The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State

by Declan Walsh

The origins of the Pashtun have long since melted into a genealogical fog. Some speculate they are ‘lost Jews’ descended from Saul, king of the Israelites – an odd theory, given the anti-Semitism of many Pakistanis. Others trace their roots to the invading armies that passed through, led by Arabs, Persians, Central Asians and Greeks. Simply being a Pashtun is a less complicated matter. Traditionally, there are two requirements: to speak Pashto, an ergative language considered harder to learn than Urdu, and to observe Pashtunwali, the Pashtun code of conduct – literally, ‘the way of the Pashtun’. The bedrock of Pashtunwali is nang, or honour. Nang faces a multitude of threats – a murdered relative, a cheating wife, a casual insult – and is most simply remedied with badal, revenge. Hence the profusion of feuds in places like Lakki Marwat. But Pashtunwali also has many peaceful obligations – such as melmastia, hospitality to a stranger, and nanawatai, sanctuary to a fugitive – that must be equally fastidiously observed.