Can I consider myself pashtun?

[triple300]

No one in my family can speak pashto, only urdu (from what I can tell) but my ancestors hail from the Kheshgi tribe in Afghanistan but were brought over to punjab by the mughals (where they had a dynasty, called the khesghi dynasty of kasur) and parts of northern india where they would engage in combat with the the lodhis and sikhs on behalf of the mughals and because of them being in that region so long they accustomed to the language in that region and soon pashto wasn't spoken. A lot of my family live in Khurja in India which is supposedly where our ancestors settled and many have the name of our tribe in their names and some now live in different parts of Pakistan and in particular Karachi (where I was born). A lot of my family are fairly light skinned compared to the regular Pakistani/Indian and my grandfather has blue eyes. Some of the traditions we partake in aren't very pashtun like but some are but basically our pasthun identity has been diluted quite a fair bit even though the people of our tribe have traditionally always married within the clan. Could I still consider my ethnicity pashtun because a lot of people dismiss the fact that I'm pashtun because I can't speak pashto?

[Kabulistan]

To be accepted as Pashtun you must speak Pashto...thats is in the name, beside looking like a Pashtun, specially an Afghan mountain Pashtun (blonde hair, blue/green eyes, light skin)...hence why Tajiks cannot fully claim to be Bactrian since they lost their ancestoral language and now speak Farsi/Dari. E.i. its pointless for Tajiks to consider themselves Bactrian when they dont speak Bactrian language but have adopted Persian...so if you cannot speak Pashto whats the point saying your Pashtun?

And not to mention true Pashtun must live his life on Pashtunwali codes...

[triple300]

then what do I identify myself as? Pashtun is an ethnicity, I don't know how linguistics can determine ethnicity

[Kabulistan]

then what do I identify myself as? Pashtun is an ethnicity, I don't know how linguistics can determine ethnicity

Linguistics, culture, etc. is important when determining ethnicity...now your family ties could've been pashtun from begining but its all diluted...your family may even be mixed with punjabis...then you are as much punjabi as pashtun, perhaps more punjabi than pashtun...then you are like this PF poster Forreigner who says he is Indian with 1/32 Pashtun/Tajik ancestry....now if you act punjabi then you are punjabi... Pashtuns and Punjabis are different in culture, linguistics, behavior, appearance etc...

But in the end its up to yourself what you identify as...wether pashtuns will accept you as their kin is another matter though.

[triple300]

Nah we definitely haven't mixed with punjabis, people from our clan always marry within and its looked down upon if we marry with other ethnicities or people outside the clan and some pashtuns do accept me as a pashtun. Just wanted to get the thoughts of other pashtuns worldwide

[triple300]

in terms of culture, the attan is still performed in weddings within our family

[Hunter]

People all over smelly South Asia claim to be Pashtun, even Sikhs and Hindus. How can we be sure that you have Pashtun ancestry?

[triple300]

because I have a tribe and I've seen historical records, many people in our family have the name of our tribe in their names as well

[Karachi]

People all over smelly South Asia claim to be Pashtun, even Sikhs and Hindus. How can we be sure that you have Pashtun ancestry?

why in the world would sikh and hindus consider themselves pashtuns? most of Indians dont even know who pashtuns are

[triple300]

Read up about pashtuns of kasur or the kheshgi dynasty

[Silver]

Kasuri pathans were expelled by sikhs to east of sutlej, basically outside punjab. So you are likely hindustani muhajir in Karachi right? Indian pathans are all genetically mixed and not pure pathans.

I don't know why are you asking this question here, there are millions of pure pathans in karachi. Go to some pathan area to know if they accept you as one or not. To determine that ask them to marry one of their daughters with you.

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

why in the world would sikh and hindus consider themselves pashtuns? most of Indians dont even know who pashtuns are

Because South Asians have some weird creepy obsessions with Pashtuns. which is why you pretended you were Pashtun to gain acceptance like a coward, and why self hating Bengal Tiger tries to make believe his family has some obscure Pashtun origin.

[triple300]

I don't live in Karachi anymore, we moved out to the west but my pashtun friends usually accept my ethnicity as I most definitely undeniably have pashtun roots

[Silver]

I don't live in Karachi anymore, we moved out to the west but my pashtun friends usually accept my ethnicity as I most definitely undeniably have pashtun roots

Why you need their acceptance? Most of muhajirs are pathans, most famous of them all being Babur Ghauri.

[Kabulistan]

I don't live in Karachi anymore, we moved out to the west but my pashtun friends usually accept my ethnicity as I most definitely undeniably have pashtun roots

Brother if you look at least some level of Pashtun ancestry you have, you may be accepted as Pashtun....now lets see some picture of yourself...