Altaf Ullah Khan

Kashif ul Islam

241555837

Language documentation

Interview with sir Altaf Ullah Khan 00:01:001. Sir! Please introduce yourself a bit?

Well, my name is Altaf Khan and I am a professor of mass communication in FC college and dean of humanities as well.

2. Okay. Say Something about your childhood memories in your home or surrounding/society?

Yes, Alot of them. My mother (In Pashto we call our mother as "Moor" and we call it "Moor Bibi" while giving outmost respect to mother) belonged to Punjab, I grew up here in Lahore and spent some time in village Minigap in Attack district and I also belong to Tangi, Charade, so sometimes here and sometimes there. I got some of my education here in Lahore and some there in Tangi. our childhood was not like childhood now, because childhood now is a bit hard, even one cannot see sunlight. During my childhood, when we used to travel to Charade, and it’s a fertile region, it has water, sugarcanes and everything, sugarcane crusher machines and making of jaggery, a lot of enjoyment was there. My childhood is spent in two cultures, while in Punjab, here were wheat crops. since, we were landholders, and we used to harvest wheat. our childhood was more family oriented with cousins, family friends. when I see at childhood nowadays, it looks more alone since last 20/25 years. we Pashtuns had hujra culture then, that was very good for socialization,

3. which language has impacted you the most? and which is your mother tongue Punjabi or Pashto as your mother tongue?

My mother belonged to Punjab, but they grew up in charade, so they also knew Pashto, I remember, since I grew up here, got schooling here, so, didn’t knew Pashto so well, but I was more fluent in Punjabi, spoke it clearly in was familiar with many dialects. both the languages are good, but Pashto is my go-to language and but Punjabi depends on the convenience, wherever I need it, I speak it. the problem is, people of Punjab do not speak Punjabi, instead they speak Urdu, for instance, in Lahore, people here belong to Punjabi language but they do not speak Punjabi, either they speak Urdu or English at specific occasions and places. Pashtuns, speak Pashto. the people living in Peshawar city, their mother language is Hindko while they do not speak Hindko, people in Punjab speak Punjabi for jokes and slangs while Pashtuns must speak Pashto in every situation. so, my language is also Pashto.

4. from the first day since we came to university, we have seen you. our seniors have told us that you belong to charade and a Pashtun, that's why I thought, Pashto might be your language and it impacts the personality?

my closeness to Pashto language is because of my teaching Pashto language for twenty-eight years in Peshawar university. since my almost life is there, I have also translated two books of Khalil jib ran in Pashto in early 90s. those were; "the prophet" and "Sand and foam". that translation was also published in Pashto newspaper of that time with the name "what" but that was not digital era, when it got published, and the friend who got it published was hired by voice of America, and I was student in Germany, so he sent me the cuttings from that newspaper and instructed to get it published properly when you go back to Peshawar. but you know, when I got back, I don’t know where it lacked and could not got grip back over it. I still want to do it again. there is an interesting story, I went to Afghanistan and I had a friend there, his name barman pathway, he belongs to Kandahar, and he is granting manager at US Institute of peace. we went to their place at his uncle Abdul Rehman pathway was permanent representative of Afghanistan in UN, we went to his grave to pray for his departed soul, when we were praying, Abdul Rehman told me that his uncle has translated the prophet in Persian, that was 2010, then I told him that Pashto translation of the prophet is carried by me. then he said, you both are alike and together, but then I said, at this time I am not like him or with him. 00:02:005. how do you see Pashto language in educational field and social settings? has it developed, standing still or remain unstudied? what has changed about language?

Language develops and grown if you own them, speak them, you feel proud while speaking it or not. Pashtun people speak Pashto language in their daily life and it is good, if you do not speak a language, then you cannot explore its art, culture, and everything because you do not think in that language, you do not dream in that language, Pashto is such an alive language, its literature and specifically its poetry, we Pashtuns has verbal culture, we talk and transfer history through oral literature, poetry is more found in our verbal culture. Urdu poetry is also I think very good and I like it personally but some of the poets of the present are frivolous sometimes, they know about social media platforms and use it according to their choice, so use it anonymously but in Pashto, I have not seen low standard poetry till now. as it is the digital age, I see poets and then I realize the condition of Pashtuns, it makes us sad because we feel it most, and I am also happy for the people who do not hesitate from writing what they feel. I think it’s a necessary thing for a culture and a society to to express what they feel or how they think without hesitation or shyness,

6. I have followed you on social media platforms, and I see your poetry which is almost in Urdu language, it’s not necessary that you must write in Pashto language, far from social media, do you write Pashto prose or poetry or any other work in Pashto?

No, I have not done it in Pashto, the reason for that is I am grown up mostly in my uncle’s eyes and they speak Pashto but they had a library in their home and all the Urdu poetry was present there, from the very 1st poet of Urdu till now, they have all the Urdu poetry. so, I got the chance to read Urdu poetry, and also, I like Urdu language, and the other reason for not writing Pashto is you cannot write literature forcefully according to your wish, you can’t do that. but what I wish to do is podcast, but due to shortage of time I cannot manage to do it, because I think every Pashtun consider that they have right over their homeland, so what I do here may have given me more happiness if I had done that in Peshawar. I am not saying that I regret doing here what I am doing here, but I think Pashtuns are more earthbound. I think it’s very necessary for Pashtuns to develop their discourse, when we talk about ourselves, we go much louder than it should be, so I think podcast can help in developing our discourse, so it can be easy for us. 00:03:007. Any linguistics or cultural challenges and problems you have faced due to Pashto speaking or being Pashtun? have you ever been marginalized?

yes, very often. one of the compliments that I get many a times people say to me but they don’t know that it’s an insult, which is "you don’t look like Pashtun", you speak very good Urdu, you don’t look like a Pashtun, you are very soft spoken, so, you can’t be a Pashtun, you have a very good dress sense, you can’t be a Pashtun. people say this but they don’t know that it’s an insult, they insult my identity, that is because of center peri free issues, if you move abroad, people still compliment you, I have also heard that you don’t look Pakistani and I ask, is it a compliment? they say yes, and then I always say that it’s an insult. then also you have to prove yourself in Pakistan. when I was in Peshawar, I was internationally known but not in Pakistan, because people say, what a person can say if he is coming from peshwa. so, I used to travel abroad to Germany, America, and three or more times a year, I used to speak on issues which are cultural and journalistic too but in Pakistan, Lahore and Karachi, people used to say, that was another compliment that I got, I was sitting in TB center, there a journalist said to me, you don’t look Pashtun, then I thought this is the same compliment. yes, we are marginalized, and when we struggle to make ourself to the peak, it needs a lot of efforts, it’s not easy and it’s a fact. in Pakistan, for Pashtuns and Baloch’s, they need to struggle more. another thing is I think we aspire people to be identified because we have a civilization that is far ancient and we have kept intact with Pashtunwali at every level.

8. In Pashto folklores, there are many poets and singers, what are your experiences and how much have you read Pashto literature?

I have read about Khushal khan baba, Rahman baba, mere hamza Shinwar (he belongs to our region nearby), Rehmat shah sail and others, but Rehmat shah sail is from our age approximately or maybe a bit older than me. fortunately, Pashto academy in Peshawar university is besides journalism department, may God have mercy on raja wail shah Khattak which was director of the Pashto academy and also a mento. and I was a young lecturer and I often used to sit with them. the deewan of hamza Shinwar sahib was also gathered by raja wail shah Khattak. and about singers, I have the good fortune of knowing many of them, like Gulzar Alam, Haroon Bacha whom I met in America and he was kind enough, we sat together for four hours, also, we enjoyed the gathering. similarly, I know many artists in person, like Humayun which is younger to me, and many others. I don’t know much artists here but in Peshawar I know many of them and we remain in contact often. 00:04:009. what can we do for keeping our language, culture and society on its place and for its development?

look! there are two things, one is research, I remember when we were students, I worked on a Pashto magazine with the name "Pashtun" and now I wish to publish that as a book, some of our friends worked on press of Pakhtunkhwa before partition and after partition. this I think is the era of digital humanities which is very good to digitalize the literature, and we have to work from very basics, means the documents and folklores that are still in use and in hands. people still take interest in Khushal khan baba, but fifty years from now or twenty years from now, it won’t be there. so, this is the time that the literature should be digitalized and worked on. I think, we are more familiar with Rahman baba than the generation of this time, similarly people are forgetting hamza baba, but Ghalib are Shakespeare are known to people, it is good but we must work on Pashto to digitalize it. we must have to prepare ourself for this digitalization of the literature, because we have verbal culture that is; stories being told in hujras. the good thing about now is; we have videos and recordings for everything, which is good but it should be organized. university students and the young generation has a lot to do with all this because there are lots of digital platforms and everyone has access to these digital platforms. if someone is interested in hamza baba's poetry, he can access and read it and digitalize it. this digitalization can help in development of Pashto language.

What are the issues that Pashto language face while growing/development?

The main thing that matters is power, if your language is not participating in the balanced representation of other languages then your language faces difficulties. Economic weakness is the main factor that weakens you as a community and when your community faces these weaknesses, then your culture and language both become weak and at the bank of extinction. The good thing here is, we own our language and culture but then we are on the wrong side of the divide because we don't have power or economic status as needed. Phytons are marginalized in this country, and when I say marginalized, I don’t mean complete marginalization. We have taken more out of here than the number of our individuals. Some of our friends say, we don't have representation, we do have representation compared to Baloch’s and Sindhis others. I think we have more than the other nations. 00:05:00Q. In our houses, as we are told stories by our elders, grandfather and grandmother, of their youth and of verbal literature we got till now, through storytelling and other verbal histories, do you remember any of them and can you elaborate one of those, like the one we heard was of “Momin Khan Sherina”?

Ahh, yes, those were Momin khan Sherina were near to our tangi in Baghdad Mardan, yes, you know Ghani Khan once said; Pashtun mothers bear children for death. That’s why most of the folk of the Pashtuns is tragic. All the love stories have not always been ended happily. It happens everywhere in the world, like Momin khan Sherina and Adam Khan, yes, this man is Adam Khan Sherbini. This is the man; this is the Baghdad. It is a very known story. People call him that. People owned that these two lovers are from our area. One of our friends was from Baghdad. If we all see, there are disputes over water, opponents and love. Financial issues, disputes among families, these are universal things. In all the folk around the world is viewed it shows that all the love dots and love stories do not connect or connect for a tragedy. Punjabis call it Sharek; we Pashtuns say it as tanbur. Tambuwal is the thing that was the central part, if one knew that there are blames of sins on anyone, and if one knew that those were just blames, he would still have to kill the other. If you are a young grown, these things effect you a lot. But no one learn any lesson from these tragic stories and people go on loving each other. Pashtun culture is more open than rural Punjab culture. In our Pashtun culture you could express your love to a girl, but in Punjab rural culture you could not say that. Punjab society is generified. But we see to it, it brings courage, it represents culture.

I am also in the thought of our Pashtun culture where every love story brings a tragedy, and killing? So how you see the society?

Yes, Pashtun society in this matter is still at the very back of the time and the modern world. These values need to be changed. I have noticed another thing that is; our society has become more conservative than before. People could tell each other that they love each other, but today they can’t, relationship among families on the basis of love stories was a different case, but at least one could say that. When we were growing, it was not bad to say someone that you are in love with him/her. They were had to marry the next day but they could still say that they love someone, but now, the situation is different. I think the Islamization process started in the 80s in Pakistan and KP suffered more because of Afghan involvement, yes, our society was religious but it was not extremist or obscurantist, values of Pashtun culture were practiced and we didn't have any opposition with Islam, it’s a late century development and still going. We needed to have grown/developed more than before, Pashtun society would have had a different picture now. When I entered my 30s, I realized that this is not the land that it used to be before. There are boundaries/limitations than before. We Pashtuns are more spontaneous and politically corrected now which suits Punjab or other places because these are feudal structures. Our spontaneity is uplifted by present day some capitalistic effects and other stuff. I don't know if we can live a life without being too careful. Our society was religious but not in this way. 00:06:00Q. As you said earlier that our society is now more conservative than before, there is a custom in which, a sister is sacrificed in place of a sin committed by a brother is something that we cannot tell the world about.

A. Some of our friends with utopian explanations argue that it's true but the simple fact is; this is wrong. For example, you cannot hold a sister offended for a sin committed by a brother. Blood disputes are often solved through this custom. When a girl is taken/given in place of her brother's sin, she loses respect. In ancient times weddings, boys would take the responsibility of all the things needed for the wedding or other household of the girl's house. Someone sent/received in someone else's place doesn't have any respect either. Even their children are seen with those eyes of disrespect. A lot of women we know have faced this issue specifically in villages and are married to others on the basis of disputes and this process is called (swear) in Pashto. We need to discuss this issue openly but I think Pashtuns have never discussed this. It should be clearly outspoken that it is wrong and we cannot justify it like there are a lot of things that people have accepted. West, in ancient times, was more conservative than us but then it reformed itself which is not bad, same is the case with swear which is wrong and this custom needs to be discussed and terminated from the culture because there are lot ways through which disputes can be settled. One sacrifices his daughter to settle a dispute but don't sacrifice his assets/property, even in our own home, we settled disputes in return of swear, but our family's men were good and they gave respect to those women like their other women. There is no justification. This is so unfortunate but we cannot do anything about this.

First, we have to end disputes and make our hearts clear for each other. You can unlearn things, we changed our dress, our fashion, and a lot of other things have changed in Pashtun culture/society, and Pashtuns have evolved as a community or as a nation. Why Pashtun always have disputes, why can’t they live peacefully? And if you have done something wrong, why don't you learn from your mistakes? And then if you want to settle that issue, why is woman held responsible for that.

Q. Our hometown is Waziristan, and we have different culture there from other Pashtuns of settled KP and other areas of Pashtuns. So, what are some of the norms that you think are specific to your area and other Pashtuns don’t know or do it?

The people of charade and martin, the people of Swabi then, are softer than us. The other benefit that we often ignore/don’t now of is "bacha khan" who started "reform moment" from stanza. He went to all the areas bane, swat and other areas of Pashtun’s belt. charade, was his homeland and education's importance increased due to his presence and struggles. We talked about swear earlier, two of my aunties came to our house through swear but no one never disrespected them. They never spend a single day harshly because of being a woman used for settling a dispute. They were like ordinary women as our mother and other women were. Charade has benefited from those struggles and movements of bacha khan. Bacha khan was just twenty when he made a school in stanza, and he met Gandhi in 1921, so, it’s not Gandhi’s concepts nor from congress. I think education has benefited these people. I know your areas, I have relatives in bane and dear Ismail khan, sometimes we notice that main language of Pashtuns in Pakistan is the language we speak right, the one spoken in Peshawar is standard, and the same is spoken in charade, Nowshera. Even bahadur sha Zafar kaka Khel wrote book. "Pashtuns in the light of history" on Pashtuns history. You know education changes a lot of things. We do have swear culture but we deal with it in an educated manner. Education if do not teach you these things then this education system must not right for instance, only one man changed everything through education. We have degrees but if it does not change us, we must wonder then. 00:08:00How much impact can Pushto language have by adding it to the curriculum or how can it develop the Pashto language itself?

It is very important. I have studied it and it was part of the curriculum when we were younger. It’s your language, you think and dream in this language. Germans says, your language is that in which you dream. And the other thing that I don’t understand is, what is the disadvantage of learning a language to a country. We see Urdu, its land is not here, it came from UP, but languages that has land here are needed to be taught. And it is children’s right that they should read and write their mother tongue. Language is more verbal because lots of poets cannot write Pashto. Novel in Pashto is very rare, who should write it? Hamza baba wrote that. He knew Pashto writing. And if you cannot write in Pashto, what will you do? Say it verbally only? You can also make someone write it for you but it is still necessary to know, read and write.

Concluding question is what is your advice/message to youth and what can they do for the development of Pashto language?

There are lot of ways, one of them is digital communication and platforms. Boys and girls have these platforms that somehow give you publisher's right as newspaper/television gives you and everyone has some skills, I think. Youth is so serious in identity issues because of the crises. I am not bounding anyone, use these platforms for entertainment, but also work on your language and culture. When we speak Pashto, we say Pashtunwali, that include Gharat, hegira, Nang, Tura. We are marginalized and we have to realize that. And being marginalized puts responsibilities on you, because young is the one that can do everything. In my age you think you have done your part. Your identity is in your own hands. Do not only rely on others to speak about you or on a vlog that shows swat/Waziristan is beautiful. speak for yourself.

Kashif ul Islam

241555837

Language documentation

Interview with sir Altaf Ullah Khan

1. Sir! Please introduce yourself a bit?

Well, my name is Altaf Khan and I am a professor of mass communication in FC college and dean of humanities as well.

2. Okay. Say Something about your childhood memories in your home or surrounding/society?

Yes, Alot of them. My mother (In Pashto we call our mother as "Moor" and we call it "Moor Bibi" while giving outmost respect to mother) belonged to Punjab, I grew up here in Lahore and spent some time in village Minigap in Attack district and I also belong to Tangi, Charade, so sometimes here and sometimes there. I got some of my education here in Lahore and some there in Tangi. our childhood was not like childhood now, because childhood now is a bit hard, even one cannot see sunlight. During my childhood, when we used to travel to Charade, and it’s a fertile region, it has water, sugarcanes and everything, sugarcane crusher machines and making of jaggery, a lot of enjoyment was there. My childhood is spent in two cultures, while in Punjab, here were wheat crops. since, we were landholders, and we used to harvest wheat. our childhood was more family oriented with cousins, family friends. when I see at childhood nowadays, it looks more alone since last 20/25 years. we Pashtuns had hujra culture then, that was very good for socialization,

3. which language has impacted you the most? and which is your mother tongue Punjabi or Pashto as your mother tongue?

My mother belonged to Punjab, but they grew up in charade, so they also knew Pashto, I remember, since I grew up here, got schooling here, so, didn’t knew Pashto so well, but I was more fluent in Punjabi, spoke it clearly in was familiar with many dialects. both the languages are good, but Pashto is my go-to language and but Punjabi depends on the convenience, wherever I need it, I speak it. the problem is, people of Punjab do not speak Punjabi, instead they speak Urdu, for instance, in Lahore, people here belong to Punjabi language but they do not speak Punjabi, either they speak Urdu or English at specific occasions and places. Pashtuns, speak Pashto. the people living in Peshawar city, their mother language is Hindko while they do not speak Hindko, people in Punjab speak Punjabi for jokes and slangs while Pashtuns must speak Pashto in every situation. so, my language is also Pashto.

4. from the first day since we came to university, we have seen you. our seniors have told us that you belong to charade and a Pashtun, that's why I thought, Pashto might be your language and it impacts the personality?

my closeness to Pashto language is because of my teaching Pashto language for twenty-eight years in Peshawar university. since my almost life is there, I have also translated two books of Khalil jib ran in Pashto in early 90s. those were; "the prophet" and "Sand and foam". that translation was also published in Pashto newspaper of that time with the name "what" but that was not digital era, when it got published, and the friend who got it published was hired by voice of America, and I was student in Germany, so he sent me the cuttings from that newspaper and instructed to get it published properly when you go back to Peshawar. but you know, when I got back, I don’t know where it lacked and could not got grip back over it. I still want to do it again. there is an interesting story, I went to Afghanistan and I had a friend there, his name barman pathway, he belongs to Kandahar, and he is granting manager at US Institute of peace. we went to their place at his uncle Abdul Rehman pathway was permanent representative of Afghanistan in UN, we went to his grave to pray for his departed soul, when we were praying, Abdul Rehman told me that his uncle has translated the prophet in Persian, that was 2010, then I told him that Pashto translation of the prophet is carried by me. then he said, you both are alike and together, but then I said, at this time I am not like him or with him.

5. how do you see Pashto language in educational field and social settings? has it developed, standing still or remain unstudied? what has changed about language?

Language develops and grown if you own them, speak them, you feel proud while speaking it or not. Pashtun people speak Pashto language in their daily life and it is good, if you do not speak a language, then you cannot explore its art, culture, and everything because you do not think in that language, you do not dream in that language, Pashto is such an alive language, its literature and specifically its poetry, we Pashtuns has verbal culture, we talk and transfer history through oral literature, poetry is more found in our verbal culture. Urdu poetry is also I think very good and I like it personally but some of the poets of the present are frivolous sometimes, they know about social media platforms and use it according to their choice, so use it anonymously but in Pashto, I have not seen low standard poetry till now. as it is the digital age, I see poets and then I realize the condition of Pashtuns, it makes us sad because we feel it most, and I am also happy for the people who do not hesitate from writing what they feel. I think it’s a necessary thing for a culture and a society to to express what they feel or how they think without hesitation or shyness,

6. I have followed you on social media platforms, and I see your poetry which is almost in Urdu language, it’s not necessary that you must write in Pashto language, far from social media, do you write Pashto prose or poetry or any other work in Pashto?

No, I have not done it in Pashto, the reason for that is I am grown up mostly in my uncle’s eyes and they speak Pashto but they had a library in their home and all the Urdu poetry was present there, from the very 1st poet of Urdu till now, they have all the Urdu poetry. so, I got the chance to read Urdu poetry, and also, I like Urdu language, and the other reason for not writing Pashto is you cannot write literature forcefully according to your wish, you can’t do that. but what I wish to do is podcast, but due to shortage of time I cannot manage to do it, because I think every Pashtun consider that they have right over their homeland, so what I do here may have given me more happiness if I had done that in Peshawar. I am not saying that I regret doing here what I am doing here, but I think Pashtuns are more earthbound. I think it’s very necessary for Pashtuns to develop their discourse, when we talk about ourselves, we go much louder than it should be, so I think podcast can help in developing our discourse, so it can be easy for us.

7. Any linguistics or cultural challenges and problems you have faced due to Pashto speaking or being Pashtun? have you ever been marginalized?

yes, very often. one of the compliments that I get many a times people say to me but they don’t know that it’s an insult, which is "you don’t look like Pashtun", you speak very good Urdu, you don’t look like a Pashtun, you are very soft spoken, so, you can’t be a Pashtun, you have a very good dress sense, you can’t be a Pashtun. people say this but they don’t know that it’s an insult, they insult my identity, that is because of center peri free issues, if you move abroad, people still compliment you, I have also heard that you don’t look Pakistani and I ask, is it a compliment? they say yes, and then I always say that it’s an insult. then also you have to prove yourself in Pakistan. when I was in Peshawar, I was internationally known but not in Pakistan, because people say, what a person can say if he is coming from peshwa. so, I used to travel abroad to Germany, America, and three or more times a year, I used to speak on issues which are cultural and journalistic too but in Pakistan, Lahore and Karachi, people used to say, that was another compliment that I got, I was sitting in TB center, there a journalist said to me, you don’t look Pashtun, then I thought this is the same compliment. yes, we are marginalized, and when we struggle to make ourself to the peak, it needs a lot of efforts, it’s not easy and it’s a fact. in Pakistan, for Pashtuns and Baloch’s, they need to struggle more. another thing is I think we aspire people to be identified because we have a civilization that is far ancient and we have kept intact with Pashtunwali at every level.

8. In Pashto folklores, there are many poets and singers, what are your experiences and how much have you read Pashto literature?

I have read about Khushal khan baba, Rahman baba, mere hamza Shinwar (he belongs to our region nearby), Rehmat shah sail and others, but Rehmat shah sail is from our age approximately or maybe a bit older than me. fortunately, Pashto academy in Peshawar university is besides journalism department, may God have mercy on raja wail shah Khattak which was director of the Pashto academy and also a mento. and I was a young lecturer and I often used to sit with them. the deewan of hamza Shinwar sahib was also gathered by raja wail shah Khattak. and about singers, I have the good fortune of knowing many of them, like Gulzar Alam, Haroon Bacha whom I met in America and he was kind enough, we sat together for four hours, also, we enjoyed the gathering. similarly, I know many artists in person, like Humayun which is younger to me, and many others. I don’t know much artists here but in Peshawar I know many of them and we remain in contact often.

9. what can we do for keeping our language, culture and society on its place and for its development?

look! there are two things, one is research, I remember when we were students, I worked on a Pashto magazine with the name "Pashtun" and now I wish to publish that as a book, some of our friends worked on press of Pakhtunkhwa before partition and after partition. this I think is the era of digital humanities which is very good to digitalize the literature, and we have to work from very basics, means the documents and folklores that are still in use and in hands. people still take interest in Khushal khan baba, but fifty years from now or twenty years from now, it won’t be there. so, this is the time that the literature should be digitalized and worked on. I think, we are more familiar with Rahman baba than the generation of this time, similarly people are forgetting hamza baba, but Ghalib are Shakespeare are known to people, it is good but we must work on Pashto to digitalize it. we must have to prepare ourself for this digitalization of the literature, because we have verbal culture that is; stories being told in hujras. the good thing about now is; we have videos and recordings for everything, which is good but it should be organized. university students and the young generation has a lot to do with all this because there are lots of digital platforms and everyone has access to these digital platforms. if someone is interested in hamza baba's poetry, he can access and read it and digitalize it. this digitalization can help in development of Pashto language.

What are the issues that Pashto language face while growing/development?

The main thing that matters is power, if your language is not participating in the balanced representation of other languages then your language faces difficulties. Economic weakness is the main factor that weakens you as a community and when your community faces these weaknesses, then your culture and language both become weak and at the bank of extinction. The good thing here is, we own our language and culture but then we are on the wrong side of the divide because we don't have power or economic status as needed. Phytons are marginalized in this country, and when I say marginalized, I don’t mean complete marginalization. We have taken more out of here than the number of our individuals. Some of our friends say, we don't have representation, we do have representation compared to Baloch’s and Sindhis others. I think we have more than the other nations.

Q. In our houses, as we are told stories by our elders, grandfather and grandmother, of their youth and of verbal literature we got till now, through storytelling and other verbal histories, do you remember any of them and can you elaborate one of those, like the one we heard was of “Momin Khan Sherina”?

Ahh, yes, those were Momin khan Sherina were near to our tangi in Baghdad Mardan, yes, you know Ghani Khan once said; Pashtun mothers bear children for death. That’s why most of the folk of the Pashtuns is tragic. All the love stories have not always been ended happily. It happens everywhere in the world, like Momin khan Sherina and Adam Khan, yes, this man is Adam Khan Sherbini. This is the man; this is the Baghdad. It is a very known story. People call him that. People owned that these two lovers are from our area. One of our friends was from Baghdad. If we all see, there are disputes over water, opponents and love. Financial issues, disputes among families, these are universal things. In all the folk around the world is viewed it shows that all the love dots and love stories do not connect or connect for a tragedy. Punjabis call it Sharek; we Pashtuns say it as tanbur. Tambuwal is the thing that was the central part, if one knew that there are blames of sins on anyone, and if one knew that those were just blames, he would still have to kill the other. If you are a young grown, these things effect you a lot. But no one learn any lesson from these tragic stories and people go on loving each other. Pashtun culture is more open than rural Punjab culture. In our Pashtun culture you could express your love to a girl, but in Punjab rural culture you could not say that. Punjab society is generified. But we see to it, it brings courage, it represents culture.

I am also in the thought of our Pashtun culture where every love story brings a tragedy, and killing? So how you see the society?

Yes, Pashtun society in this matter is still at the very back of the time and the modern world. These values need to be changed. I have noticed another thing that is; our society has become more conservative than before. People could tell each other that they love each other, but today they can’t, relationship among families on the basis of love stories was a different case, but at least one could say that. When we were growing, it was not bad to say someone that you are in love with him/her. They were had to marry the next day but they could still say that they love someone, but now, the situation is different. I think the Islamization process started in the 80s in Pakistan and KP suffered more because of Afghan involvement, yes, our society was religious but it was not extremist or obscurantist, values of Pashtun culture were practiced and we didn't have any opposition with Islam, it’s a late century development and still going. We needed to have grown/developed more than before, Pashtun society would have had a different picture now. When I entered my 30s, I realized that this is not the land that it used to be before. There are boundaries/limitations than before. We Pashtuns are more spontaneous and politically corrected now which suits Punjab or other places because these are feudal structures. Our spontaneity is uplifted by present day some capitalistic effects and other stuff. I don't know if we can live a life without being too careful. Our society was religious but not in this way.

Q. As you said earlier that our society is now more conservative than before, there is a custom in which, a sister is sacrificed in place of a sin committed by a brother is something that we cannot tell the world about.

A. Some of our friends with utopian explanations argue that it's true but the simple fact is; this is wrong. For example, you cannot hold a sister offended for a sin committed by a brother. Blood disputes are often solved through this custom. When a girl is taken/given in place of her brother's sin, she loses respect. In ancient times weddings, boys would take the responsibility of all the things needed for the wedding or other household of the girl's house. Someone sent/received in someone else's place doesn't have any respect either. Even their children are seen with those eyes of disrespect. A lot of women we know have faced this issue specifically in villages and are married to others on the basis of disputes and this process is called (swear) in Pashto. We need to discuss this issue openly but I think Pashtuns have never discussed this. It should be clearly outspoken that it is wrong and we cannot justify it like there are a lot of things that people have accepted. West, in ancient times, was more conservative than us but then it reformed itself which is not bad, same is the case with swear which is wrong and this custom needs to be discussed and terminated from the culture because there are lot ways through which disputes can be settled. One sacrifices his daughter to settle a dispute but don't sacrifice his assets/property, even in our own home, we settled disputes in return of swear, but our family's men were good and they gave respect to those women like their other women. There is no justification. This is so unfortunate but we cannot do anything about this.

First, we have to end disputes and make our hearts clear for each other. You can unlearn things, we changed our dress, our fashion, and a lot of other things have changed in Pashtun culture/society, and Pashtuns have evolved as a community or as a nation. Why Pashtun always have disputes, why can’t they live peacefully? And if you have done something wrong, why don't you learn from your mistakes? And then if you want to settle that issue, why is woman held responsible for that.

Q. Our hometown is Waziristan, and we have different culture there from other Pashtuns of settled KP and other areas of Pashtuns. So, what are some of the norms that you think are specific to your area and other Pashtuns don’t know or do it?

The people of charade and martin, the people of Swabi then, are softer than us. The other benefit that we often ignore/don’t now of is "bacha khan" who started "reform moment" from stanza. He went to all the areas bane, swat and other areas of Pashtun’s belt. charade, was his homeland and education's importance increased due to his presence and struggles. We talked about swear earlier, two of my aunties came to our house through swear but no one never disrespected them. They never spend a single day harshly because of being a woman used for settling a dispute. They were like ordinary women as our mother and other women were. Charade has benefited from those struggles and movements of bacha khan. Bacha khan was just twenty when he made a school in stanza, and he met Gandhi in 1921, so, it’s not Gandhi’s concepts nor from congress. I think education has benefited these people. I know your areas, I have relatives in bane and dear Ismail khan, sometimes we notice that main language of Pashtuns in Pakistan is the language we speak right, the one spoken in Peshawar is standard, and the same is spoken in charade, Nowshera. Even bahadur sha Zafar kaka Khel wrote book. "Pashtuns in the light of history" on Pashtuns history. You know education changes a lot of things. We do have swear culture but we deal with it in an educated manner. Education if do not teach you these things then this education system must not right for instance, only one man changed everything through education. We have degrees but if it does not change us, we must wonder then.

How much impact can Pushto language have by adding it to the curriculum or how can it develop the Pashto language itself?

It is very important. I have studied it and it was part of the curriculum when we were younger. It’s your language, you think and dream in this language. Germans says, your language is that in which you dream. And the other thing that I don’t understand is, what is the disadvantage of learning a language to a country. We see Urdu, its land is not here, it came from UP, but languages that has land here are needed to be taught. And it is children’s right that they should read and write their mother tongue. Language is more verbal because lots of poets cannot write Pashto. Novel in Pashto is very rare, who should write it? Hamza baba wrote that. He knew Pashto writing. And if you cannot write in Pashto, what will you do? Say it verbally only? You can also make someone write it for you but it is still necessary to know, read and write.

Concluding question is what is your advice/message to youth and what can they do for the development of Pashto language?

There are lot of ways, one of them is digital communication and platforms. Boys and girls have these platforms that somehow give you publisher's right as newspaper/television gives you and everyone has some skills, I think. Youth is so serious in identity issues because of the crises. I am not bounding anyone, use these platforms for entertainment, but also work on your language and culture. When we speak Pashto, we say Pashtunwali, that include Gharat, hegira, Nang, Tura. We are marginalized and we have to realize that. And being marginalized puts responsibilities on you, because young is the one that can do everything. In my age you think you have done your part. Your identity is in your own hands. Do not only rely on others to speak about you or on a vlog that shows swat/Waziristan is beautiful. speak for yourself.