Topics and independent views on Pakistani and related issues from an individual Pakistani nationalist
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Pan-Indo-Iranism might be the only nationalistic ideology to re-unite Pakistanis outside of religion.
Perhaps the only way to redraw Pakistani nationalism is by spreading Pan-Indo-Iranism or at least base it on a common Indo-Iranic identity.
Let me provide a background on Indo-Iranic peoples. Up to 99% of Pakistanis speak an Indo-Iranic language as their mother tongue.There are about two dozen languages spoken in Pakistan, still 99% of them are Indo-Iranic.
The Indo-Iranic language family can be broken down into four sub groupings. Linguists sometimes say three or even two, but I'll mention all four anyway.
Indo-Aryan- the main ones in Pakistan are Sindhi & Punjabi and of course Undri/Urdu.
Iranic-The main ones in Pakistan are Balochi & Pashto
Dardic-The main one in Pakistan is Kashmiri
Nuristani-Another assumed subfamily of Indo-Iranic but, spoken in north eastern Afghanistan, not Pakistan.
Indo-Iranic speaking people do not necessarily form a common race, but inside Pakistan they do to a very high degree.
Almost all of Pakistan's population belong to haplogroup R1A. If a person were to search for the distribution of haplogroup R1A on the world map, it covers almost entirely all of Pakistan.
Indo-Iranic peoples as a language group includes peoples of non-Indo-Iranic origins as well. For example the Hazaras of Afghanistan are mostly Mongoloids, belonging mostly to haplogroup Q, but today they speak an Iranic language Dari.
This does not automatically put them into the Indo-Iranic family or automatically place them into haplogroup R1A or any sub-group of haplogroup R for that matter.
Rather it places them into the Indo-Iranic language group, which would exclude them from Pan-Indo-Iranic ideologies or movements.
Besides the Hazaras maintain their Turko-Mongol culture & identity even today.
The Kurdish language is also Iranic but Kurds are said to be actually mostly of Arab descent but switched to an Iranic language due to being ruled by ancient Iranic-speaking people. This would put most Kurds into haplogroup J1. (a sub grouping of haplogroup J)
Coming to Pakistan, Indo-Iranic speaking people in Pakistan do have more in common beyond just linguistics. As my previous article(s) stated Pakistan has a high frequency of R1A gene markers. Kashmiris have it the most Pashtuns are also amongst the higher carriers.
Plus all of Pakistan's Indo-Iranic population is Caucasoid.
A clear case of common a ancestry in almost the entire populations.
In Iran, India, Afghanistan, Iraq you have different peoples from different language families belonging to different genetic haplogroups as well.
So it is good to believe a common Indo-Iranic identity is what can unite & define us. Pashtuns it is said believe are the closest genetic relatives of populations living inside Kashmir having higher frequencies of R1A.
This can give us a strong claim over Kashmir's population, even outside of religion. Even Kashmiris also don't relate themselves with Indians racially or culturally.
Even though Indo-Iranic speakers spread all the way to Bangladesh, they don't share common genetics. Even though we are commonly compared to North Indians, their R1A percentage is still lower and it would drop significantly if they let go of Kashmir.
Indian Brahmins have alot of it but alot of sources state that they fall into haplogroup R2 which is still in haplogroup R, but very distantly related to R1 by generations. People in Pakistan belonging to haplogroup R1 are even closer to Europeans than to the R2 careers in India.
Plus it's still a minority of people living in a small portion of Northwestern India.
My main point is, spreading pan-Indo-Iranism won't mean having to unite with Indians & Iranians and other Indo-Iranic speaking peoples.
A main highlight of Pan-Indo-Iranism would be the common R1A haplogroup (and a little R1B in the north western areas), pointing to a common ancestor(s) of just about every ethnic group in Pakistan.
And of course common linguistics & culture. There's a good chance that there are still remainders of proto-Indo-Iranic culture & mythology today in Pakistan, such as the endangered Kalash who still practice it or at least a form of it.
There are many books on Indo-Iranic peoples.
But what is Pakistanis opinion on our Indo-Iranic identity? Surely, we do not speak a common language in Pakistan today (most countries in the world are multilingual anyway), we do not have 100% the same culture today in Pakistan, but rather closely related cultures & languages. So how else do we draw out our identity if not for a common Indo-Iranic identity? What else do we have in common besides this?
Religion is another, but the problem is not all Pakistanis have the same religion, and even the Muslim majority is divided into sects which has caused alot of violent friction amongst the population.
Readers who are unfamiliar with the subject of Indo-Iranic peoples can find further information on the site linked:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Indo-Iranians#encyclopedia
Though the term Iranic is regularly called Iranian, Iranic is the more correct and accurate term. Iranian today refers to a person from present-day Iran whereas Iranic refers to the language family (and sometimes racial & cultural, if the speakers of the Indo-Iranic tongue belong to a common haplogroup of R1A).
A more detailed chart of the Indo-Iranic language family:
A detailed video below covering this ideology:
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