Friday 25 November 2011

Pakistan's Tribal Society And History

To write the history of the Khyber pakhtoonkhwa and Balochistan is a difficult task for a historian because these were the areas where the state and itsAdobe 9A0-058 institutions were either non-existent or not fully developed. The result was that no historiography of these areas was written. As the tribes of these areas fought against the central government, the official historians at the court looked at these tribes as rebels and called these areas as turbulent. This negative approach of history downgraded the status and position of the tribes. The official historians failed to appreciate their tribal values, their fight for independence, and their boldness and courage in daily life.
The British inherited the same policy towards these tribes and regarded them untrustworthy and unfriendly. The constant conflict between the colonial power and the tribes, on the one hand, forced the colonialists to respect them. On the other it caused irritation and despair. However, credit goes to the colonial power that it did not leave the problem of these tribes unsolved, but made attempts to study the history, culture, values, habits and languages. They equipped with this knowledge, they successfully negotiated with them, made friendly relations with them, fought and made peace with them.
There were a number of European travelers, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists,AdobeAdobeexam sociologists, and linguists who traversed the most inaccessible routes and collected materials about those peoples who were forgotten or neglected. The British left valuable record in the shape of gazetteers, reports, state documents, letters, autobiographies, diaries, travelogues, and historical writings regarding these tribes, making the task of modern historians easy and writing systematic history of these areas.
After independence, we heavily relied on the records which the British had left. The writings of Pottinger, Raverty, Mason, Alexander, Burnes and host of other scholars, supply the most valuable information about these tribes. The history of the Pathan by Olaf Croe is still the most authentic history which is not replaced by any local historians.
The tragedy is that instead of knowing the history and cultures of these tribes, our ignorance is increasing day by day and we are relaying more and more on foreign scholars to make research for our own peoples. We feel happy that foreigners, after tedious labor, make us great0B0-111 in history. This attitude makes us lethargic to research and write our own history. This is the reason why we lack historical consciousness. To get a dignified place in history, we need to write our own history.

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