The Case of the Pashtun Tribes Mohamed Umer Khan Royal
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Re-emergent Pre-State Substructures: The Case of the Pashtun Tribes Mohamed Umer khan Royal Holloway, University of London Department of Politics & International Relations PhD March 2011 1 Declaration of Authorship I, Mohamed Umer Khan, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ______________________ 2 Abstract This study explores borderlands as a function of the imposition of the post-colonial state upon primary structures of identity, polity and social organisation which may be sub-state, national or trans-state in nature. This imposition, particularly in the postcolonial experience of Asia, manifests itself in incongruence between identities of nation and state, between authority and legitimacy, and between beliefs and systems, each of which is most acutely demonstrated in the dynamic borderlands where the competition for influence between non-state and state centres of political gravity is played out. The instability in borderlands is a product of the re-territorialisation of pre-state primary structures, and the state’s efforts in accommodating, assimilating or suppressing these structures through a combination of militarisation, providing opportunities for greater political enfranchisement, and the structure of trans-borderland economic flows. The Pashtun tribes of the Afghan borderland between Pakistan and Afghanistan are exhibiting a resurgence of autonomy from the state, as part of the re-territorialisation of the primary substructure of Pakhtunkhwa that underlies southern Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan. This phenomenon is localised, tribally driven, and replicated across the entirety of Pakhtunkhwa. It is a product of the pashtunwali mandated autonomy of zai from which every kor, killi and khel derives its security, and through the protection of which each is able to raise its nang, and is able to realise its position within the larger clan or tribe. Other examples of competition between postcolonial states and primary structures are the Kurdish experience in south-eastern Turkey and the experience of the Arab state. While manifesting significant peculiarities, all three cases - the Kurds, the Arabs and the Pashtuns - demonstrate that the current configuration of the postcolonial state system in Asia is a fragile construction, imposed upon enduring, pre-state primary structures which are resurgent through competition with the state. 3 Table of Contents Declaration of Authorship ............................................................................................. 2 Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………..3 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... 10 List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................ 11 Glossary of Terms ....................................................................................................... 13 List of Maps ................................................................................................................ 16 List of Diagrams and Tables ....................................................................................... 17 1 Pre-State Structures and the Postcolonial State .………………………………18 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 18 1.2 Research Question ......................................................................................... 19 1.3 Contextualisation ........................................................................................... 20 1.3.1 Asia ........................................................................................................ 20 1.3.2 Defining the nation ................................................................................ 21 1.3.3 Defining tribes ....................................................................................... 22 1.3.4 The segmentary nation ........................................................................... 22 1.4 Borderlands ................................................................................................... 23 1.4.1 Defining borderlands ............................................................................. 23 1.4.2 Non-borderlands .................................................................................... 24 1.4.3 Variation in the characteristics of borderlands ...................................... 24 1.4.4 The militarisation of borderlands ........................................................... 26 1.4.5 Borderland identities .............................................................................. 27 1.4.6 Borderland opportunities ....................................................................... 28 1.5 Introducing the Afghan Borderland .............................................................. 29 1.6 Resurgence of the Afghan Borderland .......................................................... 31 1.7 Postcolonial Studies ...................................................................................... 35 1.7.1 Orientalism and the subaltern ................................................................ 35 1.7.2 Arabia ..................................................................................................... 37 1.7.3 Turkey .................................................................................................... 38 1.8 Borderland Studies: Analytical Tools ........................................................... 40 1.8.1 The borderland lifecycle ........................................................................ 40 4 1.8.2 Scale ....................................................................................................... 42 1.9 Borderlands and the State .............................................................................. 43 1.10 Tribal Societies and Borderlands .................................................................. 44 1.10.1 The Kurds ............................................................................................... 44 1.10.2 Arab borderlands .................................................................................... 45 1.11 Discourses on the Afghan Borderland .......................................................... 47 1.12 Argument of the Hypothesis ......................................................................... 49 1.13 Expected Findings ......................................................................................... 51 1.14 Research Methods ......................................................................................... 51 1.15 Limitations of the Research Methodology .................................................... 54 1.15.1 Participant observation ........................................................................... 54 1.15.2 Language ................................................................................................ 55 1.15.3 Afghanistan ............................................................................................ 56 1.16 Organisation of the Study .............................................................................. 57 2 Doing Pashto .......................................................................................................... 60 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 60 2.2 Pashtunwali ................................................................................................... 61 2.2.1 Pathans, Pakhtuns, Pashtuns and Afghans; a note on terminology ........ 61 2.2.2 Pashtunwali ............................................................................................ 63 2.2.3 Badal ...................................................................................................... 64 2.2.4 Nanawatey .............................................................................................. 66 2.2.5 Melmastiya ............................................................................................. 67 2.2.6 Nang-o-namus ........................................................................................ 69 2.3 Pakhtunkhwa ................................................................................................. 70 2.3.1 The term „Pakhtunkhwa‟ ........................................................................ 70 2.3.2 Historical context of Pakhtunkhwa ........................................................ 72 2.3.3 The emergence of the Pashtuns .............................................................. 76 2.3.4 Pashto ..................................................................................................... 77 2.4 Pashtun Tribal Genealogy ............................................................................. 79 2.4.1 The Pashtun shajara ............................................................................... 79 2.5 The Major Tribes ........................................................................................... 82 2.5.1 The Durrani ............................................................................................ 82 5 2.5.2 The Ghilzai ............................................................................................. 85 2.5.3 The Yusufzai .........................................................................................