Pakhtun National Awareness Program

[pir_Rokhan]

by Pir Rokhan, Peshawar,29 July 2010

Introduction

Without relying on the respective govts of countries Pakhtuns are living in, Pakhtuns should focus on their national goals, priorities, preferences and challenges in their way to have a bright future for their offspring and future generations. The more Pakhtuns depend upon other nations, the more they will lose their right of self determination as well as political freedom and sovereignty. The most important thing to realise is that the Pakhtuns in power should not let go a single right which belongs to the Pakhtun nation and use all means to get their rights from those who have snatched them. It is advisable for the Pakhtuns masses that they should consider the worst case scenario while dealing with any of their issue and based on that assumptions formulate practical ways and means to implements practical plans to achieve their goals.

It is the cry of the day to launch a Pakhtuns National Awareness [PNA] program which should aim at offering formal and informal socio-politico-economic awareness to the Pakhtun masses specially focusing on both male and female youth.

Domain of Awareness

Literature on the following subjects [and the list can be modified continuously] should be written, recorded and propagated among Pakhtun masses to promote the sense of nationhood in them. The PNA ideas should also be delivered via live talks, debates, speeches etc to every Pakhtun in every possible way.

1. Language

·Pashto Language
·Challenges in the Promotion of Pashto

2.People

·Pakhtun Tribes

3.Land

·Pakhtunkhwa
·Afghanistan

4.Past

·Pakhtun Political History
·Pakhtun Role in History
·Pakhtun Dynasties
·Pakhtun Historic Personalities
·Pakhtun Movements
·Pakhtun military history

5.Critique of Past

·Critique of Pakhtun history
·Critique of Pakhtun Parties
·Critique of Pakhtun Personalities
·Critique of Pakhtun Society
·Critique of Pakhtun State – Afghanistan

6.Pakhtun Issues

·Pakhtuns Social Issues
·Pakhtun Women issues
·Pakhtun Political Issues
·Pakhtun Economic Issues
·Pakhtun Educational Issues

7.Pakhtun Demographics

·Pakhtuns and the modern world
·Pakhtuns and Afghanistan
·Pakhtuns and Pakistan
·Pakhtuns and India
·Pakhtun Expatriates

8. Pakhtun Resources

·Pakhtunkhwa Resources
·Pakhtunkhwa Industrial base
·Pakhtun Professionals
·Pakhtun Electronic Media
·Pakhtun Export Products
·Pakhtun Print Media
·Pakhtunkhwa Products
·Pakhtun Organizations
·Pakhtun Political parties
·Pakhtun Welfare organizations
·Pakhtun Legends
·Pakhtun Movements

9.Pakhtun Serious Issues

·Pakhtuns and International Politics
·Pakhtuns and Religion

10.Culture

·Pakhtunwali
·Pakhtun Culture
·Pashto Music
·Pakhtun Artists
·Critique of Pakhtun Culture
·Critique of Pakhtuns Social Norms
·Pakhtunwali and Modern Science
·Pakhtuns and Revolution
·Reforms in Pakhtun Society
·Pakhtun and Arts

11.Future

·Future of Pakhtuns
·Vision for Pakhtun Future
·Pakhtuns and other Nations
·Pakhtuns and the Modern age
·Pakhtuns and Contemporary Challenges
·Pakhtuns and Cyber world
·Institutionalisation of Pakhtuns Society
·Pakhtuns State

[Note: This is just a recommended list and is subject to change]

Salient features of the Program

·The syllabus of study should be dynamic depending upon the contemporary needs as well as the resources available for its execution

·The literature may be in the form of pamphlets, audio lectures, videos or Internet sources

·The program should levels for different age and understanding levels. Level 1 might be for teen age group. Level 2 should be for Youngsters while level 3 should be for middle aged persons.

·There should be initiatives for the periodic visits of some orators and ideologues for the propagation of these ideas to various parts of Pakhtunkhwa

·All means like workshops, seminars, lectures, presentations, gatherings, corner meetings, Cultural melas, pamphlets, banners, literature, courses and presentations should be used to propagate the message.


Indicators of success:

The following are some important indicators of success.

·Training workshop conducted for the level 1 or level 2 or advanced level of Pakhtun National Awareness Program [PNA] program.

·Program conducted in the media on one or more of PNA topics.

·Youth talking about PNA ideas in their gatherings, debates, writings, get-togethers, or other events which are related to the Pashto or Pakhtuns.

·Intellectual debate, discussion or writing by Intelligentsia or professionals about PNA ideas in their relevant area of specialty or professional fields.

·Visit to any area made by an Ideologue/s to talk about the PNA ideas.


Recommendation

In the contemporary age it seems that [electronic, print and cyber] media has not only become the fourth pillar of state but is one of the movers and shakers of any govt in addition to a pressure group for shaping up the future of a country.

I feel that the only institution, if controlled effectively, which can challenge the autocratic policies of military and secret agencies in Pakistan, will be media. It is my intuition that even political parties will become ineffective in future without having an effective media wing and in some cases it is quite possible that a powerful person from media might give alternative leadership to Pakhtuns.

It is therefore suggested that the educated Pakhtuns should use the various modes of media by becoming an indispensible influential part of it to execute the PNA program.

[Roshina]

Pir Rokhana, have you sent this to any education ministers? Because they could certainly learn a lot from it!

Rather, have you ever considered being one yourself? That way, we can be guaranteed the implementations of these goals and ideas.

[pir_Rokhan]

This Pakhtuns national awareness program is being proposed to spread awareness about our collective issues and their solutions. The main reason why Pakhtuns are suffering is that they are mainly focussing on their individual problems and not on collective problems. Pakhtun individualism while being a salient feature of Pakthun charatcter and an advantage on one hand ,sometimes becomes a disadvantage when it comes to acting as a nation to face and tackle collective national issues and act in a harmonious and disciplined manner.

It is for pakhtun masses.All those ideas which one would learn from the topics enlisted should be spread to the fellow Pakhtuns so that it adds up to collective consciousnes of the nation and they are in a better postion to decide their matters keeping their national interests in mind.It is about propagating and spreading information about the language, history, culture, soveriegnty, politics, economics, education, land ,resources, progress of Pakhtuns and all those topics which directly or indirectly affect our collective life.

[Marwat]

can we share this with others. I like to share this with univerisities in Baluchistan.

[pir_Rokhan]

Marwat wrora

This is for the common Pakhtuns. Please feel free to share it with anyone.

[tor_khan]

Pir Rokhan Saab,

Pa Khair.

There's lots of material in the list that you cite that is available. I have a couple of questions:

a - do you plan on building a database?

b - will you be vetting the quality of the material?

c - what infrastructure do you envision to disseminate this?

I love what you have here and I'm interested in what I can do, in practical terms.

[pir_Rokhan]

Tor Khan

a - do you plan on building a database?
b - will you be vetting the quality of the material?
c - what infrastructure do you envision to disseminate this?

Dear Tor Khana wrora. Thanks for reflecting.

a- Frankly speaking we already have that database but in an un organized and scattered form. I am compiling what I have and then scrutinizing it to make it more fruitful for Afghans/Pakhtuns.

I wish some capable person/s who is/are

- Aware of Afghan history and Politics in "lar aw bar" [specially the politics of ANP,PMAP and other Afghan Parties]
- having a sense of proportion to do justice to the literature,
- Strong language skills

can compile a pure collection of booklets/pamphlets/Audio lectures/videos which should attract and inspire the youth and others folks to be aware of their national interests and get motivated to make a difference in individual or collective capacity for a bright future of Afghans.

We already have good precedents like the translation project initiated by some dedicated afghans to translate fruitful literature to Pashto language.

b- I am doing the QA of what I have in my own capacity.

c- This is very very good question. Infact what I envision is simple and practical. You see the type of propaganda we are indoctrinated with through our biased media ,for example, in Pakistan ,has turned every second or third person against our own nation, our own history,. our own interests, our own future and so on. Common masses never bother to scrutinizing the news and views or ideas which they are bombarded with in their text books,tv,and other media unless they have a political sense. I the absence or scarcity of literature which focuses on national interests it is but evident that one generation after another is going to be falling prey to this propaganda. We see that Bengalis had this, then Sindhis have this, even mahajirs [quoting examples from Pakistan] have it and now Balochis also have it.

In case of Pakhtuns thanks to ANP and PKMAP who are doing their part but still it is not sufficient. In case of ANP for example I proposed in a meeting of Bacha Khan Education Foundation to them to have specific literature for training youngsters and I don’t know whether it is being considered seriously or not however I am optimistic that they will either compile or write from the scratch literature for national awareness purpose. In case of PMAP the quality of literature is very high and academic. I wish they have more and more of it. Their literature has been a source of motivation for myself in a lot of issues.

Coming to the practical part of it, I have a very detailed plan in my mind to execute it. However I will enlist the landmarks just for provoking the thought process in that direction.

1. Formal Training Workshops: I think if we have a level 1 ,2,3 of the literature for various age groups then we can have small training and workshop sessions /workshops conducted voluntarily initially and then formally and professionally in educational institutions to achieve our goals.

2. The policy making and trend setting bodies like Planning and Development deptt or Education deptt etc should be given good quality proposals to include these levels in their text books on provincial level.

3. The media can be given scripts of programs which highlight the goal which we need to achieve. I had proposed a detailed outline of program to the Dubai branch of AVT Khyber Channel for Afghan history and offered them to finance it too but they had some personal interests which were clashing with the QA of the product which I wanted to achieve hence it dint work out. We can do the same for Shamshad TV in Afghanistan for example.

4. There can be volunteer visits to various parts of Afghanistan /Pakhtunkhwa to conduct lectures or QA sessions about certain topics. It has to be as simple as possible like for example a session can be conducted in a hujra.

5. There can be student awareness sessions in educational institutes, schools, colleges, varsities etc.

I hope it will give you a glance of what is in my mind.

[Zarawar]

We Pakhtuns can be aware if we implement secularism.

Secularism and Pashtunwali does not match by any nature...it's like saying, we're going to implement Zionism to deal with the Israel brutalities in Palestine, or over all Arab-Jewish conflict.

[tor_khan]

Pir Rokhan Saab,

Keep us updated and posts your requests for assistance/involvement here.

My hearts desire/ambition is to work in education for the Pashtoon people, InshAllah. That's not just an empty statement by the way.

[pir_Rokhan]

Secularism and Pashtunwali does not match by any nature...it's like saying, we're going to implement Zionism to deal with the Israel brutalities in Palestine, or over all Arab-Jewish conflict.

Dear Zorawar wrora

Religion [Islam] has coincided with Pakthuwali just 1400 years ago while Pakhtunwali was there for more than 3 thousand years.

Secularism just ensures that various religions or sects of one relgion co exist peacefully and do not affect the functionaing of the state affairs.I dont think Pashtuns have any problem with the existence of other religions or sects within the same religion as long as they follow the principle :
"Your freedom ends where my nose starts"

Having said that may I suggest to focus on the topic instead of getting into this discussion which has been discussed at length elsewhere.

[erlangner]

pir sahib as usual, you are wrokign well. But all these your suggestions cannot be implemented on personnel basi8s. It needs storng organizational basis. Like Pakhtoon aman tehreek, PMAP, or ANP. These three forces can make arrangemnts for this through their gatherings, meetings, rallies, study circles, awareness corners etc.

Pir sahib one thing more should be included, that we should know and anlalyze very carefully and precisely the causes of religious extremism, which is leading to brutal militancy in pakhtuns. Then media is needed to ensure people about it. Because militancy in pashtuns is much needed for some people sitting across the attock bridge.

Therefore it si a large programm which can be implemented through schools, univeristies. political gatherings, and media both print and electronic, in all three languages including urdu pashto and english.

[pir_Rokhan]

Khattak wrora

In the list which enlists the topics related to national awareness of Pakhtuns, we can add any useful topic which is of collective importance to Afghans.

In addition to Aman Tehreek,PMAP and ANP [in occupied Pakhtunkhwa] what I was envisioning when I inked my thoughts, was that a common Pakhtun even if s/he is ,due to some reason, not a part of any political organsation, should be able to know and propagate the ideas of PNA program.

[Azmal]

We Pakhtuns can be aware if we implement secularism.

Please do not bring secularism or Sharia in this, i think our religion folks can also be be aware of their pashton-ness...we just need to make them aware. This way they can work for Pashton national interest instead of being used by Punjabis and Arabs.

[pir_Rokhan]

The problem of Religion has been over exaggerated in Pashtuns. Religion was never a problem till it was intentionally used against Russians by CIA, ISI and the Saudi monarchy as these agencies made Pashtuns over conscious about religion to use them for their own vested interests. Before this exploitation of religion , the religious people were respected in Afghanistan and some of them were even models of Pakhtunwali.

Afghans have to just distinguish between the long term motives of any religious teaching and compare it with their national interests. We saw that technically speaking many innocent and sincere Afghans fought just for the sake of God but what it brought to Afghans was mass death and destruction ,devastation and disaster making the Afghan kids orphans ,Afghan women widows and destabilizing the whole nomenclature of the Afghan social fabric.

All the sacrifices of Afghans were just reduced to the achievement of sumum bonum on individual level by those sincere Afghans who lost their lives and consequently there was a mass exodus of Afghans to other lands hence causing brain drain in the Afghan land.

At the end of the day Afghan were used as cannon fodders and guinea pigs to transform the world into a unipolar world with US as the sole super power and made our Muslim enemy neighbor Pakistan more powerful hence giving her more opportunities to dictate her policies to our leaders. So while there is nothing wrong in religion as a cultural element of Afghan society, it is when religion becomes a tool for the exploitation of Afghans in the hands of our enemies that religion becomes dangerous.

It is therefore suggested that Afghans should not fall prey to the trap of their enemies even if they are Muslims [like Pakistanis] or any other nation which try to exploit the religious sentiments of Afghans for their own ulterior motives.

Afghans should follow the model of MALAYSIAN Muslims, for example, who are practicing Muslims following MALIKI school of Jurisprudence but are living in peace along with Chinese and Indians in a country which is the most advanced Muslim country and a developed country in the world.

When our heroes are scientists, politicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers and other professional persons then we should know that we are making progress but if our heroes are religious pundits, mullahs, clergymen etc [no offence intended against qualified theo-logicians ofcourse] then we are destined to be perished and become a part of history very soon.