Pathans of all hues and colours, irrespective of their nationality, display special interest for Balochistan. Their interest in Balochistan is quite natural because the traditional home of Pathans lies within this province.
Pathan or Afghan genealogies, whatever be their merit, all commence from Qais Abdur Rashid, who is believed to be thirty-seventh in descent from Malik Talut (King Saul). His home was in Khorasan or Kakar Khorasan, the tract immediately to the west of Koh-i-Sulaiman in Zhob district.
Qais Abdur Rashid was born in AD575 and died in AD661. The natives call the place where Qais is buried on the top of Sulaiman mountain as Da Kase Ghar (The mountain of Qais). Many, who can climb the steep mountain top, visit the place and sacrifice goats at the tomb of Qais for the fulfilment of their desires.
The Sulaiman range of mountains lies between the Gomal river on the north and the Indus on the south, and it separates NWFP and Punjab from Balochistan. The geological formation of this mountain range is spectacular. On its southern slopes vegetation is scarce; in the central part wild olive is abundant; further to the north higher elevations are covered with chilghoza pine. In the northern part of the range, there is magnificent scenery of which the extra-ordinarily narrow gorges constitute the most striking feature.
According to some legends, Noah’s Ark alighted, after the Deluge, at one of the peaks of Sulaiman range, called Takhat-e-Sulaiman; while others connect it with Solomon who, according to the story, once came to the subcontinent to marry a lady named Balkis. While returning with his bride, in a flying throne, the lady requested Solomon to stop for a while to enable her to take a last fond look at her native land. Thereupon the throne alighted on this peak, which has ever since borne the name Takht-i-Sulaiman or Solomon’s Throne.
Da Kase Ghar (3,444.24 metres), with its sister peak of Takht-i-Sulaiman (3,070 metres), forms the highest point of the Sulaiman range. In Kila Saifullah tehsil, there is a hillock, within this range, near Tang Haidarzai rest house, which is pointed out as the sacred spot where Khwaja Khidar sat for a while.
In his book India, Sir Thoman Holdich describes Sulaiman range as follows: “From the Gomal River to Jacobabad there stretches one continuous chain of mountain peaks, which, although now distinguished by many local names, may well be known under their ancient designation of Sulimani. They are, and they have ever been, through the ages of an immense past, the original habitat of the Pakhtun or Pashtu speaking mountaineers whom we now call Pathans.”
The Chinese pilgrim Hiven Tsiang, who visited the area in AD629, also mentions Zhob as the original home of the Afghans. In AD1030, Al-Beruni mentions the Afghans as tribes inhabiting the mountains, that form the western frontier of India and extend as far as the Sindh valley. The historian Bartolad writes: “The inhabitants of Zhob are Pashtoons, an Aryan tribe who have lived in the area from pre-historic times onwards.”
Even today, Pathans remain the principal ethnic group in the district. The predominant language in the district is Pashto. It is spoken by over 98 per cent of the population. There are, however, a number of dialects, the one most spoken is Kakari Pashto. The Kakar tribe is the largest of the tribes living in the district.
Qais Abdur Rashid, who is believed to be one of the progenitors of the Pathans, had three sons — Ghurghust, Saraban and Baitan. The descendants of these eponymous ancestors are still found living in large numbers round the slopes of Takht-i-Sulaiman.
According to genealogists, Ghurghust had three sons — Mando, Babi and Dani. The descendants of Mando are represented by Mandokhels of Zhob; while we find some Babis in Quetta-Pishin and Kalat. Although Dani has not become the eponym of a tribe, his descendants constituted two of the most important tribes of Balochistan and NWFP, namely the Kakars and the Pannis.
Saraban’s descendants divide themselves into two groups, each carrying the name of his sons Khair-ud-Din (alias Kharashabun) and Sharf-ud-Din (alias Sharkhabun). The immediate descendants of the former are represented by the Zarnands, Kasis, Yusufzais, Tarkalanri and the Utmankhel.
Yusufzais of Swat claim to have migrated from Ghwara Murgha in Khorasan. Major McMahon of the British Army, obtained a curious verification of the statement, at the close of the nineteenth century, while marching along the river Kundar, which leads from Zhob into the Gomal.
At Gustoi, he claims to have discovered remains which appeared to be those of a “walled encampment of considerable extent.” Enquiries from the local inhabitants, to whom the existence of the Yusufzais of Swat was unknown, elicited the fact that according to their traditions, the old encampment had been held by a tribe called Yusufzai.
Sharkhabun — Saraban’s other son — had five sons, namely Tarin, Shirani, Miani, Barech and Urmar. His other descendants are the Lunis, Jafars, Silach, Zmarais and Bulfarz. The descendants of Baitan include Ghilzais (Sulaimankhels, Nasars, Kharotis) and the Baitans of DI Khan. These are the main roots, which may be divided into principal sections and clans. For example: the Kakars are Ghurghust Pathans, their progenitor, Kak or Kakar being one of the four sons of Dani and a grandson of Ghurghust, son of Qais Abdur Rashid. The main clans of Kakars, inhabiting Zhob district include Sanatia, Sanzar Khels and Sargara.
The Sanatias derive their name from Sanatia, son of Husain, who was a grandson of Jadram, one of the six sons of Kakar. They are divided into two main branches — the Harun Khel and Isa Khel. The Sanzar Khels are descended from Sanzar or Sanjar, son of Sughrak and grandson of Kakar. They are also known as Sarans and Zhobis. The principal sections of the Sanzar Khels are known, after the twelve sons of Sanzar, as Alizai, Abdullazai, Kibzai, Huramzai, Utman Khel, Barat Khel, Nas Khel, Arab Khel, Parezun, Taimani, Nisai, and Hindu Sanzar Khel. The most important group of the Sanzar Khels is the Jogizai who is the Sardar Khel. The Sargaras owe their origin from Sargarai, son of Kakar, and are divided into three main sections, viz: Sam Khel, Mandazai and Harunzai.
Likewise each principal section and clan may be further divided into many main sections and groups.
In the time of Sanzar Nika — the progenitor of Sanzarkhel Kakars, who was fifth in descent from Qais Abdur Rashid, the tribes of Zhob district supplanted the Mughals. The existence of ruins of old forts, villages and underground water channels called after the Mughals corroborates the local tradition.
In a pamphlet entitled Ancient Silver Coins from Baluchistan, Professor Rapson of the British Museum records that 15 coins were found in a pot by some boys near village Aghbarg in the region inhabited by the Shiranis in Zhob. He writes: “These punch-marked coins represent the primitive currency of India. They are little more than square or oblong weights of silver stamped with symbols, which are probably mostly those of different bankers or money changers, who had from time-to-time satisfied themselves of their correctness in weight, or of the quality of their metal. They date from at least the fourth century BC, and may be earlier; and they remained in circulation for different periods in different parts of India.”
Situated on one of the high roads of trade from Afghanistan to the subcontinent, Zhob is believed to have played an important part in South Asia’s early history. It was possibly from here that the Pathans emerged to seek riches and even empire in the subcontinent.
