Can I consider myself pashtun?

[triple300]

as your forefather were traitors and fought against their kin lodhi on behalf of mughal for some gold coinsand land. your forefather were greedy and brought destruction upon afghan in hindustan.


the afghan god of destruction have cursed your forefather and you carry that curse, you will never be able to learn pashto or consider your self pashtun.

you aren't the one to decide that

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

how much do you know about pashtun from waziristan anyway? people of waziristan may have the highest tendency of having colored eyes in whole world, i would say every two out of five have coloured eyes. almost 90 percent are fairer, they do not have blond but light color hair

Honestly, I don't know much, but based on the photos I have seen, they look like most other Afghans, dark hair, dark features. Colored eyes in themselves are recessive traits, so by definition, the incidence of colored eyes would be far fewer than brown eyes.

[Elite Pakhtun]

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?

The simplest answer is how far back can you trace your ancestry. If you can go back 3 generation (i.e. great grand parents both sides) and most of it is Pakhtun, then that would answer your question. I would say it should at least be 70%+, but that's a subjective matter, as I think anything less is too close to being mixed.

Find out who your great grandparents were born as/who their parents were. That should suffice.

[torkham]

Look if your Kheshgi claim is heresay in the family, dating back a few centuries, then claim Pashtun ancestry.
Look at that Pakistani pukka sahib politician, he claims Niazi, speaks Urdu, only parrots a few Pashto phrases, probably doesn't know pashtunwali, nevertheless he is Pashtun by virtue of Niazi lineage. But just imagine if one of his children settles in Ghazni or Logar where there are Niazi too, what will those children be? Still Pashtun.
It's in the blood.

[marwat]

you aren't the one to decide that

Friend I did not mean it, back then loyalty was not based on ethnicity, neither is today the case.
I personally consider people pashtun who can trace their lineage through tribal pashtun roots,and have a little bit emotional attachment with other pashtun, irrespective of whether they can speak pashto or not. The fact that you are here of pf testify that.

[marwat]

Honestly, I don't know much, but based on the photos I have seen, they look like most other Afghans, dark hair, dark features. Colored eyes in themselves are recessive traits, so by definition, the incidence of colored eyes would be far fewer than brown eyes.

honestly I don't know what does color eyes mean, but if it say some thing then I will testify that they have the highest percentage of color eyes, when the people of waziristan were idps, they were living in our surrounding, I always wanted to picture their eyes but they did no allow me.
In my opinion the suitable way is to look for children or young boys Pictures if you want to study the fairness, many people get dark with age due to harsh life.

[triple300]

Look if your Kheshgi claim is heresay in the family, dating back a few centuries, then claim Pashtun ancestry.
Look at that Pakistani pukka sahib politician, he claims Niazi, speaks Urdu, only parrots a few Pashto phrases, probably doesn't know pashtunwali, nevertheless he is Pashtun by virtue of Niazi lineage. But just imagine if one of his children settles in Ghazni or Logar where there are Niazi too, what will those children be? Still Pashtun.
It's in the blood.

Thank you

[Iblis_Efreetzai]

honestly I don't know what does color eyes mean, but if it say some thing then I will testify that they have the highest percentage of color eyes, when the people of waziristan were idps, they were living in our surrounding, I always wanted to picture their eyes but they did no allow me.
In my opinion the suitable way is to look for children or young boys Pictures if you want to study the fairness, many people get dark with age due to harsh life.

I'm not saying colored eyes are practically unheard of, my dad's brother and his children have colored eyes. By colored I mean blue/green/hazel/ light brown/honey. Regardless the incidence of colored eyes is much more infrequent than we think it is. As far as complexion, most of us are wheatish to Mediterranean- type of complexion. Very few of us are Northern European white. In fact my mom who is Yemeni is much lighter than my dad. Then again she has Ottoman ancestry.

[Samandri]

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

Such claims are always made , but descendants of Afghans/Pashtuns, Turks, Mughals, Persians, Sayyads etc in any locality of India, always look like the indigenous population. A descendant of Pashtuns in Tamil Nadu looks like a typical Tamil even though he claims that they have not mixed with locals , that they marry only within their clan......

The thing is , even if girl is not given outside 'Pathani' caste......the males do marry non-Pathan women and thus within few generations, they are indistinguishable from locals.

Your claim can also be disapproved from history......the Sultans of Pashtuns in India and other notables started marrying Indians. The mother of Sikander Lodi, for example, was a daughter of Indian goldsmith.....Sher Shah's stepmother was Indian......and his brother's wife was also an Indian......

To be precise , You are not a Pashtun...... you are a descendant of Pashtuns

[Samandri]

Thank you

Thank you for what?.......you are seeking approval from some nobody on web?

[Samandri]

you aren't the one to decide that

I read a book about Kheshgis of Kasur whose author (by name of Ayub Khan) was proudly and shamelessly claiming that it was 'Saleem Khan Zamand", the chief of Khesgis, who cut the head of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi and brought it to the Babur........the same author narrates a legend that a saint told Kheshgis that they should migrate to Hindustan where they will prosper and will remain powerful till the day of judgement...opposite happened, Kheshgis declined in India and got thinned down in numbers with time......there only few thousands "Pathan" families in Kasur nowadays.

I am actually surprised that Sher Shah Suri spared your tribe in Kasur. Sher Shah was issuing death sentence to all those Afghans who were pro-Mughals. Dilawar Khan Lodi, whose traitor father invited Babur to India, was executed by Sher Shah for this reason. Sher Shah massacred all Afghans settled near Chausa who helped Humayun in escape.......

[marwat]

I read a book about Kheshgis of Kasur whose author (by name of Ayub Khan) was proudly and shamelessly claiming that it was 'Saleem Khan Zamand", the chief of Khesgis, who cut the head of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi and brought it to the Babur........the same author narrates a legend that a saint told Kheshgis that they should migrate to Hindustan where they will prosper and will remain powerful till the day of judgement...opposite happened, Kheshgis declined in India and got thinned down in numbers with time......there only few thousands "Pathan" families in Kasur nowadays.


I am actually surprised that Sher Shah Suri spared your tribe in Kasur. Sher Shah was issuing death sentence to all those Afghans who were pro-Mughals. Dilawar Khan Lodi, whose traitor father invited Babur to India, was executed by Sher Shah for this reason. Sher Shah massacred all Afghans settled near Chausa who helped Humayun in escape.......

The author must be a pure gul khan who thought babur army was islam pouz and lodhi were namak haram conspiring with hindu against their pakistani ancestors.

[triple300]

Thank you for what?.......you are seeking approval from some nobody on web?

No but it's good to see that you're not ignorant or deluded like some other people on here

[Kabulistan]

No but it's good to see that you're not ignorant or deluded like some other people on here

the general rule it though that if you have to ask if you are pashtun, then you are likely not a pashtun. you are likely very mixed as most people of India with Pathan or Persian ancestry are. they don't look pathan or Persian anymore and will be rejected by proper pashtuns/Persians.

[DaZahroJaam.]

"pashtun is not merely a race, but in fact a state of mind. there is a pashtun laying inside every man, who at times wakes up and overpowers him."