Abstract
The Pashtun belt, encompassing chiefly Eastern Afghanistan
and North Western Pakistan, has been, and continues to be,
the center of religio-political activity. This article aims at
examining these activities in its historical perspectives and has
focused on one of the earliest known Movements that sprouted
in the region. The first known indigenous religio-political
movement of high magnitude started in the area was the
Roshnite struggle against 16th century Mughal India. The
Movement originated in Mehsud Waziristan (forming part of
contemporary tribal areas of Pakistan) and spread into the
whole Pashtun regions. Initially aimed at doctrinal reformation,
the Movement finally assumed a political character. The leader
proclaimed his followers as rightly guided and the nonconformist as outcasts. This resulted in a controversy of high
order. The Pashtun society was rent apart and daggers drawn.
Hostile Pashtun factions first engaged in acrimony and
polemics and eventually began killing in battle-fields. The story
of the feuds of this period spreads over more or less a century.
The leader of the movement, a religious and mystical
practitioner, had a great charm to attract and transform people,
but the movement at present times has little tracing. Besides
the leader, the chief proponents of the movement were men
endowed with literary and intellectual acumen. The combined
efforts of the leader and his followers and also the forceful
counter-reactionary movement, have enriched Pashtun
language and lore. The literature produced during this period
presents an interesting reading of the Pashtun history of this
time.
Key Words: Religion, Mysticism, Preaching, Politics, Debates, Fighting,
Literature
Zahid Shah. (2011) Religio-Political Movements in the Pashtun Belt-The Roshnites, Journal of Political Studies, Volume 18, Issue 2.
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