World of India!: The code of the Pathan e

World of India!

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The code of the Pathan

The Pathans are an enigma. They are known to be fierce fighters living in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and are known to be fiercely independent. This part of the world is truly a world onto its own, with seemingly archaic laws and social mores and yet the Pathans are also known to be some of the most generous and hospitable people.

The Economist has done a wonderful feature in which they try to decipher the code of the Pushtunwali. Sample this:

Pushtunwali's principles have not changed in centuries—certainly not since they were recorded by Victorian ethnographers, middle-class soldiers and civil servants: players of the Great Game. Most lionised the fierce tribesmen, who periodically murdered them. Some even swallowed a delicious Pushtun claim to be descended from a lost tribe of Israel. But not all Westerners fell for the Pushtun. As a reporter for the Daily Telegraph, attached to the Malakand Field Force, Winston Churchill wrote: “Their system of ethics, which regards treachery and violence as virtues rather than vices, has produced a code of honour so strange and inconsistent that it is incomprehensible to a logical mind.”

Must read.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 at 3:37 PM.

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