Mullah, the Talib and Pashtun Society By Asad Munir February 03-09, 2012 Pashtuns are believed to be the

largest segmentary lineage society in the world today. They have been living in their defined homeland areas since ages, in a so cial order loosely defined by the code of Pashtunwali. They believe in the myth that they are children of one common ancestor, Qaise, w ho converted to Islam once he met the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). However, there is historical evidence that Pashtuns did not convert in mass and as late as 12th c entury there were non-Muslim Pashtuns residing in tribal areas. In the post-Soviet times, civil order, economy and security were restored faster in the areas where the tribal system was dominant or intact Being a leaderless society, the tribal system does not usually develop instituti onalized political power. They feel that all Pashtuns are born equal and individ uals can change the existing social and economic inequality. Tribals lead a semi independent life as per their code of conduct, managing their social issues and disputes through a council of elders known as Jirga. Invaders passed through th e lands of some of these tribes for thousands of years, but did not bring any si gnificant change in their social system. These tribes, on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, were almost inde pendent. The Sikhs administered these areas by maintaining strong forces at dist rict level; but the tribes openly asserted their independence. The relations of the British with the tribes depended on the situation in Afghanistan. They did n ot make any serious effort to penetrate the area except for some punitive expedi tions and defending the passes which led to Afghanistan. The Durand Line divided tribes on both sides, but the British provided them with easement rights for th eir back and forth movement. They used the tribal areas as the second buffer bet ween them and Russia, the first being Afghanistan. After the creation of Pakistan, a special status was granted to these areas. The y were declared Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Tribals were used as non-state actors in both the Kashmir wars of 1947-48 and 1965. Until the 1970s, about 70% of the tribal areas were administratively inaccessibl e. No Pakistani official was allowed to enter. In 1973, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto form ulated a policy of opening up of the tribal areas through development. An indust rial unit was established in each agency. Two new agencies, Bajaur and Orakzai, were formed. Electricity was provided to some of the areas and road infrastructu re was developed. Some of the areas that were opened up had tactical importance during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Most of the remaining inaccessible a reas like Tirah and Shawal were partially opened in the aftermath of 9/11. In the Pashtun social system, the inhabitants of a village are normally divided into three segments, the Pashtuns, Mian or Mullah (religious functionaries) and Kasabgars (professionals, like barbers and carpenters). The influential class ha s always been the Pashtuns. The Kasabgars have seldom challenged the authority o f Pashtuns; they have concentrated on earning their livelihood and providing edu cation to their children. A number of them excelled in fields like medicine, eng ineering, education, armed forces and even in politics. But once they make a nam e for themselves, they want to be known as Pashtun, by aligning with the tribe i n whose area they were born and brought up. The roles of the Khan or Malik and the government officials posted in the area a

re well defined. They derive legitimacy from state laws. The Mullah is made to p erform only some religious rituals. And he is not content with this limited role . He wants his role to be defined and expanded to make him part of the decisionmaking process in the Pashtun society. Religious people have led almost all the Pashtun uprisings against invaders in history. Followers of Ahmed Shah Barelvi ( 1863) rose against Sikhs and the British, Pir Roshan (16th century) against Akba r, Sartor Faqir (1897) against the British, Powinda Mullah (1893-1913) also agai nst the British. Faqir of Ipi (1935-1947) was also a key resistance fighter. The leadership of these movements remained with the Mullah only for the duration of the Jihad. When the battles were over, the Khans and Maliks became leaders agai n. In the Pashtun society, Rawaj (custom) has generally been more dominant than rel igion. Music, dance, non-observance of Purdah within a tribe, women shaking hand s with men, were commonly seen in Pashtuns. They would perform all rituals relig iously, but would never force these on others, except for fasting, which is cons idered an act of Pashtun honour. The Afghan Jihad did not bring any significant change in the life of the average Pashtun. The Pashtun society started changing once preachers started going to t hese areas. They were peaceful, polite, and non-coercive, and they were able to persuade older Pashtuns to lay down some restrictions on the younger ones. Music , which was a regular feature of Hujras and weddings, was banned in some areas. But the event that really changed the Pashtun way of life was the rise of the Ta liban in Afghanistan. The Talib was a familiar character in each Pashtun village, known as Chinay in P ashto. Docile, well mannered, quite, friendly, not interfering, not preaching, j ust concerned with his own task, collecting food for the imam of the mosque. In November 1994, once the Taliban captured Kandahar, nobody, including the intelli gence agencies, was sure who they were, and who was supporting them. They suspec ted it was the US. In the next few years, what the Taliban practiced was in contrast with Pashtun c ulture. Under the influence of Al Qaeda, they tried to implement Wahhabi and Sal afi culture. Inspired by them, the talibs of Pakistan also raised forces in Orak zai and North Waziristan. In the aftermath of 9/11 and NATO operations in Afghan istan, members of Al Qaeda, Pakistani Jihadis, sectarian outfits, Uighur fighter s from China, and groups from Central Asia took refuge in FATA and other parts o f Pakistan. Jihadi organizations and some tribals supported them. The state could not decide on the course of action to be taken against them. The y had never seen such a situation in the past. The tribals suspected that state was supporting these elements, therefore they submitted to the Taliban, who used brute force against prominent tribal elders. Source: The Friday Times, Lahore URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicSociety_1.aspx?ArticleID=6573