Pashtunistan: Myth of Secession or Quest for Ethnic Identity

Abstract

The Pashtunistan issue has remained one of the most debated questions in the historiography of Pak-Afghan relations. Existing scholarship has interpreted Pashtunistan as a persistent separatist movement supported by Afghanistan, primarily, while paying insufficient attention to the historical evolution of the concept and its changing political meanings. This article re-examines the origins and transformation of the Pashtunistan issue from the partition of British India to the Bhutto era (1971-1977). Drawing upon archival records, government documents, newspapers, memoirs, and secondary literature, it argues that Pashtunistan initially emerged as a demand for a separate Pashtun state in 1947. This was in response to the limited options offered in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) referendum. However, following Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's oath of allegiance to Pakistan in 1948, the mainstream Pashtun leadership increasingly redefined Pashtunistan as a constitutional demand for provincial autonomy and the renaming of the North-West Frontier Province within the Pakistani federation. The article further demonstrates that successive Pakistani governments frequently interpreted these constitutional demands through the lens of secessionism, while successive Afghan governments employed the Pashtunistan issue as an instrument of their foreign policy and territorial claims concerning the Durand Line. Although the issue resurfaced during the Bhutto era due to political repression and the activities of a militant faction that sought Afghan support, the mainstream Pashtun leadership remained committed to constitutional and parliamentary politics. The study concludes that Pashtunistan should not be understood as a continuous separatist project but as an evolving political discourse reshaped by constitutional developments, state policies, and the changing dynamics of Pak-Afghan relations.

Keywords: Pashtunistan, Pak-Afghan Relations, Pashtun Ethnic Politics, Provincial Autonomy, NWFP, Ghaffar Khan, Wali Khan, Bhutto Era.