The Pashtun and jihadi movements

ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to Brigadier Asad Munir’s article of April 26 titled “The Pashtun and jihadi movements”. I would like to put the record straight.

It is a fact that the Taliban are Pakhtun, but all Pakhtuns are not Taliban. In fact, a majority of Pakhtuns is against the ideology of the Taliban and think of them as a curse, because they believe that the negative image portrayed by the Taliban has tainted their image.

The Pakhtuns have played an important role in the history of their region. From their community have come Muslim rulers, administrators and soldiers. While many of them have moved out of the highlands in search of an easier life in the plains, their mountainous homeland continues to be their stronghold of strength and freedom.

AR Khan Yusufzai

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2011.