Pashtun Culture, Pashtun Refugees

Pakistan's mystics in sights of Taliban
By Chris Brummit - AP

Worshippers still flock to the grave of Rahman Baba, a Muslim mystic revered by millions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

.... Scholars say it is hard to overestimate the affection felt by the Pashtun ethnic group of northwest Pakistan and southern Afghanistan for Baba, who lived 300 years ago.

.... "His grave is the center of Pashtun culture," said Dr. Raj Wali Khattak, from the Peshawar University's Pashtun literature department. "While there is some dispute over who the greatest Pashtun poet is, no one disagrees that he is the most popular."





Letter From Mardan - The Fight for Control of the Swat Valley and the Future of Pakistan
By William Wheeler - Foreign Affairs

.... The government seems to have done little to prepare for such a crisis, creating a growing danger of instability from an operation that was supposed to achieve the exact opposite. Although the scale of the crisis may have been hard to predict, the army's lack of planning for the war's humanitarian implications was destined to alienate many of those whom the Pakistani government most needs to convince it can protect.


Refugee Crisis Inflames Ethnic Strife in Pakistan
Influx of Pashtuns to Karachi Sparks Clashes With Majority Muhajirs; Fears of a 'Growing Talibanization' of City
By Yaroslav Trofimov - WSJ

.... "We are not considered Pakistani citizens here," Umar Habib told his brother. "There is discrimination against Pashtuns in Karachi."
The refugee influx to Karachi has inflamed murderous ethnic rivalries that have simmered in Pakistan's biggest city for years. Clashes between the rapidly growing Pashtun population and Karachi's majority community killed dozens of people in recent weeks.