Pashtunistan independence movement

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The Pashtunistan independence movement (Pashto: د پښتونستان خپلواکۍ غورځنګ) is a political movement that seeks the independence of Pashtunistan, the Pashtun regions of western Pakistan, as a nation state for the Pashtun people. The region is currently administered by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern part of Baluchistan province.[1][2][3][4][5]

The movement received heavy support from Afghanistan and played a major role in its foreign policy up until the overthrow of Mohammad Najibullah’s Homeland Party regime in 1992.[6][7]

Proposed name

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The name Pashtunistan originated from the word Pakhtunkhwa.[8] The term means "Land of the Pashtuns".

History

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Flag of Pashtunistan adopted on 2 September 1947[9][10][11]

On 21 June 1947, seven weeks before the partition of British India, a Loya Jirga which included Bacha Khan, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, the Khudai Khidmatgars, members of the Provincial Assembly, Mirzali Khan, and various other Pashtun tribal leaders, adopted the Pashtunistan Resolution. The resolution demanded that Pashtuns be given the option to have a independent Pashtun nation state consisting of all Pashtun territory in British India or seek reunification with Afghanistan, rather than being forced between India or Pakistan.[12] The British refused the demands which resulted in Pashtuns who were eligible to vote (Pashtuns in the Princly states were not eligible to vote) to boycott the referendum which only gave the options of joining India or Pakistan, neither of which were the wishes of the jirga.[13]

"That a free Pashtunistan of all Pashtuns be established. The Constitution of the State will be framed on the basis of Islamic conception, democracy, equality and social justice. This meeting appeals to all Pashtuns to unite for the attainment of this cherished goal and not to submit to any non-Pashtun domination".[14]

In 1947, Afghanistan was the only country to vote against Pakistan's membership into the United Nations in protest to the inclusion of Pashtun-inhabited lands, arguing that Pashtuns had the right to self determination.[15] The currently-used red and black Pashtunistan flag was adopted with the black representing the traditional flag color of Afghanistan, and red representing the previous Pashtun rebel flags used against the British Empire.[16][17] The Pashtunistan flag was raised in Kabul on 2 September 1947, alongside the Afghan flag.[18]

In 1948, the Faqir of Ipi who had previously led rebellions against the British, launched a rebellion against the newly formed Pakistani state in an effort to secede from Pakistan and form an independent Pashtunistan. The Faqir of Ipi took control of North Waziristan's Datta Khel area and declared the establishment of an independent Pashtunistan. The Faqir received support by Afghan Prince Mohammad Daoud Khan and other Pashtun nationalist leaders. The area was eventually re-annexed into Pakistan.[19]

Views on independence

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Part of a series on
Pashtuns

Arguments in favor of independence

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Supporters of Pashtunistan’s independence have argued that the Pashtun territories apart of British India were distinct culturally and politically from the rest of British India on account of Pashtuns being ethnically Afghan and that the concept of the "Indian subcontinent" stopping (in the Pashtun view) "abruptly at the Indus".[4] It has also been argued that the region has never had a “stable character” under foreign rule and therefore could not be fully integrated into Pakistan, even with military action or political coercion.[20][4] Advocates claim that the principle of self-determination, as recognized in the Atlantic Charter and later in the United Nations Charter, grants all peoples the right to freely choose their political status.[4]

Pashtun nationalist leaders maintained that Pashtuns should have been offered the choice of establishing an independent state or joining Afghanistan during the 1947 Partition, rather than being included within Pakistan without a free and fair referendum on their future.[21] Some advocates have further argued that since Pakistan’s sovereignty in these territories derived from British colonial succession rather than Pashtun consent, the incorporation of these areas violated international norms of self-determination.[4]

Others point to UN provisions affirming that territorial changes should only occur “in accordance with the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned,” and that peoples forcibly deprived of sovereignty have a right to restore self-government.[4]

Pakistani government view

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The Pakistan Government’s point of view is based on the legal claim to inheritance of the territory from the British, as a successor authority to the British Government of India.[22] Pakistan also claims that as the population of Pashtunistan is muslim, it should be included in Pakistan, regardless of ethnicity.[4]

Historical support

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Soviet Union

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In December 1955 during his visit Afghanistan, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev publicly endorsed the Pashtunistan movement. The Soviet Union called for the self-determination of Pashtunistan.[23][22] In another visit to Afghanistan in March 1960, Khruschev and Prime Minister Daoud Khan would sign a joint communiqué supporting the principle of self-determination for Pashtuns on the basis of the United Nations Charter, arguing that settling the issue would ensure "peace in the Middle East".[24] The joint communiqué was heavily criticized by the government of Pakistan as “unwarranted” and an interference in Pakistan’s affairs, arguing that Afghan claims lacked "any legal foundation”.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Historical Documents - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  2. ^ "Historical Documents - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  3. ^ Shane, Scott (2009-12-05). "The War in Pashtunistan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Pakhtunistan Day. 1949. p. 7.
  5. ^ Shane, Scott (2009-12-05). "The War in Pashtunistan". Retrieved 2025-10-30. Pashtunistan, an aspirational name coined long ago by advocates of an independent Pashtun homeland. From bases in the Pakistani part of it — the Federally Administered Tribal Areas toward the north and Baluchistan province in the south
  6. ^ Bezhan, Faridullah (2014). "The Pashtunistan Issue and Politics in Afghanistan, 1947-1952". Middle East Journal. 68 (2): 197–209. doi:10.3751/68.2.11. ISSN 0026-3141. JSTOR 43698155.
  7. ^ Synovitz, Ron. "'Pashtunistan' Issues Linger Behind Row". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  8. ^ Faultlines, Volume 18. Institute for Conflict Management. 2007. p. 59. The very concept of Pakhtunistan was taken from the old word Pakhtunkhwa.
  9. ^ "Pashtunistan - 1947-1955 (Flags of the World(Afghanistan: Index to All Pages))".
  10. ^ "Pashtunistan - 1947-1955 (Flags of the World(Afghanistan: Index to All Pages))".
  11. ^ "ISBD view › ACKU catalog". archive.af. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
  12. ^ "Past in Perspective". The Nation. 2019-08-24. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  13. ^ Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency | Stanford University Press. 2014-01-22. ISBN 978-0-8047-8595-2. Archived from the original on 2025-02-02. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  14. ^ Cowshish, Amit (2021-05-04). "Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History". Strategic Analysis. 45 (3): 252–254. doi:10.1080/09700161.2021.1918952. ISSN 0970-0161.
  15. ^ "Afghanistan and Pakistan: The Poisoned Legacy of the Durand Line". HuffPost. 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  16. ^ "Pakhtunistan (Pakistan)". www.fotw.info. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  17. ^ "Paknord". www.rbvex.it. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  18. ^ "Pashtunistan". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  19. ^ Martel, Gordon, ed. (2012). The encyclopedia of war. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9037-4.
  20. ^ Qureshi, I. H. (1959-09-01). "The Pathans, 550 B.C.—A.D. 1957, by Olaf Caroe". Political Science Quarterly. 74 (3): 457–459. doi:10.2307/2146297. ISSN 0032-3195.
  21. ^ Edwards, David B. (1996). Heroes of the Age. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-91631-9.
  22. ^ a b "AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: THE POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DURAND LINE". Cia.gov. 3 October 1978.
  23. ^ "CHAPTER ONE THE AFGHAN COMMUNISTS" (PDF).
  24. ^ a b "Historical Documents - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-30. Afghanistan's claims constituted "unwarranted" interference in Pakistan's affairs