hindustani fanatics, india's pashtuns, and deobandism – connections

Hindustani Fanatics, India’s Pashtuns, and Deobandism – ConnectionsYusufzai Pashtuns, a culture that looks at significant losses through lenses of “blame” rather than the “guilt” that is seen in western culture. Added tothe “blame” aspects of their culture, there is another significant aspect of the Pashtuns that developed over thousands of years: Pashtunwali. And itsprimary tenet is simple: revenge. The survivors of the Rohilla wars who lost to the Shi’a and Sikhs would not forget the British and the role ColonelChampion played in the destruction of their principalities inside northern India – and very possibly the humiliation of Hafiz Rahmat Khan’s familyalso played a role in their tribal anger. It appears that this animosity may have continued into modern times.Britain’s Sir John Strachey attempted to justify, if not explain away, the British complicity in the destruction of the Rohillas in his 1892 book.An interesting point Strachey made in his preface shows how Pashtuns remember their history, especially the negative aspects of it:“Several years of my Indian service were passed in the province of Rohilkhand. When I was first sent there, old men were still living whoremembered having heard in their childhood the story of Hafiz Rahmat, the great Rohilla chief, of his defeat by the English, and his death.” 29Strachey prepared an able defense of British actions against the Rohillas and explained that the Rohillas “were not a nation at all, but acomparatively small body of rapacious Afghan adventurers who had imposed their foreign rule on an unwilling Hindu population, and the story oftheir destruction is fictitious.” 30 His account may have been well received by Victorian England, but the descendents of the Rohillas believed the storythe old men told about a very dead chief who was killed with British assistance while trying to defend their nation.The anger and frustration of the Rohilla survivors may have been worsened by probable forced conversions of their people from Islam toHinduism and Sikhism in the regions where they sought refuge. There are reports of “Rohilla Hindus,” possibly explainable as the result of earlyPashtun Rohilla immigrants arriving into regions ruled by Hindu Rajaputs, who later lost their territory to these same Pashtuns, but there is no doubtthat religious conversions occurred. Zabita Khan, one of the last Rohilla leaders, converted to Sikhism to become “Dharam Singh,”for example 31 .The Rohillas lost their lands, families were disrupted – if not murdered – by Shi’a Shuja-ud Daulah’s looting, marauding troops, and many of themmay have been forcibly converted to become Hindus or Sikhs by those conquering them or by those leaders agreeing to shelter them in return forreligious conversions. This early form of “ethnic cleansing” may have had a very significant impact on the survivors, many of whom would eventuallybecome the “Hindustani Fanatics” and their supporters who provided funds and recruits from the dismantled Rohilla territory.Enter Sayed Ahmad Shah 32 of BareillyInto this complex cultural mix, with its recent losses to the Shi’a, Sikhs, and the British, the next leader of the militants was born in Bareillyon November 29, 1786 33 – a little over twelve years after the destruction of the Rohilla’s adopted homeland. While the historical record shows thatAhmad Shah was a “Sayed 34 ,” or could trace his family genealogy directly to the Prophet Mohammad, it is nearly a certainty that he was a member of29. Strachey, John, Hastings and the Rohilla War, Oxford:Clarendon Press, pg. vii.30. Ibid, pg. vii.31. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/SRR/Volume12/airavat.html#3 (Accessed August 24, 2008).32. His name is often rendered “”Sayed Ahmad Shahid” or “Sayed Ahmad Shaheed” to reflect his status as a “martyr.”33. Malik, Hafeez, Moslem Nationalism in India and Pakistan, Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1963, pg. 154.34. Many Afghans claimed family connections to the Prophet when there were none. The may have happened with Ahmad Shah’s family generations before they migrated tonorth India. It may have been real or a family or clan attempt to gain status or protection afforded by a direct family connection to the Prophet.Tribal Analysis Center, 6610-M Mooretown Road, Box 159. Williamsburg, VA, 23188