Lessons from Pukhtunwali

How Bacha Khan, Wali Khan and Ajmal Khattak’s teachings are relevant even today

The game of chance that Pakistan has been indulged in for a long time has made this nation of ours forgetful. While people renew their bets with life on a daily basis, they are gradually surrendering their dynamic and tolerant history to the ages. The first month of the year and the current one has not been a silent affair, but amidst this noise passed silently the death anniversaries of three important men who at more or less the same time emerged with what many would say blasphemous progressive ideas in the now restless Pakistani province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK). Their mission was the same; to establish a vigorous, progressive, non-sectarian and tolerant society where the majority and minority could live in harmony, while totally exercising their rights in accordance with the law of God, law of the country and law of the Pukhtuns.

Almost a month ago from now, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan)’s death anniversary was observed on 20th January, followed by the death anniversary of his illustrious son Khan Abdul Wali Khan on 26th January while 7th February was marked as the death anniversary of renowned Pukhto poet Ajmal Khattak, who dedicated his entire life to instigating lost souls into action through letters rather than the gun. How eminent historians, researchers, writers, scholars and journalists have painted these three personalities is of less concern here than their ideologies, their principled undertakings, their character and their humanist approach towards life, all in relevance with terrorism, sectarian violence and lawlessness that has played havoc with the lives of innocent people in these two months. Maybe we can find answers to the problems being presently faced by Pakistan from the deeds of these personalities if we look closely enough.

As a young man Bacha Khan Baba understood the value of social activism and reform and deemed both essential for the society in general and the warlike Pukhtuns in particular. So in order to fill the vacuum created by his own shortcomings, he helped start the education of others by establishing independent schools which ultimately culminated in the founding of Khudai Khitmadgar (Servants of God) movement in the 1920s. He wanted to make the Pukhtuns think by establishing his movement, also known as Red Shirts, on the beliefs of service to humanity and observance of non-violence which included ending blood feuds and refraining from instigating ethnic strife within the community, thus giving his people a distinct way of life, a different creed.

Bacha Baba repeated calls for social change, equitable distribution of land and religious harmony threatened religious leaders and big landlords, and he kept the threat alive by refusing to surrender his ideology. His movement was refined to be non-sectarian in outlook, so much so that when Hindus and Sikhs were attacked in Peshawar around the time of partition, 10,000 Red Shirts pledged to protect their lives and properties. Large communities of Hindus and Sikhs had permanently settled in the Pukhtun territories because the safety of their heads was guaranteed in the midst of the proud warrior nation.

The situation that Pakistan presently finds itself in had been envisioned by Wali Khan Baba at a time when the Afghan War was being waged in the 1980s. His political acumen and clarity of thought could be gauged from the fact that while commenting on the then on-going Soviet-Afghan War, Wali Baba said, “Afghan War is strife, not Jihad.” He summed up the closeness of Pakistan and the Taliban by saying, “We are sitting on dynamite.” He did not live long to see the dynamite explode in his own backyard and in the neighbouring province of Balochistan. Most importantly, Wali Baba was very critical of Osama bin Laden and questioned the presence of an Arab in Pukhtun territory. He said that Osama had no other role there except to disturb the harmony of the region and to hurt the coming generations. And hurt he did.

Similarly, Ajmal Khattak Baba a staunch Khudai Khidmatgar and a progressive writer preached humanism and mutual respect through his fiery poetry, while stirring his people into action against all injustices committed against mankind with his famous “Cry of Honour”. He, through his writings, was very critical of the state’s misguided policies which he vehemently debated would lead to violence.

Presently, though, the Pukhtuns of Quetta have been exercising considerable restraint per the teachings of Bacha Baba, Wali Baba and Ajmal Baba and have so far refused to become a party in the ongoing bloodbath. Amir Mateen in his article “Enter the Pushtun-Baloch divide”, published last year in a renowned local English newspaper, had acknowledged the role of Pukhtuns of Quetta as follows: “The peace of Quetta has been largely maintained—or let’s say stalled from deteriorating further—because of the Pushtuns. While everybody else has been at daggers drawn, the Pushtuns of Balochistan have stayed out. In fact, they have maintained the balance of ethnic strife from tipping out completely. Most settlers and minorities have moved to Pushtun areas as they are relatively safer.” He further adds, “The Pushtuns have been provoked considerably. Many have been pressured to leave and be killed in Baloch areas. Pushtun transporters have been attacked incessantly. But they have remained calm as a community and not contributed to the mayhem that exists all around Balochistan. So far, that is.” Therefore, the underlying problem of Balochistan might not exactly be the Pukhtun-Hazara animosity, as had been propagated by some devious minds, except that a handful from amongst our ranks sold their souls to the devil and embarked on mischievous endeavours under the watchful eye of the military establishment.

If any one of the three men discussed above were alive today they would have spoken thus regarding the unforgivable violence initiated against Hazaras: “I strongly condemn the killing of Hazara Muslims as every Pukhtun would. We share your pain and losses because the same had also been incurred upon us. Our elders have been slaughtered, women dishonoured and children corrupted, in similar ways as you have been targeted. History would bear witness to the fact that Pukhtuns are legendary defenders, and we would continue defending the lives of fellow Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs as our mighty forefathers had done. Otherwise, history and Pukhtunwali would never forgive us. But we have been unable to extend our traditional protection to you as we ourselves have also been left unprotected in the great game that had been continuing on our soil from a long time. We, the Pukhtuns, are sorry for the treatment that had been meted out to you though the journey towards justice would be a daunting task for us both.”

Ed Note: The first paragraph of this article was mistakenly printed and attributed to the writer in the print edition. The mistake is regretted and has been corrected in the online edition.