ashdoc
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the recent activities and terror spewed by taliban in pakistan has brought about the spectre of the imminent takeover of pak by the taliban.
in this it will be opposed by the punjabi dominated pak army.
which means that two ancient foes, two great martial races of the northwest, will be fighting it out again- punjabis and pathans!
of course due to common religion parts of the pak army may join the talibs but the punjabi generals in islamabad are not going to watch idly as the taliban conquer the country.
the pak army has been brought up in the martial races theory of only the two races being martial enough to defend the nation while the mujahirs, the sindhis , the baluchis , the bengalis of east pak being inferior.
the punjabis are of course the 'big brothers' of the pathans according to the pak army.
actually they are bigger only in numbers -as a history of their relation with the pathans (or pashtuns as they call themselves due to their language) shows.
the rivalry started well over a thousand years ago when the hindushahi dynasty of punjab invaded afghanistan and conquered it.the pathans were then nothing more than disorganized pagans with no fixed religion and quckly crumbled before the hindushahi onslaught.
the punjabis managed to convert quite a few pathans to hinduism. today they live in sqalid refugee camps near delhi and still have punjabi surnames like arora malhotra etc inspite of their distinctive pathan appearance.
this round had gone to the punjabis.
but the hindushhis had not heard of the great wind that was blowing on the west-the wind called the might of islam!
under their leader subuktagin the turks conquered the mountains of afghanistan and drove out the punjabis.
according to muslim historian farishta- ''the hindushahi rulers were great kings. they did everything that was right and proper for the good of the people.''he shows rare appreciation of a bitter opponent by his savage conquerers.today nothing remains of the hindushahis except memories.
they were outclassed by the military tactics of the turks, especially the parthian shot-the art of pretending to be fleeing away and suddenly firing arrows accurately by turning backwards to fire them.
more generally they were swept away by the tidal wave of history- islam had arrived to change the face of the earth forever!
the pathans realised that a new religion had arrived -one that would give free reign to their ancient lust for loot rape and plunder and would indeed encourage it by giving it religious sanction.soon the cry of jihad was heard in the afghan hills.
under mahmud of gazni, subuktagins son the pathans would carry out lightning raids into india and conquer the punjab.but they themselves would be ruled along with the punjabis by turks.
soon afghanistan would be witness to the thundering hooves of the armies of chinggis khan -and the pathans would be cut of from india while india was being conquerd by the turks under mohammad ghauri and his general qutubuddin aibak.
under sher shah suri they would rule punjab again- but only for a short time.
soon both punjab and afghanistan would come under the aegis of the mughal empire.
it was with the collapse of the mughals that the two rivals would come face to face again.
the pathans - or the afghans as they called themselves now would carry out some of the most savage raids known to india under their leader ahmad shah abdally.the women of punjab would become prey to the the pathan lust -repeatedly, again and again, especially after the pathans had given a shattering defeat to the marathas in the battle of panipat.
the golden temple would be destroyed and the punjabis mass massacred in a great killing remembered by them as 'wada ghollugra'
but the punjabis had not been sitting idly while india was being trodden and ruled and fooled by foreign conquerers.
in the midst of all the mayhem a new religion had been born - sikhism.
the religion created by guru nanak was given a militant bent by guru gobind singh.
the sikhs were encouraged to keep kirpans for selfdefence. every sikh had to wear a turban and grow a beard and hair so that he would be instantly recognisable anywhere- he could not run for cover and melt among the people. he had to stand and fight.
every sikh was called a sardar ,that is a noble, so that he was not inferior to any body else.
he was encouraged to take the surname singh - lion.
he was encoraged to think that he alone was equal to any army of 125000- sava lakh.
a force of nihangs- blue turbanned fanatics was created to counter the fervour and fanaticism of the ghazis.
emboldened by such principles the sikhs drove out ahmad shahs hitherto invinvible pathans out of punjab.
under maharajah ranjit singh they conquered peshawar and the northwest frontier from the pathans-places they have not got back to this day.
today if the pakistan army crumbles before the taliban onslaught the punjabis wont be finished.
as the taliban approach the indian frontier they will be faced with a old and familiar foe- the gallant sikhs of punjab.
of course both sides will be backed by the militaries and paramilitaries of both nations.
it will be interesting to see what turn this rivalry will take then.
we just have to wait and watch....
in this it will be opposed by the punjabi dominated pak army.
which means that two ancient foes, two great martial races of the northwest, will be fighting it out again- punjabis and pathans!
of course due to common religion parts of the pak army may join the talibs but the punjabi generals in islamabad are not going to watch idly as the taliban conquer the country.
the pak army has been brought up in the martial races theory of only the two races being martial enough to defend the nation while the mujahirs, the sindhis , the baluchis , the bengalis of east pak being inferior.
the punjabis are of course the 'big brothers' of the pathans according to the pak army.
actually they are bigger only in numbers -as a history of their relation with the pathans (or pashtuns as they call themselves due to their language) shows.
the rivalry started well over a thousand years ago when the hindushahi dynasty of punjab invaded afghanistan and conquered it.the pathans were then nothing more than disorganized pagans with no fixed religion and quckly crumbled before the hindushahi onslaught.
the punjabis managed to convert quite a few pathans to hinduism. today they live in sqalid refugee camps near delhi and still have punjabi surnames like arora malhotra etc inspite of their distinctive pathan appearance.
this round had gone to the punjabis.
but the hindushhis had not heard of the great wind that was blowing on the west-the wind called the might of islam!
under their leader subuktagin the turks conquered the mountains of afghanistan and drove out the punjabis.
according to muslim historian farishta- ''the hindushahi rulers were great kings. they did everything that was right and proper for the good of the people.''he shows rare appreciation of a bitter opponent by his savage conquerers.today nothing remains of the hindushahis except memories.
they were outclassed by the military tactics of the turks, especially the parthian shot-the art of pretending to be fleeing away and suddenly firing arrows accurately by turning backwards to fire them.
more generally they were swept away by the tidal wave of history- islam had arrived to change the face of the earth forever!
the pathans realised that a new religion had arrived -one that would give free reign to their ancient lust for loot rape and plunder and would indeed encourage it by giving it religious sanction.soon the cry of jihad was heard in the afghan hills.
under mahmud of gazni, subuktagins son the pathans would carry out lightning raids into india and conquer the punjab.but they themselves would be ruled along with the punjabis by turks.
soon afghanistan would be witness to the thundering hooves of the armies of chinggis khan -and the pathans would be cut of from india while india was being conquerd by the turks under mohammad ghauri and his general qutubuddin aibak.
under sher shah suri they would rule punjab again- but only for a short time.
soon both punjab and afghanistan would come under the aegis of the mughal empire.
it was with the collapse of the mughals that the two rivals would come face to face again.
the pathans - or the afghans as they called themselves now would carry out some of the most savage raids known to india under their leader ahmad shah abdally.the women of punjab would become prey to the the pathan lust -repeatedly, again and again, especially after the pathans had given a shattering defeat to the marathas in the battle of panipat.
the golden temple would be destroyed and the punjabis mass massacred in a great killing remembered by them as 'wada ghollugra'
but the punjabis had not been sitting idly while india was being trodden and ruled and fooled by foreign conquerers.
in the midst of all the mayhem a new religion had been born - sikhism.
the religion created by guru nanak was given a militant bent by guru gobind singh.
the sikhs were encouraged to keep kirpans for selfdefence. every sikh had to wear a turban and grow a beard and hair so that he would be instantly recognisable anywhere- he could not run for cover and melt among the people. he had to stand and fight.
every sikh was called a sardar ,that is a noble, so that he was not inferior to any body else.
he was encouraged to take the surname singh - lion.
he was encoraged to think that he alone was equal to any army of 125000- sava lakh.
a force of nihangs- blue turbanned fanatics was created to counter the fervour and fanaticism of the ghazis.
emboldened by such principles the sikhs drove out ahmad shahs hitherto invinvible pathans out of punjab.
under maharajah ranjit singh they conquered peshawar and the northwest frontier from the pathans-places they have not got back to this day.
today if the pakistan army crumbles before the taliban onslaught the punjabis wont be finished.
as the taliban approach the indian frontier they will be faced with a old and familiar foe- the gallant sikhs of punjab.
of course both sides will be backed by the militaries and paramilitaries of both nations.
it will be interesting to see what turn this rivalry will take then.
we just have to wait and watch....
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