areas and are still fair skinned over there, they still mixed with Dravdian more than the Iranian ethnic groups but less than the rest of India, I’ve seen Hindkowal who are fairer in complexion than Pashtun but I can still tell who is who because of facial features.
To ignorants anyone from NWFP/Afghanistan is a Pathan just like to goray in the UK every Arab, North African and South Asian is a “Paki”.
Those are only fairy tales or crap theories at best.
Even if the Pashtuns have Jewsih mixed into them they are still primarily of Aryan descent like other Iranians such as Persians, Kurds, Tajiks etc.
i’m not talking about pockets of Hindus living there…i’m talking about when Afghanistan itself was Hindu and Buddhist land…before Islam was even founded.
how did these migrating tribes multiply so fast as to dominate the demographics of Afghanistan?
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how did these migrating tribes multiply so fast as to dominate the demographics of Afghanistan?
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It didn’t happen over night, in the fifth and sixth centuries it became part of the Persian empire.
Later Iranian tribes such as the Scythians and Parthians, and the Greeks and Khushans also attacked and ruled the region over the centuries at different periods between 4 B.C. and 1 A.D.
It was in 465 A.D. that it ended, the White Huns attacked and this time it was fatal, Buddhist monuments the masterpieces of Gandhari art were completely destroyed, the White Huns didn’t leave no stone unturned, probably because Gandhara had become Buddhist, and as beautiful as it may be Buddhist philosophy only works in theory it’s not very wise and practical. When outsiders came they took a lot of the natives as slaves (the descendants of who remain to this day), slaughtered a good number of the rest, took their women, and I’m assuming (don’t quote me on this) a lot of the natives must have fled eastwards and to other places just as many centuries earlier when the Aryans first came to South Asia the Dravidians went down South and the women mated with the foreigners who didn’t usually bring their own women.
The pakistani hindus are anti-national and cannot be trusted at senior and sensitive positions in government and bureaucracy.
As long as they are allowed to live in pakistan, nothing more can be offered on a plate to the hindus and qadianis
Some of the mesages above were talking about Gandhara being from Peshawar. That is incorrect, Gandhara refers to the modern day Qandahar in Afghanistan.
There are many hindus in the senior and strategic positions in pakistan and to name out one ,Mr.Bhagvan Das is oneof the supreme court judges of Pakistan.
There are many hinus who play great roles in the scoial,cultural and finanacial aspects of Sindh.
Ummerkott in eastern sindh has a hindu population that outnumbers even Muslim community and even the village serpanch is hindu
Recently one prayer was organised at tghe Lakshmi Narayan temple opp.K.M.C,Oon M.A Jinnah road were Bhagvadgeetha slogans were chanted publically.
Overall the perspective towards hindus are changing in Pakistan which is a good sign..
Shouldnt be an Islamic republic in the first place... And even so, there is no reason why a non Muslims couldnt lead a Muslim country if he abides by the rules that govern that Islamic country as written n the constitution.
