Religio-Political Movements in the Pashtun Belt-The Roshnites

Abstract

The Pashtun belt, encompassing chiefly Eastern Afghanistan and North Western Pakistan, has been, and continues to be, the center of religio-political activity. This article aims at examining these activities in its historical perspectives and has focused on one of the earliest known Movements that sprouted in the region. The first known indigenous religio-political movement of high magnitude started in the area was the Roshnite struggle against 16th century Mughal India. The Movement originated in Mehsud Waziristan (forming part of contemporary tribal areas of Pakistan) and spread into the whole Pashtun regions. Initially aimed at doctrinal reformation, the Movement finally assumed a political character. The leader proclaimed his followers as rightly guided and the nonconformist as outcasts. This resulted in a controversy of high order. The Pashtun society was rent apart and daggers drawn. Hostile Pashtun factions first engaged in acrimony and polemics and eventually began killing in battle-fields. The story of the feuds of this period spreads over more or less a century. The leader of the movement, a religious and mystical practitioner, had a great charm to attract and transform people, but the movement at present times has little tracing. Besides the leader, the chief proponents of the movement were men endowed with literary and intellectual acumen. The combined efforts of the leader and his followers and also the forceful counter-reactionary movement, have enriched Pashtun language and lore. The literature produced during this period presents an interesting reading of the Pashtun history of this time.