Pathans in India

Pathans in India
Total population
3.2 million (2018; AIPJH estimate)[1][2][3]
21,677 (2011 census figure of Pashto-speakers)[4]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Religion
Majority: Sunni Islam
Minority: Shia Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism
  • ^a The census figure only records individuals who speak Pashto as their first language, rather than the total number of individuals of full or partial Pashtun ancestry.[1]

Pathans or the Pathans of India are citizens or residents in India who are of ethnic Pashtun ancestry. "Pathan" is the local Hindavi term for an individual who belongs to the Pashtun ethnic group, or descends from it.[6][7][a] The Pathans originate from the regions of Eastern Afghanistan and Northwestern Pakistan,[11][12] ethnolinguistically known as Pashtunistan.

There are varying estimates of the population of Pathan descent living in India, ranging from 3.2 million people per the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind[1][2][3] to "twice their population in Afghanistan" as per Khan Mohammad Atif, an academic at the University of Lucknow.[13] In the 2011 Census of India, 21,677 individuals reported Pashto as their mother tongue.[4]

Large-scale Pashtun migration began in the 11th and 12th centuries, as a result of the many Muslim empires and dynasties founded by Pashtuns on the Indian subcontinent.[14] Pashtuns also arrived as traders, officers, administrators, diplomats, travelers, religious saints and preachers,[5] students, and as soldiers serving in the armies of India's rulers. In many cases, migration and settlement occurred amongst whole clans.[15] Today, the Pathans are a collection of diversely scattered communities present across the length and breadth of India, with the largest populations principally settled in the plains of northern and central India.[14][15][13] Following the partition of India in 1947, many of them migrated to Pakistan.[14] The majority of Indian Pathans are Urdu-speaking communities,[14] who have assimilated into the local society over the course of generations.[16] Pathans have influenced and contributed to various fields in India, particularly politics, the entertainment industry and sports.[13]

  1. ^ a b c Ali, Arshad (15 February 2018). "Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan's great granddaughter seeks citizenship for 'Phastoons' in India". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 21 February 2019. Interacting with mediapersons on Wednesday, Yasmin, the president of All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind, said that there were 32 lakh Phastoons in the country who were living and working in India but were yet to get citizenship.
  2. ^ a b "Frontier Gandhi's granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans". The News International. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  3. ^ a b Bhattacharya, Ravik (15 February 2018). "Frontier Gandhi's granddaughter urges Centre to grant citizenship to Pathans". The Indian Express. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Census of India 2011: Language" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  5. ^ a b Nile Green (16 February 2012). Making Space: Sufis and Settlers in Early Modern India. OUP India. pp. 102, 116, 117–. ISBN 978-0-19-908875-1.
  6. ^ "Pashtun". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 May 2020. Pashtun, also spelled Pushtun or Pakhtun, Hindustani Pathan, Persian Afghan, Pashto-speaking people residing primarily in the region that lies between the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan and the northern stretch of the Indus River in Pakistan.
  7. ^ von Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph (1985). Tribal populations and cultures of the Indian subcontinent. Handbuch der Orientalistik/2,7. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 126. ISBN 90-04-07120-2. OCLC 240120731. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  8. ^ George Morton-Jack (24 February 2015). The Indian Army on the Western Front South Asia Edition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-1-107-11765-5. 'Pathan', an Urdu and a Hindi term, was usually used by the British when speaking in English. They preferred it to 'Pashtun', 'Pashtoon', 'Pakhtun' or 'Pukhtun', all Pashtu versions of the same word, which the frontier tribesmen would have used when speaking of themselves in their own Pashtu dialects.
  9. ^ James William Spain (1963). The Pathan Borderland. Mouton. The most familiar name in the west is Pathan, a Hindi term adopted by the British, which is usually applied only to the people living east of the Durand.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Khyber was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bombay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Robert L. Canfield; Gabriele Rasuly-Paleczek (4 October 2010). Ethnicity, Authority, and Power in Central Asia: New Games Great and Small. Routledge. pp. 145, 153, 154, 212. ISBN 978-1-136-92749-2.
  13. ^ a b c Alavi, Shams Ur Rehman (11 December 2008). "Indian Pathans to broker peace in Afghanistan". Hindustan Times. Pathans are now scattered across the country, and have pockets of influence in parts of UP, Bihar and other states. They have also shone in several fields, especially Bollywood and sports. The three most famous Indian Pathans are Dilip Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Irfan Pathan. "The population of Pathans in India is twice their population in Afghanistan and though we no longer have ties (with that country), we have a common ancestry and feel it's our duty to help put an end to this menace", Atif added. Academicians, social activists, writers and religious scholars are part of the initiative. The All India Muslim Majlis, All India Minorities Federation and several other organisations have joined the call for peace and are making preparations for the jirga.
  14. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Khan2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b Swarup, Shubhangi (27 January 2011). "The Kingdom of Khan". Open. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  16. ^ Nile Green (2017). Afghanistan's Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban. Univ of California Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-0-520-29413-4.


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