The Vanishing Institution Of Hujra

[Zarawar]

Zarawar Hujra was the one place where all Pashtuns gathered to discuss our culture,customs and future plans. Now just like how many declared the internet as haram they are saying Hujras are also haram because its wasting time.

No, don't fall for gossip and generalization, no one has and never will declare Hujra haram.

[Dukhtar-e-Kabul]

My husband always has people coming over to our house. I think this concept of Petak or Hujra still exists.

[Toramana]

When I was in Pukhtunkhwa in Swat recently, we held two musical evenings in the Hujra of one of our relatives. The musical instruments included rabab, mangay, tabla, and harmonuim. One of my dear friends whose music album would be released soon, enthralled the audience with his superb poetry, composition, and singing. A lot of folk especially youngsters from this typical farming community attended the event. One of the events lasted from 11 PM in the night to 4-5 AM in the morning . In the second gathering, there were also some folk singers that participated. They sung Pashto folk and old Indian songs.

I should mention that my uncle used to be the Mashar(elder/leader) of this Hujra. He was a typical Pashtun elder, liberal, frank, and open-minded. He had participated in the wars that had been fought in Swat (late 19th Century and early 20th Century) for the establishment of the Swat State. Before his death, he had advised that his nephew now called Mama by the village folk would be the mashar of the Hujra.

Mama is a very nice person, hospitable and fond of entertainment/music. On both occassions, he served us (and other people of the Hujra) with very nice food. The people of another closed-by village had heard about us and also invited us to their Hujra for a feast and musical evening but we regretted because of other engagements.

[Toramana]

Islamic extremism has contributed to the vanishment of our Hujras. They tell us its haram to watch TV harangue to hang out etc. Nice story Tora

This village was in Swat in an area where Taliban once roamed. Interestingly, we came to know that guy who played the Rabab was also an ex-Talib. But when we talked to him, we found that he was nowhere close to what a religious person should be. Smart and handsome as he was, he smoked, took charas, and was a hidonist.

Another thing that we knew was that the participation of some people in Swat in Taliban movement had more to do with power-poiltics (that so much characterises the Pashtun society) than religious motivation. Wali Swat during his rule had rewarded some Pashtun clans and individuals according to his divide and rule policy while other clans were left behind. Later, the Pakistani state had further disturbed the traditional balance of power between different clans/individuals. The Taliban movement was a tool to restore that balance and get even with those that had garnered uneven influence through patronage from Wali Swat and Pakistani bureaucracy. This is not to deny that there was an ideological Taliban core and intelligence agencies of Pakistan -according to the local people-were involved.

[khyaal]

Look! There are two different perspectives about the present status of Hujra. One from Azad Afghanistan and the other from Occupied Pakhtunkhwa. Ijaz saib is right that our intitutions like Hujra are rapidly vanishing. But this is the situation in Lar Pakhtunkhwa where have lost political autonomy. This process of decay, in my view, is mainly due to our loss of sovereignty and it is not only confined to Hujra, almost all of our customs and institutions have severely been affected.

In my village in Charsada district, there used to be Pashto Mushairas (poetic clubs), stage dramas, music programs, eid festivals, but now you won't see anything like the past. A rapid alienation is happening among people of the same village, even people are moving towards self alienation. Nobody knows what is happening and people generally seem to have lost the capacity to contemplate over such issues not to mention their solutions. The qualities of leadership and taking initiatives among Pashtun elders are also rapidly diminishing in Lar Pakhtunkhwa and it is being replaced by a slave mentality.

[amna.]

Khyaal why isn't anyone speaking out against it? What do you think is the biggest reason for our alienation.