Photographs courtesy of Pakistan, Governmnet of, Department of Archeology and Museums
Dr. Mohammad Rafique Mughal leans back in a squeaky rattan armchair at Falletti’s, the once-sweated under a ceiling fan during the muggy hot summer of 1947, drawing up the borders of a new Pakistan. The dry smell of dust raised by a sweeper outside mingles with the scents of cumin and coriander from the hotel kitchen. Mughal reminisces about his early days searching for archeological sites in the dry hills of Cholistan near that very border, across from what is now the Indian Punjab.
“Cholistan was a natural opportunity,” says Pakistan’s retired director-general of archeology and museums. “Because of changes in river courses, the area had been undisturbed by agriculture for millennia.
Recently published as Ancient Cholistan: Archaeology and Architecture (Rawalpindi, Ferozsons, ISBN 9-690-01350-5), the account of his team’s exhaustive three-year exploration of that desert region in the early 1970′s revealed a telling pattern of abandoned settlements. The locations of the sites they found strongly suggested that the Hakra River, a tributary of the Indus, had changed its course many times before it eventually dried up about 4000 years ago. When it disappeared, it took with it most of the social and economic fabric of one of the world’s greatest and oldest, but least known, civilization, today called the Harappan or Indus Valley civilization.
Evidence uncovered to date delineates a peaceful, artistic, disciplined and materially successful civilization that arose in the fertile Indus River floodplain of present-contemporary with the Mesopotamian civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates River extensively. The Harappan culture dominated the subcontinent for almost a thousand years before it mysteriously disappeared, leaving behind few direct traces of what happened, or where its large population went.
At its height, archeologists believe, the Indus civilization included more than a thousand villages, towns and cities scattered throughout 725,000 square kilometers (280,000 sq mi) of territory—an area larger than Texas and smaller than Turkey—that stretched from what is now northern Afghanistan to Pakistan. The Harappan domain was twice the size of the Egyptian or Mesopotamian territory of the time, yet the Harappans appear to have had neither conquering emperors nor standing armies to enlarge or defend their homeland. As far as archeological evidence shows, they enjoyed excellent health and freedom from both violence and extremes of wealth or poverty. They developed one of the earliest written languages and built some of the world’s first planned cities, complete with individual household water supplies and sophisticated public drainage systems. And, as highly skilled craftspeople and enterprising merchants, they were one of the first major mercantile civilizations to trade far beyond the borders of their own territories.
Yet, though everyone has heard of the great civilizations of the Middle East, most of the world has never heard of the Harappans. “They didn’t leave behind grand temples and monuments or rich burials that fired people’s imaginations, as the Egyptians did,” says Mughal. “Rather, they seem to have been utterly content with their egalitarian, religious society, with its high standard of order and ethics, and kept themselves busy with agriculture, craft production and trade.”
The civilization’s first discovery by modern Europeans was in 1826 at the site of ancient Harappa, near the modern village of the same name, in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. The discoverer was a deserter from the British Army named James Lewis. The newly formed Archaeological Survey undertook initial excavations between 1856 and 1872, but intensive work didn’t get underway until the 1920′s and 30′s. The discovery of this unknown ancient civilization was announced to the world in The Illustrated London News of September 20,1924.
Large-scale digs teeming with hundreds of turbaned local workers, hot dusty scenes worthy of an Indiana Jones production, were the order of those days. Work focused on what are still the two largest sites, Harappa and, 600 kilometers (375 mi) to the southwest, Mohenjo-Daro. Though this century’s high water tables have prevented researchers at Mohenjo-Daro from digging down to the lower levels that might put a date to the site’s beginnings, their excavations soon revealed well-planned street layouts and water systems. Scholars of Mesopotamian history quickly recognized that numerous seals found at Mesopotamian cities such as Ur matched designs being discovered in the Indus Valley, attesting to long-distance contacts between the two empires.
But the Indus Valley civilization began neither in Mohenjo-Daro nor Harappa. Because it was first thought to have diffused from civilizations to the west, archeologists in the 1960′s sought clues to the Harappan genesis at Mehrgarh, a site at the foot of Pakistan’s Bolan Pass, east of the mountain city of Quetta. They found early indications of Harappan styles, such as pottery designs, but no discernable signs of outside influence: The Harappans, it appeared, were truly an indigenous civilization.
“Discoveries at Mehrgarh changed the entire concept of the Indus civilization,” says Ahmad Hasan Dani, professor emeritus of Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University and author of several books on South Asian civilizations. “There we have the whole sequence, right from the beginning of settled village life.”
The excavations of Mehrgarh revealed that, as early as 7000 BC, its inhabitants were herding sheep, goats and zebus and planting fields of wheat and barley in small farming communities that they inhabited year-round. “They subsisted on a combination of domesticated and wild resources,” says Richard Meadow, Harvard archeo-botanist and director of the Harappa Archeological Research Project, based in the modern village of Harappa. “They first depended more on wild game such as rhinoceros, elephant and wild buffalo. That gradually gave way to raising their own animals and crops.” The Harappans have even been credited with the earliest known domestication of the jungle fowl that is the ancestor of today’s chickens.
By about 5500 BC, Mehrgarh’s citizens started to make and use pottery and ceramic figurines, and with these began an increasingly sophisticated craft industry. Manufacture of decorated ceramics and jewelry blossomed, and by 3500 BC Mehrgarh had grown into an important regional craft center, and settlements in other parts of the Indus Valley had developed parallel industries of their own. A few hundred years later, these villages and regions were trading technological innovations and products. The resulting social intercourse had a unifying tendency throughout the Indus Valley. Together with these industrial arts, the Harappans’ social hierarchies, their writing system, their large planned cities and their long-distance trade mark them to archeologists as a full-fledged “civilization.”
Indeed, commerce and trade appear to be the foundation on which the Harappans built far-reaching influence. Traders from the highlands of Pakistan’s Baluchistan and northern Afghanistan brought in copper, tin and lapis lazuli. The Makran and southern coasts of Pakistan provided decorative shells. Timber was floated down the rivers from the Himalayas and gold from southern Central Asia. Skilled Harappan artisans and specialized craftsmen turned such raw materials into useful and beautiful products for regional distribution and—as finds elsewhere have shown—for export by land and sea to Mesopotamia, Persia and Central Asia.
“It was an environment of economic symbiosis,” says Farzand Ali Durrani, a Pushtun archeologist and past vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar, speaking over chapli kebabs at a Pashtun restaurant in Peshawar. “The southern states controlled the sea trade, just as Karachi does today. Ships from Meluhha [the Mesopotamian name for the Harappan nation] regularly sailed from Lothal near modern-day Karachi, Pakistan for the ports of Babylon.” And they evidently made stops all along the way: Indus River seals have been found in Oman, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
The modern city of Peshawar lies on what is thought to have been one of the Harappans’ main overland trade routes. That route is now a major highway that constitutes the eastern approach to the fabled Pakistani Khyber Pass and links the northwestern Indus Plain to the highlands of Afghanistan and Central Asia. An old branch of the route runs from Peshawar south into rugged tribal territory, through the modern towns of Pakistan’s Kohat and Bannu and the foothills of the Pakistan’s Sulaiman Mountains, and on down across the Gomal Plain to the early Harappan site of Rehman Dheri, where Durrani conducted an important excavation from 1976 to 1980.
“Our discoveries there clearly showed that the Harappans meticulously designed and laid out streets prior to 2800 BC,” he says. “They outclassed the Egyptians and Mesopotamians in terms of planned cities.”
Harappan city planners were indeed far ahead of their time. Unlike most settlements of the ancient world, whose winding streets and randomly placed buildings suggest haphazard growth, all Harappan municipalities expanded by design—indeed, by the same design: A west-facing citadel in the city center, and a north-south and east-west grid of streets. Municipal drainage systems included covered “manholes” for clearing out debris, and all construction used standard-sized fired or mud bricks, depending on the structure. Neighborhoods were individually zoned for residences, shops, markets and manufacturing activities.
Mohenjo-Daro, the largest of the ancient Indus Valley cities, lies 575 kilometers (350 mi) south of Rehman Dheri on an old course of the Indus River. Where its citadel once stood, there is now a Buddhist stupa, but the old city plan is clear. “It is evident that Harappan cities like Mohenjo-Daro were largely governed by strong civic discipline,” says Durrani. “And the streets and houses were purposely arranged to let the prevailing winds keep them clear and ventilated. It’s the earliest example of civic environmental planning.”
That planning included management of water and waste. Researchers have found that nearly every Harappan home had a bathing platform, with a brick drain and a sloping floor made of fired bricks and waterproofed with gypsum plaster. At Mohenjo-Daro there was at least one well supplying water to each housing block, and many houses had their own wells. Many also had private latrines, with individual drains that connected to covered or underground conduits that carried waste water, as well as excess rain from the streets, down to the river. And there is even a water-related structure archeologists have dubbed the Great Bath. Steps lead down into the swimming pool-sized complex lined with tightly fitted brick, sealed with a bitumen under-layer, and served by a massive drain with a corbeled vaulted ceiling, big enough to walk through. It has been interpreted as a public bath or ritual bathing area.
Whether in the workshops that were part of some houses in Mohenjo-Daro, in separate shops or in the fields, the Harappans’ working lives and their commerce were regulated by well-established standards: Archeologists have found standardized cubical stone weights, for example, in ratios of one, two, four, eight and 16 units. Accounting may have been done using a complex and still-undeciphered script. (See sidebar, page 40.) The Harappans also left behind tiny seals, up to two or three centimeters (1″) square, elaborately carved in soft stone such as steatite and used to make impressions in wet clay, probably to signify ownership of goods or shipments. Depicted in detail on these miniature works of art are animals such as “unicorns,” hump-shouldered zebu bulls, elephants, hairy-eared rhinoceroses and crocodiles, as well as symbols in the puzzling Harappan script. Archeologists surmise the motifs may have served to identify individuals or clans of merchants, or organizations holding interests in commercial activities.
Excavated skeletons show evidence of industrious work and healthy diets that led to soundness of body. Apart from some evidence of trauma to Harappan women’s spines, caused by carrying heavy loads on the head, there are few signs of disease or malnourishment. The high-carbohydrate diet typical of early sedentary societies contributed to some tooth decay, but most Harappans whose graves have been excavated apparently died of natural causes.
A two-hour bus ride down another ancient trade route, now part of the Grand Trunk Road, leads from the acrid blue cacophony of downtown Lahore, Punjab Pakistan to a pit where archeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyer is sweating over a large clipboard, shaded from the burning sun by a woven mat. He’s drawing a stratigraphic cross-section of an excavation here at the site of ancient Harappa. A helper periodically sprays water on the sides of the pit to highlight its features. “There’s only about a two-hour period each morning when we can work, while the light is just right and before it gets unbearable down there,” says Kenoyer.
A professor of archeology at the University of Wisconsin, Kenoyer is field director of the Harappa Archeological Research Project. It’s early May and already getting much too hot for fieldwork. But Kenoyer has stayed longer than the rest of his crew this year because he’s pretty excited about this excavation in the so-called Great Granary. In 1924, the area was of special interest to John Marshall, director-general of the Archaeological Survey, who called the puzzling structure a granary because of its similarity to Mesopotamian finds. But Kenoyer thinks the “granary” has nothing to do with agriculture—it has no parallels to other structures in the South Asian grain-storage tradition, he points out.
Kenoyer and other scholars hypothesize that it may have been a public building used as a gathering place for government officials. In such an organized culture, there must have been public officials, the argument goes, and they must have met somewhere, at intervals, to coordinate the many aspects of Harappan culture that have been found to be similar or identical in widely separated sites. Among the handful of digs active in the Indus Valley, these “granaries” have been found only at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, and Kenoyer hopes that his investigations and those of others will lead to understanding of Harappan political systems.
Kenoyer takes a break and we sit under the shade of a spreading pipal tree, often depicted on Harappan pottery. We’re overlooking the granary excavation. Colorful kingfishers sing overhead and a light breeze from the wheat fields freshens the spot—probably one where Harappans also sat, discussing their day’s work just this way, more than 4000 years before. “We’re finding a lot of continuity in the archeological record here,” says Kenoyer, author of the recent book Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization (Karachi, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-577940-1). “It’s what Mughal theorized in his thesis back in 1971: Elements of this culture—writing, cubical weights—were around much earlier than we had first figured.”
I ask him about the Harappans’ demise. “It never happened,” he responds. “The cities shrank in the second millennium BC, yes, but people still lived in places like Harappa long after that. The continuing prosperity of the bigger cities, like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, may have made them grow too large and unwieldy to administer, and so groups may have split off into smaller settlements. But those settlements were held together by their common culture,” he says. Perhaps the dispersal was a way of providing flexibility to deal with the oft-changing and unpredictable rivers, he adds.
There is, in fact, overwhelming evidence that the Indus Valley civilization underwent a large-scale transformation early in the second millennium, when it ceased its commercial activities and long-distance trading. After 1900 BC there are no longer references to Meluhha in Mesopotamian writings, and no Indus seals are found in Mesopotamia after that date. All other remnants of the great Harappan commercial enterprises, including the factors-of-16 weights and use of the script, simply vanish from the record.
Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the British archeologist of military background who first dated the Indus Valley civilization, also proposed the first popular hypothesis to explain its demise: an invasion by Aryan armies from southern Central Asia. But no evidence of warfare or violent attacks has ever been uncovered at any Indus site. Another theory was that the Harappans succumbed to disease—but their skeletons show no indications of that.
The general consensus among scholars is now that the decline was gradual, the result of a combination of factors in which both incoming Aryans and changes in river courses played a leading part. “The Aryans were a rural, nomadic tribal people with no written language, unlike the Harappans,” explains Dani. The social and commercial upheaval caused by their migration into the subcontinent, he suggests, “may have choked off much of the supply of raw materials from south Central Asia around 2000 BC.”
Upheaval of a different kind may have been another factor. The Indus Valley is a seismically active zone, and even minor changes in land levels can cause large shifts in river courses, especially on a broad, flat alluvial plain. Mughal’s evidence, supported by more recent Landsat imagery, has shown there were in fact major shifts in the courses of the Indus and some of its tributaries, such as the Hakra and the Ghaggar, around this time. The Cholistan region surveyed by Mughal, in particular, had been an important breadbasket for the larger Harappan cities, supplying wheat and other grain. When the flow or the course of the Hakra River changed, Cholistan might no longer have been able to meet that demand, and traditional riverine trade routes would have been severely disrupted as well.
Under these circumstances, the Harappans would have found it difficult to maintain civic order, for, to the bafflement of scholars, they appear never to have developed any sort of standing army; neither has any evidence been found of militarism, battle damage, or even defensive fortifications in the Harappan domains. Instead, Kenoyer and others believe, the elite seems to have kept order by controlling and promoting trade, commerce and religion. Once the civilization had begun to break down, maintenance of civil order by military coercion would have been an unavailable option; many Harappans began to abandon their large cities.
Kenoyer has made an observation that, with further study, may prove to be a key element in tracking the course of the Harappans after the collapse: the “unicorn” motif on the seals. He says that 64 percent of seals found carry this creature—probably an ox depicted in profile, thus appearing to have a single horn—and were probably used by the most affluent of the trading merchants. But what’s intriguing, he notes, is that the “unicorn” motif first appears in Harappan sites around 2600 BC, when the civilization had reached its apogee, and disappears about 1900 BC, just when it starts a rapid decline. “Other motifs continue, but the ‘unicorn’ is expunged completely from all South Asian iconography after that: It seems to lose its value,” he says.
Yet the “unicorn” motif continued to be used in Mesopotamia well after the Harappan collapse. This raises the possibility that the richer and more powerful Harappan merchants and traders, familiar with Mesopotamia, moved there when the basis of their economic power and influence began to fade. “We have modern analogies right next door,” says Farzand Ali Durrani. “When Afghanistan was invaded in 1979, families with means had no problem leaving and finding a new country in which to live.”
Well-off residents of Hong Kong also flooded into Canada, Britain and the United States in the last years before that territory reverted to Chinese control.
Without the urban elite, who held the reins of the civilization’s mercantile system, Harappan craftspeople and workers may have had little option but to embrace the simpler Aryan way of life and the Aryan religion. There was no longer a need for commercial support systems like accurate weights and financial accounting records. And, as the Aryan’s Vedic language was strictly oral at the time, Harappan writing might have been forgotten within a few generations. Says Dani, “Once you destroy the basis of industrialization, you destroy a civilization.”
What does study of the Harappans mean for the larger understanding of human civilization? For an answer to that question, I turned again to Mohammad Mughal. “For over a century,” he replied, “it was thought that civilization began in Western Asia, in Mesopotamia and Egypt. I would say that the most important contribution of Harappan study is that it shows conclusively, for the first time, that this just wasn’t so. We have proof right here.”
Dr. Graham Chandleris an archcologist and free-lance writer based in Calgary, Alberta. He specialized in early Harappan ceramics in his studies at the University of London.
FALSE CLAIMS ON INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION BY INDIANS
There is this thing called dignity. And obviously Indian so called Historians don’t have much.
If you go to Wiki and search for IVC you will notice something. India is mentioned on average 20 times more than Pakistan. This is an attack on Pakistan more lethal than dozens of Indian tanks rolling towards Lahore.
There is a huge India map to go with it, and whenever a location has to be provided, you will see it as South Asian Sub cont even though 95% is in Pakistan.
The Brits invaded India and ruled the place. Before then India was known as Bharatavarsha, and was ruled my Muslim Moguls, Muslim Turks, and Muslim Arabs, After British rule India was broken into Modern Pakistan and India, both got their independence as New nations.
Therefore Pakistan never belonged to India. It did once belong to Bharatavarsha, which was never ruled by Hindus as it was a mixture of a lot of communities and religions. The unity was only caused by British rule, hence IVC doesn’t not belong to India, and never did.
The 3 Major IVC cities are all located in Pakistan. One in West Pakistan, one in South and the last one approx in central Pak.The Indian scholars however refuse to even mention Pakistan in their articles about IVC.
The people of IVC were not Hindus. This has been proved. Even though that was the case, you will see a constant comparison of their rituals to Hinduism. I admit Indian scholars don’t say IVC was a Hindu Civilization, but the comparison is based on no evidence and vague drawings of sacrificed animal. On the Main India article, Indus valley civilisation is listed as part of Indian history even though:
India didn’t exist during IVC, and their Religion had nothing to do with IVC, and finally IVC settlements are not even located in India. Indians still refer to India as the “Home of Indus Valley Civilization”.
“Why is it called Indus?”. Well, Indus is a common name through out the entire South Asian subcontinent due to the more recent sizeable Hindu population of the sub continent. IVC was named purely because of its location. The people of IVC did not refer to themselves as IVC. Just like South America is not a part of United States of America, the IVC is not Indian. I am not Pro Pakistan. We as humans should have a responsibility that History is recorded as damn exact as possible. This is the reason Wikipedia is such a failure and is open to easy vandalism, the obvious kind and the patriotic vandalism which is supported by most ignorant people who have declared war on common sense.
Pakistan and India, neither of them which existed through IVC era.
Islam and Hinduism. neither of them existed in the era if IVC.
Common sense would suggest IVC belongs to the country in which 95% of their settlements are located.
Please note. Iran and India both have an odd small-time IVC settlement. But Iran has common sense enough to not claim it as Iranian.
Agreed many who travelled to the reclaimed liberated land we call Pakistan today were reverts and from South Asian stock but we the vast majority, Kashmiris, Baloch, Pakthun, Sindhi and Punjabi were the IVC and we denounced Hinduism an alien foreign primitive barbaric brutal concept that attacked us. We found liberation and soul revival in Islam and it is and will forever be our cherished religion. The IVC were not Hindu, neither did they ride horses like your Mahabharata stories, they ate beef not like your Dhal Hors, they were ethnically different to the Dravids primitive pygmies that ran around semi clad in the primitive backwater jungles along the Ganges. The IVC never spoke Sanskrit let alone wrote it, they wrote via pictogrqms like the other great civilisations of that era, mesopotamia and The Nile civilisation. I know it is hard for you to grasp but we are completely different to you, we find your language, your culture, religion and history repulsive and we are a different ethnicity, geography and history to you. Just because you have the sons of Abdali, Ghauri, Nadir Shah, Zaman Shah and Aurangzaib as your bollywood heart throbs it does not mean you and I are the same. Look around you, most Indians do not look like the Khans or the Kapoors who hail from the land of beauty and beautiful people -Pekhawar. In a shameful past and everyone has one the Indian girls at my University were struck by how different we Pakistanis boys looked to Indian boys and realised we truly are different ethnicities and yes we were the more attractive because we look like the very people you Indians place on pedestol in Bollywood.
Pakistani “Indus Valley” predated Indian Hindu Aryan culture’
The noted epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan made some sound observations which echo the writings of one of the most prominent historians of our time Dr. Dani. Like Dr. Dani Dr. Mahadevan clearly says that the Hindu Aryan culture was distinctly different than the culture of the Indus Valley Civilization which was not Hindu. The IVC did not worship the “Hindu” Pantheon in any sense of the word. The IVC was mostly restriction to the valley of the Indus—however at the tail end of the civilization some of it dispersed into areas beyond the IVC. The map of the original IVC resembles the map of Pakistan as it exists today.
TIRUCHY: The Indian society was composed of elements inherited from groups speaking different languages, because of which it was a composite entity, observed Iravatham Mahadevan, noted epigraphist.
Delivering the History Congress endowment lecture at Tiruchy on Friday, he said that the Indus Valley civilisation predated the Aryan civilisation. While this civilisation was urban, the Vedic culture was rural and pastoral, he added. The Indus seals depicted many animals, like horses and chariots with spoked wheels, which were defining features of the Aryan-speaking society.
Religious worship in the Indus valley focussed on a buffalo-horned male god, mother goddesses, the pipal tree and the serpent, he said.
He added that these practices were known to have been derived from the aboriginal population and were totally unknown to the religion of the Rig Veda.
He explained that the Aryan mode of worship was centred on the fire altar, while the Dravidians had water as the base. He said the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro was a direct forerunner of the temple tanks of Hinduism.
The decline and fall of the Indus valley civilisation is generally attributed to natural causes, such as adverse climatic conditions, tectonic upheavals, changing and dried-up river courses, lowered fertility due to over-exploitation and increased salinity of the soil, he explained. Loosening of social and ideological bonds and internal strife could be other factors that had contributed to the eventual disintegration of the Harappan community, he added.
He said there had been fewer Aryans who had migrated and that they were considerably less in number to the vast indigenous population of the Indus valley civilisation. But, he added, the Aryans became dominant when the Harappans fragmented into smaller units in the absence of a central leadership.
A part of the Harappan population also migrated southwards from the Gangetic region, which is recorded in old Tamil literature, he said.
They gained prominence among the late Neolithic people in south India and later founded the Megalithic and Iron Age civilisations, which formed the base for the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms, he said.
He discussed Aryan and Dravidian legacy in the linguistic sense, without a racial or ethnic connotation. The two cultures intermingled and merged, giving rise to a composite society, he said.
He said that some experts pointed to the presence of only a few Dravidian words in the later sections of the Rig Veda and as such it was deduced that the Indus valley civilisation was Dravidian.
Explaining this anomaly, he said that the highly trained priests of the Vedic age would not have preferred loan words in sacred hymns.
Mohammad Zubair in action at a gymnasium in Islamabad.—Dawn
ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Zubair broke the world record of individual longest continual rowing in Pakistan when he rowed 10 hours straight at a private fitness club on Saturday.
Under the supervision of both international and national rowing umpires from Pakistan Rowing Federation, the 31-year-old Mohammad Zubair broke the previous record of 7 hours 11 minutes and 22 seconds held by an Australian on the Concept II indoor rowing machine.
He stopped short of completing 100 kilometers for which he started again to finish the remaining 1,200 meters in roughly six minutes.
The record in this age group and weight category was of Shane Usher, Melbourne, Australia.
All necessary conditions had been met for continuous rowing and to break the record in single distance or timed pieces withoutintervals and starting from a nonmoving flywheel with the machine placed on a level surface.
Umpires occasionally checked the performance meter attached to the machine to record distances.
By the time Mohammad Zubair broke the record he had rowed 72 kilometers. That was equal to 13 laps of the Rawal Lake or rowing from Islamabad to as far as Mansehra.
Pakistans only International Rowing Umpire, and Executive Member of the Pakistan Rowing Federation, Imtiaz Ahmad Khan said indoor rowing was today a recognized sport around the world.
`The game requires athletes to row two kilometers. The athlete who rows the fasts wins the race. Pakistans Maqbool Ahmad who has participated in Asian and World Championships in indoor machine rowing holds the record of fastest covering of 2 kilometers in 6 minutes and 18seconds,` said Imtiaz Ahmad Khan a colour holder himself while his colleague Bronze Medalist and National Umpire, Pakistan Rowing Federation Shahid Nazir noted timings on his notepad.
The colour holder elaborated that unlike rowing on water, where records were broken every year because of different water and weather conditions around the world, this new world record set by Mohammad Zubair was for lifetime until somebody decided to hop on the machine and attempt to break it by rowing for more than 10 hours.
Mohammad Zubair, a Marketing Executive in Smarts, a private health and fitness gym in Islamabad, was the first Pakistani to take on such a challenge.
Mohammad Zubair started rowing at 10 am on Saturday morning and continued till 9 pm in the night setting a new world record of 10 hours.
Abstract: Generally speaking, Pakistanis and Indians, Pakistan and India are different in: genetics, overall genetic composition, religion, culture, rituals, linguistics, diet, ethnicity, governance, pre-history, civilization, race, complexion, geography, topography, philosophy, script, cuisine, music, entertainment, perception, soico-politics and economies.
CIVILIZATION
South Asia is made up of many regions, cultures, languages, nations and civilizations. Since rivers can sustain clusters of large populations, early man formed the first civilizations around rivers. Examples include: Huang He (Yangtze River), Mesapotamia (Euphrates/Tigris) , Egypt (River Nile) and IVC (Indus River). Modern Pakistanis take immense pride in the fact they are descendants of the civilization that formed around the River Indus. The Indus river flows entirely through modern-day Pakistan, Kashmir and Tibet. The Indus Valley Civilization was located primarily (95%) in modern day Pakistan. The Indus binds together the 6 regions of Pakistan: Baluchistan, Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir, Khyber-P, Gilgit-Baltistan.
PEOPLE OF THE INDUS RIVER – PAKISTAN (Baluchistan, Punjab, KP, Kashmir, Sindh). The Indus basically mimics the shape of modern day Pakistan.
Indus City of Moenjo-Daro proudly displayed on Pakistani Currency.
Ruins of IVC in modern day Pakistan
On the other hand, the Gangetic civilization of India is formed around the Ganges river which flows away from the Indus and terminates in the Bengal delta. It is entirely in India and Bengal. Note the divergent paths below of the two rivers:
Indus – A river in Pakistan
Gangetic Civilization in Modern “India”
PRE-HISTORY
India and Pakistan have been under ‘unified’ rule for only 500 out of 10,000 years and that too under mostly Islamic or Buddhist rule. Whether as Muslim, Vedic, Buddhist or Hindu, Pakistan or the people of Indus were rarely part of “Indian” civilization. Mehrgarh one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to c. 2500 BCE) sites in archaeology, lies on the “Kachi plain” of Balochistan, Pakistan. Baluchistan has hardly been part of “India”. This civilization is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in not only South Asia but the whole world.
RACE
While the racial features of each ethnic group are not uniform, Pashtuns are the most Caucasoid, followed by Kashmiris, Baluchis, north Punjabis, and then Sindhis, Seraikis, Urdu-speakers. The Australoid-Negroid and Mongoloid racial elements are quite infused within the dominant Caucasoid genes among Pakistanis, however there are some that have retained their distinct racial characteristics. The Australoid-Dravidoid racial element dominates among the lower caste Indians, South Indians, Eastern and Central Indians. The Caucasoid racial element dominates in Northwest Indians and higher caste Indians. The Mongoloid racial element dominates in Northeast Indians and border regions with China.
Indian are majority Proto-Australoids, Australoid-Negroid, Dravidians
35 Million Pakistanis are Pushtun – Biggest Pushtun Population in the World. As you can see this ordinary man in Karachi streets looks nothing like the Indians above.
India hosts the world’s largest population of Proto-Australoids. The Austrics of India represent a race of medium height, dark complexion with long heads and rather flat noses. Miscegenation with the earlier Negroids may be the reason for the dark or black pigmentation of the skin and flat noses. The Austrics laid the foundation of Indian civilization. They cultivated rice and vegetables and made sugar from sugarcane. Now these people are found primarily in three countries: India, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Their languages have survived only in the Central and Eastern India.
Australoid/Negroids in India, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
ETHNICITY
A significant portion of Pakistani population is Afghan/Pashtun and Irani/Baluchistanis. The Pashtun are an integral part of Pakistan’s establishment. It can be said there are two Pashtun countries in the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This ethnic group has contributed many of Pakistan’s presidents & prime ministers (Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zafarullah Khan, Liaqat Ali Khan, Feroz Khan). There are more Pashtuns in Pakistan than Afghanistan and more in Karachi than Kabul. There are 15 Million Pushtun Speakers in Afghanistan and 25 Million in Pakistan! India does not have Pushtun speakers. Interestingly, this group has also inflicted defeat after defeat on what is now republic of India and can never be considered “Indian”. People of Iranian ancestry have that have taken leadership positions include Benazir Bhutto and the current prime minister Gilani who visited his ancestral homes on a trip to Iran. Arabs settled along the Indus and Omanis settled in the enclave of Gwadar. Still other Pakistanis are descendants of Mongols, Mughals and Turks in addition to Persians, Sakas, Parthians, Hephthalites and Greeks.
Pakistani Ethnicities; Another pull towards the Oxus and Central Asia
LINGUISTICS
Pakistanis speaks exclusively Indo-Iranian or Indo-Aryan languages whereas much of India speaks Proto-Australoid languages. Balgir (2004) designates the following Indian tribes as Proto-Australoid racial group: Bhumiz, Gadaba, Juang, Kharia, Koda, Kolha, Mahali, Mirdha, Munda, Santal, Saora tribes. Australoid racial stock is represented by: Gond, Kondh, Kissan, Oraon, Paraja, Pentia, Halva. These Australoid tribes don’t exist in Pakistan proper. Urdu uses the persian-based script. Hindi uses Devangari script.
The research by Kashyap (2006) designates 23 out of 54 Indian populations studied as Australoid, of which 1 speaks an Indo-European language (Dhangar of Maharashtra), 4 speak Austro-Asiatic languages (Kurmi of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Kurmi of Bihar, and Juangand Saora of Orissa), 18 speak Dravidian languages. 7 populations were designated as Mongoloid, and the remaining 24 as Caucasoid.
About 99% of languages spoken in Pakistan are either Indo-Aryan or Indo-Iranian (sub-branches 75% Indo-Aryan 24% Iranian). All languages of Pakistan are written in the Persio-Arabic script, with significant vocabulary derived from Punjabi, Seraiki, Sindhi, Pashto, Urdu, Balochi, Kashmiri which are the languages of Pakistan.
Indian languages, 69% of languages spoken in India are Indo-Aryan, 26% are Dravidian, and 5% are Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic, All unrelated/distinct family of languages. Most languages in India are written in Brahmi- derived scripts such as Devangari, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Assamese, Punjabi, Naga, and many others are the mother-tongue languages spoken in each of India’s states.
Pakistanis mainly speak Indo-Iranic languages. Indo-Iranic languages include Balochi, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Undri (Urdu) and Pashto are Indo-Iranic languages as are all the other languages of Pakistan which descend from a common proto-Indo-Iranic language around the second millennia BC. Only Brahui (Dravidian), Baltistani (Sino-Tibetian), and Burusho (language isolate) are non-Indo-Iranic, however it’s speakers are not that geneticly distinct form the rest of Pakistanis. Punjabi is the majority language of Pakistan. Punjabi is 2% of India. In the case of Urdu/Hindi, while Hindi is the mother- tongue of a majority in India, Urdu is the mother-tongue of a minority 8% Pakistanis.
The Pakistani population consists of mostly Indo-Aryans. 70% of Pakistanis are Caucasoid by race, 20% Australoid- Negroid, and 10% Mongoloid in their overall genetic composition. 50% of Indians are Australoid-Negroid by race, 35% Caucasoid, and 15% Mongoloid in their overall genetic composition.
Pakistanis carry common R1A genetic markers clearly indicating obvious common ancestry. Mostly the north western Iranic speakers and the Dardic speakers are said to be closely related with a higher frequency of R1A genetic markers as opposed to the Indo-Aryan speaking population with slightly lower R1A frequencies (mainly Punjabis and Sindhis), however they are still all connected. Even the non-Indo-European speaking populations – mainly the Brahuis, Hunzas (also called Burushos) and Baltistanis- do not stand much out genetically. See genetic difference below between Indians (Hindi, Marwari, Gujrati, Marathi, Kannada, Konkani) and Pakistanis (Balochi, Brahui,Makrani, Sindhi, Pathan, Kashmiri, Punjabi). Genetically, Pakistanis are closer to Bedouin than they are to Marathis. Click on the images below to see difference in genetics between Pakistanis and Indians:
Genetic Disposition of Central and South Asians. India in Green, Pakistani in Blue and Iran and Central Asia in Orange.
J variance in Iran, Pakistan, India, Turkey, and the Balkans Quintana-Murci et al. reported that the STR variance in haplogroup J is .57 in Iran, .47 in Pakistan, .36 in India. For this particular variance, Pakistan is closer to Iran than India or rather in the middle. On the same loci, the STR variance derived from the Balkan data of Bosch et al. is 0.55.
The Genetic Difference
At K=7, a Southwest Asian component emerges which is highest in Arabia and East Africa. Another interesting aspect of its distribution is its presence in Pakistan but not India. Perhaps, in this case, it reflects historical contacts between the Islamic Near East and parts of South Asia. Indians have a 1.8 NE/NW ratio. In Pakistan this is 6.5, in Uzbeks it is 2.9, and in the North Eurasian_Ra it is 14.2.
Genetic Map. Note Pakistani Category versus Indian Quadrant – Gujratis, Sri Lankans, Brahmins. Pakistan is close to Central Asia at grid point 0,0.
Notice Pakistani ethnic groups versus Indian ethnic groups
RELIGION
It is important to note that Sub-continent Muslims and Sub-Continent Hindus are two distinct civilizations. Islam reached Pakistan, Bengal & India within decades of its inception in the 7th century through arab traders. In 1937 at the 19th session of the Hindu Mahasabha held at Ahmedabad, Veer Savarkar in his presidential address asserted: “India cannot be assumed today to be Unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main — the Hindus and the Muslims.” Another Hindu, Bhai Parmanand points out in his pamphlet called “The Hindu National Movement”:—“In history the Hindus revere the memory of Prithvi Raj, Partap, Shivaji and, Beragi Bir, who fought for the honour and freedom of this land (against the Muslims), while the Mahomedans look upon the invaders of India, like Muhammad Bin Qasim and rulers like Aurangzeb as their national heroes”
In the religious field, the Hindus draw their inspiration from the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, and the Geeta. The Musalmans, on the other hand, derive their inspiration from the Quran and the Hadith. Thus, the things that divide are far more vital than the things which unite. In depending upon certain common features of Hindu and Mahomedan social life, in relying upon common language, common race and common country, the Indian is mistaking what is accidental and superficial for what is essential and fundamental Muslims and Hindus have different diet. Hindus revere the cow, Muslims butcher them for their meat and hide. In Hinduism, society is highly stratified. In Islam, “untouchables” converts are welcomed as equal brothers. In much of India, Muslims live in what are called “Muslim areas” a euphemism for ghettos. As noted by Bhai Parmanand, Heroes of Muslims are scoundrels s to Hindus (Augranzeb, Babur, Afzal Khan, Ghazni, Ghauri). Heroes of Hindus are scoundrels to Muslims (Shivaji, Sambajhi). The two differ in perceptions. Hindus see Muslims as disloyal progeny of half-breeds, forced-converts, former untouchables or foreign invaders. Muslims see themselves as Central Asians or Inspired Converts and former masters of western, central & southern asia. Although Pakistanis are proud of ancient civilizations such as the Indus and their South Asian heritage, Pakistanis the people consider Pakistan the state as a natural extension of the Southwest Asian Muslim experience of the last 1000 years. Muslims in South Asia have many cultural similarities and by extension dissimilarities from Hindus. Many Indian Muslims though certainly not all may have appearances of Central Asians & Arabs especially in urban locations.
97% of PAKISTAN is ISLAMIC.
81% of INDIA or 972 million are HINDU.
GEOGRAPHY
The republic of India is in its entirety located in South Asia. Pakistani is situated at a pivotal geo-strategic, cross-civilizational location. It sits at the intersection of multiple civilizations. Pakistan is considered to be part of the Central Asia by UN. The country is considered to be part of the greater middle east. It is also part of South Asia. Pakistan is considered to be part of Central Asia both geographically and culturally. India is not. Central Asia consists of the following nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the following “territories”: Afghanistan, China, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia. Pakistan has several central asian “cultural capitals” like Peshawar. India does not. Pakistan is similar to Turkey in Eurasia. It is part of multiple strategic locations to the Central Asian STAN countries. India is not. Wakhan Corridor: In Afghanistan, with Tajikistan to the north, Pakistan to the south and China to the east, Khyber Pass: Between Afghanistan and the Pakistan Khunjerab Pass: Between Pakistan and China.
United Nations Designation of Middle & Greater Middle East
Pakistan is part of the “Greater Middle East”. India is not. In the UN map, Dark green in this map is “Middle East”. The G8 considers Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Algeria, Morrocco, Tunisia to be part of the “Greater Middle East”. Armenia, Azerbaijan and the former soviet republics are considered “the greater middle east” sometimes.
TOPOGRAPHY
Topography of the Indus and the Indian region has historically separated the two countries. Pakistan occupies the western region of the subcontinent and is based around the Indus Valley. It is separated from India proper by a historically impassable desert and by swamps in the south, leaving only northern Punjab, in the central part of the country, as a point of contact. A small portion of Punjab was partitioned to India. Pakistan is the major modern-day remnant of Muslim rule over medieval India. On the other hand, Historic Pakistan has been easily accessible to Afghanistan & Iran. Everyday thousands of Pakistanis and Afghans cross the border to visit their relatives.
Inhospitable Terrain between Historic Regions. Mangroves in the south, Desert in the middle, Karokaram in the north. Only Northern Punjab is easily accessible with the rest of partitioned Punjab. The northwestern provinces of british india have in common the Indus River.
To truly appreciate the inhospitable terrain on most of the Indo/Pak border a, satellite image at night demonstrates the absence of civilization right in middle of one of the most populated regions of the world.. See Bracket Below. It also shows Pakistan’s civilization nestle the Indus like it has for thousands of years.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
As independent nations, Pakistan and India have gone separately in their foreign relations.
In the Near, India, despite its pacifist pretensions, attacked and invaded the Portugese Colony of Goa. Conversely, Pakistan negotiated and purchased the Omani Colony of Gwadar. Pakistan negotiated an agreement with China on border territories, Conversely, India attempted the provocative forward policy. Pakistan is has an exemplary friendship with China and considers its friendship “higher than mountains deeper than oceans”. Conversely, India has had a war with China and considers it to be her #1 enemy. Pakistan supported and fought alongside of the Afghans against the Soviets. India was a staunch ally of the Soviets. Pakistan has not been war with any neighbor except India. India has been at war or conflict with Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka and has poor relations with Nepal, Bangladesh.
In the near-far, Pakistan has brotherly relations with a majority of the Islamic World and is a founding member of OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries). India does not enjoy the support of Muslim countries on the critical issue of Kashmir and is not allowed in the OIC even as a guest.
In the far, Pakistan has a history of friendship with USA. India has always been in the Soviet/Russian camp. Pakistan does not recognize Israel. Israel is an important strategic partner of India.
CULTURE
This map shows the long-standing cultural centers and frontiers of South Asia. Pakistani territory is distinct from Indian territory and India has many cultural centers or nations within.a
The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia from the earliest times, and is analogous to Turkey’s position in Eurasia.[1] There are differences in culture among the different ethnic groups in matters such as dress, food, and religion, especially where pre-Islamic customs differ from Islamic practices. Their cultural origins also reveal influences from far afield, including Tibet, Nepal, India and eastern Afghanistan. All groups show varying degrees of influence from Persia, Turkestan and Hellenistic Greece. Pakistan was the first region of South Asia to receive the full impact of Islam and has developed a distinct Islamic identity, historically different from areas further west.
CUISINE
Pakistani cuisine relies heavily on meat, especially red meat. Indian food relies more on vegetable dishes as the cow is revered. Indians use more mustard seeds, curry leaves, and hinge. Hinge is disliked in Pakistan for its strong smell. Pakistan’s specializations are haleem, balti, beef nihari, chappli kabab, other shared dishes like biriani and pullao are also originally from Central Asia.
Cuisine is regional not national. The foods of the various Northern Pakistan ethnic groups are not similar to Indian food so much, and overlap more with Afghan and Central Asian cuisines. There are places in Pakistan near to China where the people eat home made flat noodle broth soups with shredded meat and fresh herb garnish like “dodo” in Hunza and Gilgit. Even within Punjab, there are differences. Sikh and Hindu Punjabis eat a lot more paneer and paneer-based dishes are unknown in Pakistan.
While there are similarities to North Indian cuisine due to central asia’s influence on India, South Indian cusine is completely different. Dishe ssuch as : kevar kalli, idli, sambar, vadai, rasam, dosa, thayir sadam (yogurt rice), thayir vadai (yogurt-soaked fritters), kootu (vegetables in wet style), poriyal/kari (vegetables in dry style), murukku,uthappam, idiappam, appalam is unknown to Pakistanis.
Food is not prepared in this manner in all of Pakistan.
A very novel way of serving food on a plantain leaf in India.
Here are just a few list of highly popular regional Indian dishes but completely unknown (unfortunately) to Pakistanis:
,Lapsi,Bafla,Bhutte ki Khees,Thalipeeth,Vada Pao
,Modak,Xacuti,Bibinca,Prawn Balchao
,Bisi Bele Bhat,Kesari Bath,Mysore Pak,Dharwand Pedha
,Chiroti,Sadya Meal,Avial,Malabar Parotha,
,Payasam,,Irachi Stew,,Apparn,,Idli,,Sambar,
,Rasam,,Chettinad,,Pongal,,Appam,,Bafauri,
,Kusli,,Red Ant Chutney
,Kadugu,Yerra,Vendakkai
,Patchaddy,Zu,Chakwi,Mwkwhi,Muitru
,Jadoh,Khiromohan,Rasabali,Chhenapodapitha
,Dham,Dal-Baati_churma,Ker Sangaari
,Lal Maas Gette,Jhangora
,Momos,Gundruk,Maasor Tenga
,Pitha,Thekua,Pua,Marua-ka-Roti
PHYSICAL FEATURES
A common international perception based on observance of physical features is that most Pakistanis are lighter skinned than most Indians. Most Pakistanis resemble the looks of peoples inhabiting on Pakistan’s western borders and beyond i.e. Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Turkmenistan. Many Pakistanis also resemble many Northwest Indians or higher caste Indians. However, those are a minority in India. Similarly, some Pakistanis resemble peoples of South India, lower caste Indians, Northeast India, etc. but they are a minority in Pakistan. Majority of Pakistanis have fair skin complexion and majority of Indian have dark complexion. Pakistanis have a Caucasoid skull type.
Map of World by member size
The differences between Pakistanis and Indians are not as prominent as say the Chinese and Nigerians. Nor are the two people as similar as Americans and Canadians. There are cases where a Punjabi from Pakistan may look like a small portion of Punjab partitioned to India just as NWFP and Baluchistan have similarity to Afghanistan and Iran respectively. But a simple comparison of ordinary people in ordinary circumstances makes it blatantly obvious, that these are two different people. The purpose of highlighting these differences is not to suggest that one is better than the other. Rather, the purpose is only to respect our differences. Pakistanis only want to lay claim to their heritage.
Click on thumbnails of ordinary people of Pakistan and India
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SCHOOL CHILDREN
Indian
Pakistani – The difference in complexion and shades of hair is quite obvious.
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FEMALE TROOPS
Indian Female Troops
Pakistani Female Pilots – Once again, complexion and features are visibly different.
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NATIONAL FEMALE SKIERS
Indian
Pakistani – The difference could not be more pronounced in both complexion and feature and similarities to central Asians.
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FEMALE FANS
Indian – Attractive ladies at a cricket match
Pakistani – Once again the female fans above have a classic South Indian, South Asian look whereas the Pakistani girls have features found all over in Pakistan.
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NURSES
Indian
Pakistani nurses. Indian girls above look very much like each other, their counterparts in Pakistan look different.
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WOMEN’S CRICKET TEAMS
Indian
Pakistani – Complexion and hair very much different
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FANS ABROAD
Indian – Even abroad, the difference is quite clear and no jersey or flags are needed to identify the two peoples from each other.
Pakistani
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FEMALE ATHLETES
Indian
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U-19 TEAMS
Indian
Pakistanis – Very obvious difference
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RETIRED CAPTAINS
Indian
Pakistani – the two gentlemen are highly accomplished but look like they are from two different parts of the world (in this case).
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FANS
Indian Fans
Pakistani Fans
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CAPTAINS
Indian Cricket Captain – A very typical Indian face. Compare features of Indian Astronaut below.
Pakistani Captain
*** UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
Indian University Students
Pakistani University Students – These girls look very different from the graduates in India.
*** ASTRONAUTS
Indian Astronaut
Pakistani Astronaut
…
CERN SCIENTIST
Indian CERN Scientist
Pakistani CERN Scientist
Indian Women often have “frizzy” hair. This trait is rare in Pakistani women.
Ordinary punjabi girls with straight hair
Indian Prime Minister
Pakistani Prime Minister – Was on the People’s magazine of Most Beautiful People in the World.
Indian Students
Pakistani-American Students – A striking difference from Indian-Australian Students above. 1 may look similar to the Indian crowd above and 1 from Indian crowd may look like the majority in this picture. Overall the difference is quite obvious.
“India” – a superstate
The British conquered the various kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent one by one. Then, for ease of administering (ruling) the conquered territories, the British set up an administrative unit called India. A country or administrative unit called India (or by any other name), comprising of the current territories of India, never existed in all known history, before the British conquest and consolidation. During the British colonial rule, people of the Indian subcontinent (including those areas now in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Sri Lanka) had a common purpose and agenda, namely, freedom from British colonial rule. Such a one-ness of purpose never before existed among the various peoples of the Indian subcontinent. It brought them together. Finally, in the middle of the 20th century (in the middle 1940s), the weakened-by-WWII British to end their rule over their empire. The oneness of purpose that evolved during the freedom struggle against the British held, with the one exception that most of the Muslim-majority regions in the north became a separate nation called Pakistan at the insistence of the Muslims. Much of the rest of the subcontinent hodgepodge became a country called “India”. ”India is an ancient country! We are Indians!”
Another point of confusion is the fact that what we know as the modern republic of “India” is really territory conquered by central Asians and consolidated by the British empire. 560 principalities, states, nations or cultures were consolidated. The same can be said of Pakistan but it is united by religion (Islam), languages (Indo-Iranic), script (farsi), philosophy (TNT), civilization (Indus), cuisine (Mughalai). Each of Pakistan’s ethnic groups meet each other on the banks of the Indus. India is much more diverse amalgamation of states. India, at a minimum, is a country made of the following countries:
GEO-POLITICAL HISTORY
These are the facts:
“India” was never one country, culture, nation
Pakistani territory (Indus) has rarely been part of Peninsular India
1000 AD
Pakistan territory is part of the Central Asian Ghaznavid Empire & Sindh separate from “India”
India territory is made up of many nations
1100
AfPak is part of Ghaznavid empire & Sindh
Indian territory made up of many nations
1200
AfPak Ghaznavid empire with an army of Pushtun Soldiers, ancestors of modern day Afpak, with its capital located in Lahore, Pakistan, they invade northern India’s Gahadvala Empire
Most of Pakistani Territory is part of Central Asian Ghurid Empire which by this time has conquered Northern India & Sindh
Indian Territory is a series of countries Bengal, Malwa, Chola and Hoysala.
1220
Pakistan consists of Sindh and Delhi Sultante of the Mamluk
Indian Territory is a series of countries Bengal, Malwa, Chola and Hoysala.
1240
Delhi Consulate consolidates Pakistan and continues to make gains in peninsular India and Bangladesh.
Indian Territory is a series of countries Bengal, Malwa, Chola and Hoysala.
Historical Baggage
Pakistanis consider themselves to be the descendants of the Ghauris, Mughals, Durranis, Suris, Lodhis, Ghazni who ruled the modern Indus nation of Pakistan for close to a thousand years. The Pakistani population consists of mostly Indo-Aryans. A significant chunk of the population is Afghan/Pashtun and Irani/Baluchistanis. The Pashtun are an integral part of Pakistan’s establishment. It can be said there are two Pashtun countries in the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This ethnic group has contributed many of Pakistan’s presidents & prime ministers (Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Zafarullah Khan, Liaqat Ali Khan, Feroz Khan). Their are more Pashtuns in Karachi than Kabul. Hamid Karzai refers to Pakistan and Afghanistan as conjoined twins. The Afghan king once considered a federation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. People of Iranian ancestry have that have taken leadership positions include Benazir Bhutto and the current prime minister Gilani who visited his ancestral homes on a trip to Iran. Arabs settled along the Indus and Omanis settled in the enclave of Gwadar. Still other Pakistanis are descendants of Mongols, Mughals and Turks in addition to Persians, Sakas, Parthians, Hephthalites and Greeks. The great Mughal emperor Akbar was born in Sind. Sher Shah Suri was born in Multan. Ayub Khan emir of Afghanistan and destroyer of Anglo/Indian army is buried in Peshawar a hero to both countries. His grandson fought for Pakistan leading a division in 1965.
These ethnic groups that make up the Indus nation of Pakistan inflicted defeat after defeat on what is northern and peninsular india. Although Pakistanis are proud of ancient civilizations such as the Indus and their South Asian heritage, Pakistanis the people consider Pakistan the state as a natural extension of the Southwest Asian Muslim experience of the last 1000 years.
Indus History distinct from developments in Peninsular Sub-Continent
* 1700 BC – 0600 BC: Start of the Aryan civilization in Sapta Sindhu, Punjab and of Indus culture
* 500 BC: Gandhara Buddhist civilization (500 BC to 500 AD)
* 516 BC: North Pakistan becomes easternmost province of Achaemenid Empire of Persia. Gandharais semi-independent kingdom
* 600 BC: Beginning of historic period under Achaemenians; Sindh & Punjab as provinces of the empire of Darius I of Persia
* 327 BC – 325 BC: Alexander of Macedonia invades Pakistan and captures Taxila
* 300 BC: Mauryan empire, Ashoka promotes Buddhism
* 185 BC: Bactrian Greeks conquer North-West Pakistan
* 75 BC: Arrival of Scythians (Sakas) from central Asia
* 20: Parthians conquer Northern Pakistan
* 60: Kushans from central Asia overthrow Parthians
* 3rd Century: Kushans decline and are dominated by Sassanian empire of Persia
* 4th Century: Kidar (little) Kushans come to power
* 450: White Huns (Hephthalites) attacked Gandhara, sacked its cities and burnt down its many monasteries and centres of learning
* 565: Sassanians and Turks overthrow Huns
* Late 6th –7th Century: Turki Shahi control area West of Indus, including Gandhara
* 711 – 712: Muhammad bin Qasim conquers Sindh and Southern Punjab
Coastal trade and the presence of a colony in Sindh permitted significant cultural exchange and the introduction of Muslim teachers into the subcontinent. Considerable conversions took place, especially amongst the Buddhist majority.
* 870 – 1026: Hindu Shahi ruled from Multan to Kabul
* 1001: Mahmud Ghazni defeats the Hindu Shahi king Jayapala (A Janjua Rajput) near Peshawar
* 1021: Mahmud Ghazni defeats Tarnochalpal and annexes Punjab
* 1058: Sumra Dynasty (1058–1351) ends the Arab domination and establishes its own rule over Sindh.
* 1148 – 1206: Ghaurids Period
* 1221: Mongol Genghis Khan invades Punjab
* 1351: Samma Dynasty assumed rule over Sindh
* 1398: Tamerlane plunders Lahore
* 1472: Sher Shah Suri (original name Farid Khan] born in Multan
* 1526 – 1857: Mughal ascendancy (1526–1707), nominal rule by Mughals (1707–1857)
* 1541 – 1543: Sher Shah Suri built the Rohtas Fort
* 1586: Yusufzais defeat Akbar in the Karakar pass
* 1701: Kalhoro Dynasty establishes its rule over Sindh
* 1739: Nadir Shah of Persia invades subcontinent
* 1751-52: Ahmed Shah Abdali annexes Punjab to his kingdom
* 1782: The Baloch tribe of Talpur defeats the last Kalhora ruler Mian Abdul Nabi in the battle of Halani
These diverse ancestral groups of races & religions above are proudly represented by their descendants in modern day Pakistan.
An interesting comment by Dr. Jamil Chaudri
A lot of British were born in India, but that did not make them Indian. Since the time of Mahmood of Ghazna, citizens of what is now the United Islamic Republics (Afghania and Pakia) had lived in the Islamic patrimony of Hind, but that DID NOT make them Hindi! In 1947, most Pakis were indeed Hindi-born; but, really, they never were Hindi by aptitude or inclination or ethnicity.
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Just the same as at the end of British rule, most British (whether born in Hind or otherwise) left for the UK or British Dominions (Australia, South Africa, etc.), in 1947 most Pakis left Hind. Some Hindis seem unable to understand the difference between religion and ethnicity. Hindi-Muslims are still in India; those from the United Islamic Republics left Hind in 1947. We were never Hindi – a strange set of circumstances had spread us across the Gangetic Plains – in 1947, or thereafter, we returned home!! Perhaps, the phrase needs a bit of elaboration. It was the spirit of adventure and romance, an outwards outlook, curiosity, and the zeal of sharing our civilization that spread us over the Gengetic Plain. The Romance lasted for a few hundred years and when zeal waned, our fathers returned to our ancestral ethnic home-land: the United Islamic Republics. You raise two interesting issues. Issue 1: Geographic; and Issue 2: Civilizational. Regarding the Geographic issue, in my writing I mentioned the Gangetic Plain, as the area where Afghan-Paki people sojourned. The Indus River (its source and its tributaries) is an Afghan-Pakistani River. Even ancient geographers recognised the boundary of Hind to be TO THE EAST OF the Indus River SYSTEM. The Indus River System has NOTHING to do with Hind; it only defines Hind as a land on the other side of the Indus System. In Latin, Hind would be defined as a trans-Indus land. The second issue pertains to civilizational differences. In the Afghan-Pakistani (linked with Turkic) anschauung, the Upland Afghans brought a message and a civilization which was well received by the inhabitants of the Afghan Lowlands (Indus River System). The Pakistanis are totally Afghanised. Although I am a Jatt, from Ludihana in Hindi Punjab, in terms of ethnicity I am an Afghan from the top of my head (the Karakul Hat) to the sole of my shoes (the Peshawari sandals). In our anschauung anybody who accepts our WAY OF LIFE becomes US. Whether they came from Greece, or Japan (or from the moon for that matter!) provided they have the inclination and aptitude to be Afghan-Pakistani , that person is no longer a foreigner: He or she is US. The treachery of Albion resulted in some of the Afghan-Pakitani Lands being presently occupied by Hind.
Dress
Pakistanis overwhelmingly wear Shalwar-Qameez. Shalwar is a persian word wrongly pronounced in India as “Salwar”. Qameez is an Arabic word. In India, Saris are much more popular even though the origin of the Sari is date to Pakistan’s Indus civilization. Sari are also not preferred due to the exposed midriff. Pakistani men wear the Peshawari Chappal, sometimes even with jeans. These durable shoes can last for ten years. Lungees are worn in India even by government officials, In Pakistan, Lungis are not worn much. In India, the traditional style of dress for men is the dhoti or lungi. This is a long white sheet of cloth and men will wear a shirt or t-shirt over it. Kurta-pyjama and European and Western influenced trousers and shirts are also becoming more popular among men. The draped sari is generally considered to be one of the most popular forms of traditional Indian dress for women. They can be made out of a range of different fabrics, although silk saris still reign as the most elegant choice. The sari is usually worn over a blouse, by girls and women of all ages
The society and culture of Pakistan (Urdu: ثقافت پاکستان) comprises numerous diverse cultures and ethnic groups: the Punjabis, Kashmiris, Sindhis in east, Muhajirs, Makrani in the south; Baloch and Pashtun in the west; and the ancient Dardic, Wakhi, and Burusho communities in the north. These Pakistani cultures have been greatly influenced by many of the surrounding countries’ cultures, such as the Turkic peoples, Persian, Arab, some parts of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
In ancient times, Pakistan was a major cultural hub. Many cultural practices and great monuments have been inherited from the time of the ancient rulers of the region. One of the greatest cultural influences was that of the Persian Empire, of which Pakistan was a part. In fact, the Pakistani satraps were at one time the richest and most productive of the massive Persian Empire. Other key influences include the Afghan Empire, Mughal Empire and later, the short-lived but influential, the British Empire.
Pakistan has a cultural and ethnic background going back to the Indus Valley Civilization, which existed from 2800–1800 B.C., and was remarkable for its ordered cities, advanced sanitation, excellent roads, and uniquely structured society. Pakistan has been invaded many times in the past, and has been occupied and settled by many different peoples, each of whom have left their imprint on the current inhabitants of the country. Some of the largest groups were the Proto-Indo-Aryans, of which Sindhis and Punjabis descend from and later Iranic peoples which the Baloch and Pashtuns descend from. Other less significant ones include the Greeks, Scythians, Persians, White Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Buddhists, and other Eurasian groups, up to and including the British, who left in the late 1940s.
The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia from the earliest times, and is analogous to Turkey’s position in Eurasia.[1] There are differences in culture among the different ethnic groups in matters such as dress, food, and religion, especially where pre-Islamic customs differ from Islamic practices. Their cultural origins also reveal influences from far afield, including Tibet, Nepal, India, and eastern Afghanistan. All groups show varying degrees of influence from Persia, Turkestan and Hellenistic Greece. Pakistan was the first region of South Asia to receive the full impact of Islam and has developed a distinct Islamic identity, historically different from areas further west.[1]
Diwan-e-Khas: the hall of special audience with the emperor
Bahauddin Zakariya
Ancient sites in Pakistan include: Zoroastrian Fire temples, Islamic centres, shi’a shrines/Sufi shrines, Buddhist temples, Sikh, Hindu, and pagan temples and shrines, gardens, tombs, palaces, monuments, and Mughal and Indo-Saracenic buildings. Sculpture is dominated by Greco-Buddhist friezes, and crafts by ceramics, jewellery, silk goods and engraved woodwork and metalwork.
Pakistani society is largely multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural. Though cultures within the country differ to some extent, more similarities than differences can be found, as most Pakistanis are mainly of Aryan heritage or have coexisted side by side along the Indus River for several thousand years, or both. However, over 60 years of integration, a distinctive “Pakistani” culture has sprung up, especially in the urban areas where many of the diverse ethnic groups have coexisted and ithe country now having a literacy rate of 55%, up from 3% at the time of independence. Traditional family values are highly respected and considered sacred, although urban families increasingly form nuclear families, owing to socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional culture of the extended family.
The past few decades have seen emergence of a middle class in cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, Sialkot, Abbottabad, and Multan. Rural areas of Pakistan are regarded as more conservative, and are dominated by regional tribal customs dating back hundreds if not thousands of years.
“Pakistan’s culture is again unique like the rest of the country. Pakistan’s geography is the meeting point of South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia/Gulf. Its culture could be termed as a combination of sub continental, Islamic, Regional, English, and more recently global influences. Let us consider them piecemeal. The newly born Pakistan had to have a sub continental leaning, having been a part of for last 5000 years of its civilization. However, the Indus Valley, present day Pakistan, culture was different from the rest of North India or South India”. (Quoted Pakistan’s Identity, History and Culture, from the famous book Gwadar on the Global Chessboard by Nadir Mir)
The Pakistan 25 is an interim list of companies that have applied for the Asia Fast Growth 500. The list is made up of 24 ranked companies that reach AllWorld’s international standard for competitive fast growth companies, and 6 “companies to watch” that tend to be younger or smaller but otherwise have a strong growth trajectory that should qualify them in the near future.
The Pakistan 25 is an interim list of companies that have applied for the Asia Fast Growth 500. The list is made up of 24 ranked companies that reach AllWorld’s international standard for competitive fast growth companies, and 6 “companies to watch” that tend to be younger or smaller but otherwise have a strong growth trajectory that should qualify them in the near future.
Indian Govt. ungrateful for rescuing Indian citizens by Pakistan’s Navy. Family of Indian nationals have different opinion.
On June 17, Pakistani Foreign Office had lodged a complaint with the Indian government over the “dangerous manoeuvre” of INS Godavari as it escorted the released MV Suez to port Salalah in Oman.
According to the Pakistani foreign office, PNS Babar, part of the international Combined Task Force on anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, had been escorting MV Suez, which had been released by pirates after nine months in captivity, when the Indian warship moved dangerously close to PNS Babar and both warships brushed each other almost 100 nautical miles east of Port Salalah.
The Indian navy has already been under immense domestic pressure for not sending help in time to the sailors and was beaten to it by arch rivals Pakistan in measures to get the hostages released and escorted back to port. As per Indian media reports, INS Godavari had joined up with MV-Suez on June 16 to provide an Indian escort to the ship which is carrying six Indians among 22 sailors.
The event has now snowballed into a diplomatic row as both countries lodged tit-for-tat protests with each other for impeding humanitarian missions. After Pakistan lodged its complaint, the Indian External Affairs Ministry released a statement on Saturday saying that the Naval advisor of the Pakistan high commission had been summoned by the ministry of defence and “our serious concern on this incident was conveyed.”
An Indian navy official refuted Pakistani allegations that an Indian ship had put to risk MV Suez. He said that “reports of aggression by INS Godavari are incorrect and based on misinformation.”
What was this INS Gandmari doing in the middle of a rescue mission?
New Delhi lodged the protest under International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea and Article 10 of the ‘Agreement between India-Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements 1991′ involving INS Godavari on high seas, the MEA statement said.
It added ”PNS Babur by its risky manoeuvres jeopardised the safety of INS Godavari and its crew.”
MV-Suez, which was hijacked by Somali pirates last August had been released earlier this week after the Egyptian owner of the ship and Pakistani human rights activists, Ansar Burney managed to raise the $2.1 million demanded by pirates. India, which was due to contribute $500,000 as part of its share of the ransom fee, never turned up with its promised amount, almost putting the lives of 22 sailors in jeopardy.
Poor Pakistan has to pay for Super Power Shining India?
After the sailors and their ship were released by pirates on Tuesday, MV-Suez once again came under attack from Somali pirates. However, by this time PNS Babar had reached the ship and thwarted the attack.
The CEO of Integrated Dynamics (ID) and the man behind Pakistan’s first drone made here in Karachi, Khan talked to The News to discuss their versatility and potential to save lives.
“We do not build drones as weapons. These unmanned aircrafts are used for peaceful purposes around the world, and many of our drones have been exported to Italy, Spain, Brazil, Australia as well as South Korea,” he said.
ID’s drones have been used to map entire eco-systems in the great Amazon, for law enforcement in Italy, Outback rescue in Australia as well as monitoring schools of tuna in the Great Barrier Reef.
Khan said that he had no knowledge of these aircraft operating in Pakistan. However, he did mention that in 1991 the National Geographic Channel used drones made in Pakistan to capture rare footage of the elusive and almost extinct Himalayan snow leopard. “Drones can be used to map coastal erosion developing at an accelerating rate in Sindh.”
Drones are basically an extension of remote-controlled model airplanes that provide a “quick and dirty” way of getting a job done, he said. In addition to long endurance which renders them functional for days on end, they also cost one-tenth of what a conventional aircraft would.
According to him, patience and persistence is the key to pursuing any passion one might have. However, he did add that one had to be a little crazy to do what he does.
Sabri’s passion has always been, and still is, to make an aircraft that can go longer as well as faster, and can be put to “constructive” use.
“I am currently working towards a solar-powered drone which can travel at 80, 000 feet for months on end, potentially covering most of Pakistan’s land mass for the purpose of internal communications and distance learning patterns.”
After acquiring a Masters degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Aeronautics and Astronautics, his interest in unmanned aircraft was solidified. It was not till four years later in 1988 that Khan’s team, which consisted of a painter, a motorcycle mechanic and a carpenter, built Pakistan’s first drone. “We used components from microwave ovens, photocopiers as well as car parts recovered from junk yards to build our first drone.”
On the subject of the media, he spoke of the use of drones to gather news. “Drones can be revolutionary for electronic news coverage,” he said. A simple UAV made from foam (for the safety of civilians) costing $4000-$5000 can be used to transmit live feeds of events that range from political processions and natural disasters to violent conflicts.
It is amazing what our humble nation and our heroes can do with such little resources. Champions & World Leaders. This documentary is being made by an American.
Mohammad Zubair in action at a gymnasium in Islamabad.—Dawn
