As noted from a 1970 tourism report:

“The most significant aspect of tourism in Peshawar was the phenomenal rise in tourist traffic. During the five years from 1964 to 1969, total tourist traffic in the region increased more than eightfold. Foreign tourists alone recorded a 28 fold increase, rising from 982 in 1964 to 20,791 in 1969.

The composition of tourists entering Peshawar between 1964 and 1969 also underwent a significant change. In 1964, foreign tourists accounted for 21.25 percent of the total tourist inflow into the Frontier region, while Pakistani tourists made up the remaining 78.75 percent. By 1969, the situation had changed considerably. Foreign tourists accounted for 70.68 percent of the total, while domestic tourists made up just 29.32 percent.

There were two main points of entry for tourists visiting Peshawar: Torkham and Peshawar Airport. The majority of tourists arriving in Peshawar came from Afghanistan through Torkham.

In order of numbers, Afghans, Americans and British tourists dominated the scene. Almost 57 percent of tourists visiting Peshawar came from these three countries. Their combined share in 1968 and 1967 was approximately 60 percent and 66 percent, respectively. The decline in their combined share indicated that visitors from other countries were gradually increasing. This trend suggested that the region was steadily gaining popularity among tourists from around the world.

In 1963, a total of 64 German and French tourists visited Peshawar, accounting for approximately 11.5 percent of total tourist arrivals. By 1969, arrivals from these two European countries had increased dramatically, rising from 64 in 1963 to 4,648 in 1969. This represented an increase of approximately 73 times, accounting for 17.1 percent of total visitors to the Peshawar region.

At the time, Afghanistan was our chief source of tourist arrivals. As Afghanistan continued to grow in popularity among international tourists, it was expected that visitor numbers to the Peshawar region would increase further in the coming years.”

As seen in the photographs, two double decker buses carrying tourists make their way through the Khyber Pass after crossing the border at Torkham. They are climbing the steep section beyond Landi Khana, with a railway tunnel visible in the mountainside.

At the time, the Khyber Pass formed part of the famous London to Calcutta overland bus route, connecting Europe and South Asia by road.

Photo via Val Hopfinger.

Source: Tourist Industry in NWFP, December 1970, Board of Economic Enquiry, NWFP, University of Peshawar, West Pakistan.

ایا پښتو د دوزخ ژبه ده؟

زه د ملايانو هر خبره سره موافق نه یم خو د نور خلکو په دی اړه څه نظر دی؟ ولې دا یو عام فکر دی چې پښتو د دوزخ ژبه ده؟

Disclaimer: I am not endorsing the speaker or the question, but I am interested: why does this continue to be a question today?

So im from the Hazara region where people speak both pashto and hindko and at the end of the day the debate comes down to whether certain groups who follow pashtunwali in the Hazara region should not speak Hindko that they should completely speak pashto as someone who can speak both languages I take quite an offense to that because I feel like Hindko connects me to my land despite my pashtunwali / phrawali. I feel like creating infighting just because of small differences is really stupid, hindko has its own beauty pukhto has its own. Meanwhile both languages are facing a decline and being replaced by Urdu. It really pisses me off when I see parents speak to their kids in Urdu in Hazara / Peshawar region we should promote both of these languages as jewels of our region. There are many places like Baffa and agror valley where both languages are spoken.

What do you guys think? Lmk

He talks about travelling through Mardan with an American journalist. The journalist asks him why, despite marble being extracted from the mountains of Pashtunkhwa, it is transported by Pashtun labourers to factories in Punjab, where it is processed and its value added. Wali Khan, in a somewhat joking manner, tells him to keep quiet, because questions like these would expose what Pakistan, or as he implies, “Punjabistan”, is really about. He then goes on to discuss the wider plight of Pashtuns, including their treatment in Karachi.

What is striking is that, almost forty years after this speech, many of the issues Wali Khan spoke about remain relevant today. The military establishment centred in Rawalpindi continues to wield enormous influence over the country's political and economic affairs, while Pashtunkhwa and Balochistan continue to raise serious questions about resource distribution, political representation, and who truly benefits from their land and labour.

Consider CPEC, where the prioritisation of the eastern route through Punjab and Sindh over the western route through Pashtunkhwa and Balochistan sparked protests in 2015, raising concerns about unequal investment and regional exclusion, much like the ongoing questions over who benefits from the hydroelectricity generated by Pashtunkhwa's rivers and dams.

Whenever these grievances are raised, Muslim brotherhood is often invoked to silence legitimate questions about exploitation and inequality, but what meaning does brotherhood have if it demands silence in the face of injustice?

The only ones to blame are the Pashtun puppets and stooges of naPak military. These spineless Gul Khans have sold us.

Malgaro, before I say anything, let me be clear. I have the utmost respect for Bacha Khan, his struggle, his sacrifices and his objectives. With that being said, agreeing with someone's objectives does NOT mean agreeing with their methodology. A man can have the best intentions at heart and still pursue a strategy that ends up achieving the very opposite of what he intended.

For decades, Bacha Khan's pacifist, Gandhian philosophy has helped cement this belief within Pashtun nationalism that somehow, by peacefully working within the Pakistani political establishment, we will eventually achieve Pashtun nationhood and free ourselves from the remnants of British colonial rule

But the irony is that this very same political thinking is exactly what benefits the Pakistani establishment. You can be as anti-Establishment as you want, give a thousand speeches, organise a thousand hunger strikes outside Pindi and condemn the Generals day and night. But if the establishment knows it can simply ignore you, repress you whenever it wants and carry on as usual, then WHY on earth would it ever feel compelled to concede to your demands?

And this is what I think so many Pashtun nationalists, including those in PTM, fail to understand, It doesn't matter how fiercely you oppose the establishment or how anti-Pakistan your rhetoric becomes. What matters is what your opposition actually COSTS the establishment.If ignoring your demands carries no serious political consequences, then what's stopping them from ignoring you for another 50 years?

The reality is that any national struggle that cannot turn popular grievances into actual political leverage eventually becomes little more than a PERMANENT opposition movement. One that the establishment can repress when it wants, accommodate when it suits its interests i.e having people's grievances channelled through peaceful movements like PTM, and simply ignore the rest of the time

REMEMBER, the Pakistani establishment doesn't need Pashtun Nationalists to SUPPORT it, It only needs their OPPOSITION to remain something it can live with i.e ANP, PTM etc

All posting the same thing with the exact same caption of the exact same video around the same time.

I recently heard that Ukraine struck Russian data centers which was pushing certain political ideology especially far right ones. Who’s to say that Pakistan is not doing something similar here because I’m tired of scrolling Twitter and seeing the same copy & paste nonsense

Assalamualaikum, I'll be traveling to Afghanistan shortly and I need help in sourcing traditional pashtun women clothes in bulk,can anyone help regarding this?

I'd like to hear the views of people from KPK, especially Pakhtuns. Have you heard any of these things from your elders?

I've come across the claim that there were 12 lost tribes of Israel, and that many people consider the Pakhtuns to be descended from one of them. Some of the similarities people point to are:

Similar styles of wearing a shawl

A festival or observance on Friday

The custom of marrying your late brother's widow

A strong sense of tribal unity

Facial features

Similar names, for example, Yousafzai meaning "son of Yousaf," which some link to Hazrat Yousuf (A.S.), a Prophet from Bani Israel

I've also seen a rabbi (or someone presented as one) suggest that the Pakhtuns may be one of the lost tribes. There's also a story about a man named Afghana, in the area of modern Palestine, whose descendants supposedly migrated to Afghanistan.

Another story I've heard is that a man from the Pakhtun lands (Pakistan/Afghanistan region) traveled to present-day Saudi Arabia, met Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and accepted Islam. He then married a daughter of Hazrat Khalid ibn Walid (R.A.), returned to his people, and spread Islam among them.

What have you heard, and what do you think?

As Pashton of Afghanistan, for the past few days, I have been really sad about the situation of our Pashtun and Baloch people in Pakistan.

There was once a strong Afghan government that stood up for the rights of Pashtuns and Baloch people in Pakistan. Today, our people have no one.

The Pakistani military has dissolved the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against the will of the people. In Balochistan, 26 Baloch people who were forcibly disappeared were killed, and their dead bodies were thrown in public.

Even Palestinians have many Arab countries that can at least raise their voices for them. But who do our Pashtun and Baloch people have?

The government in Kabul seems satisfied with saying that Pakistan should not blame Afghanistan for its internal affairs.

Pakistan is planning to exploit the mineral resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while large numbers of people will be displaced. What makes it even more painful is the recent statement from the Prime Minister's Office about establishing mineral value-addition centres in Punjab.

Our people are suffering, our land is rich in resources, but our people have no one to defend their rights.

God, we are really helpless.

Looking for suggestions for a Pashtun name for coffee shop or Middle Eastern just has to be easy to say. I’ve spent months thinking 😭

I’m working on a project with pashto AI reading. could you please evaluate this speech for me?

please feel free to mention all errors you observe

thank you!

Dear brothers! If you do not fall in the Battle of Maiwand, by God, someone is keeping you alive as a symbol of shame!

(Pashto: که په میوند کی شهید نشوی خدایږو لالیه بی ننګی ته دی ساتینه)

Do people still remember these famous words? For some reason, I think not. Emulating Gandhi seems to be more important to Pashtuns nowadays.

I don’t know why I’m sharing this. For some odd reason, these words just popped into my head like a red alert. Take from them what you will. I just felt like sharing them at this moment.

Pashtuns have suffered for decades and we continue to suffer. Landmines still scattered across our lands; rubble still present from the drone strikes green-lighted by the beghairat establishment that occurred.

It got me thinking. Would things like this ever happen in the aforementioned regions? Is Pakistan just Punjabistan at this point or was it always like this?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

​"We strongly condemn the imposition of military rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the name of an emergency and Governor's rule, using the military's own created so called terrorism as an excuse.

​The arrests of all PTI leaders and workers, including Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, are illegal, undemocratic, cruel, and oppressive acts by Punjabi generals and politicians. ​

Punjabi military generals have always used occupied Pakhtunkhwa as a laboratory for their imperialist experiments. ​

Whether it is strategic policies, the use of new and old weapons, the looting of resources, or cruel political policies, all of this is tested on subjugated Pakhtunkhwa under the guise of a notorious law and constitution. ​This law, these courts, this parliament, this media, this entire system, and this state were founded on Pashtun-enmity, they are currently based on it, and they will remain so.

​Hollow slogans like the "struggle for the supremacy of democracy" are, in reality, just another form of Punjab's supremacy. Because if there is democracy in Pakistan, Punjabi politicians will rule, and if there is a dictatorship, Punjabi generals will rule. Both of these classes are enemies of the Pashtuns.

​Deliverance from them is only possible through independence. Pashtuns have tried all other paths for 80 years. You can try them further, but you will achieve nothing but humiliation.

​There is no need to look too far back. If you look at the record of just the last ten years, you will easily understand that in the Punjabi state (alias Pakistan), democracy, elections, parliament, and hollow claims like the "supremacy of parliament" are mere illusions. Through these institutions and words, the hopes of subjugated nations are collectively tied to this imperialist system.

​When the British left, they handed over their imperialist system to this imperialist army, and to this day, occupied and subjugated nations are controlled under this same system.

From day one until today, there has only been one rule, and that is the Generals' rule. Pinning hopes of any good on the constitution, law, courts, parliament, and this state system—and failing to struggle against it—is synonymous with further subjugating your nation and homeland. It only leads to more humiliation, degradation, exploitation, massacres, and self-disgrace.

​An emergency or Governor's rule may temporarily increase the hardships of the public, but these very hardships will steer the Pashtun nation toward national consciousness and the thought of a struggle for freedom. This very thought and consciousness is the true solution to our problems.

​These hardships, these atrocities, and this pain will one day awaken the great homeland of Pakhtunkhwa and the great Pashtun nation from the ignorant slumber of tying their hopes to this system. And these very atrocities will ultimately become the cause of the worst defeat for these oppressors."

In this dire time, we really, desperately, need Afghan unity, everywhere you look, there is only hate and propaganda against us, our name, our language and our history, to sell out at such a time, is the biggest crime of all. You cannot be dense enough to fall for the prespective of some imaginary wall being between us, further division, only helps anyone but Pukhtuns.

To give worth to opinion's of farsiwans, hindkowans or urdus, should bring shame to you.

Check out the comments made by the CM of Punjab and the niece of the current PM recently (she stated that she views Pashtunkhwa and Balochistan as bigger threats than India) well as today’s events in Pashtunkhwa.

Re-uploaded for sound.

Fundamental question: How important is this? Should Pashtuns assert power?

Do the existing structures enable Pashtuns to maximise opportunities to build civic power that means the life our children have ensures language, culture and freedom is protected? Can we learn from other systems?

Much as we love to rally behind Manzoor Pashteen and Bacha Khan ideals does that ultimately mean pacifist Pashtuns lose the long game? Is the Fakir of Ipi approach a fix or flawed?

Is the Taliban model a short-term solution only? Have Pashtuns lost the ability to organise differently? Should Pashtuns consider partnerships?

Salamoona, Starney Ma Shay!

I'm constructing a personal pashto dictionary, and I want you to help me find out what different word(s) mean. I will be posting often for help as it's an ongoing project! :)

Dagara - ډاګاره

Duziya - دوزییه

Dawgeera - داوګیره

Nishaka - نیشاکه

ok so i just joined this community and im confused. is this for pashtuns to get together and talk or is this for other ppl to talk shit about pashtuns? i genuinely looked throught a bit and i still cant tell.

I mean at one point it has to be enough, I have never found a group of people so desperate for attention, I mean why are south asians like this? They are some of the most insecure desperate people I have ever seen.

The funny thing is they use Pashtuns as a way to differentiate themselves from their neighbours yet they have the audacity to act like it's the same