Tribal People In Pakistan (By Logan and Linnea)

There are many tribes in Pakistan some ancient some more recent but the main ones are older. Before the religion Islam came to be, mass migrations took place and many people went to Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia. Which lead to the forming of the main tribe the Huns, they are also known as the Iranian Huns because they come from mainly Iranian descent and to be known different than the Mongolian Huns. The Huns are one of the thirty six clans of the Rajputs. But the main group of the Huns were absorbed into Hinduism and converted into another group leaving the smallest group of the Huns the only trace left of their tribe.

The second most important tribe is the Punjab. The majority of the Punjab tribe consists of many clans such as the Rajputs and the Jats, another large tribe in the Cholistan tribal area, and their clans such as the Awans, Kkokhars, Ghakkars, Khattars, Janjaus, Arains, Gujjars and many others. Many people from this tribe “claim common ancestry from Otub Shah who is said to have core from Chazni. But geologists say that they were probably told to believe that by one of their previous ruling kings. Almost all tribal people there frequently claim about having ancestry of famous ruling kings and conquerors of India and other Arabian pioneers. But a large number of them do have ancestry from Afghanistan, Iranian, Turkish, and Arab invaders and immigrants. As you can see the tribal people of Pakistan have a very interesting and knowledgeable ancestry.

One of the greatest migrations of Central Asian nomadic tribes in the history of Pakistan are the Huns. White Huns or Epthalite and they had been in the Oxus Valley and came to Pakistan. Around the 5th and 6th Centuries was a turning point in Pakistan’s history because of the mass migrations of the Huns. Politically, it was a turning point because before the arrival of Muslim, they were the ruling class in Pakistan and most of Northern India. Socially, the turning point was because most of the tribes of Pakistan are traceable to them.

When entering the Medieval Period there was confusing. The hordes of foreign invaders were being absorbed into Hindu body politic which began a new grouping of states. Until the arrival of Muslim Turks, this period was known as the Rajput period. Invasions and consequences of the Huns broke historical traditions and those traditions are rarely seen beyond the 8th century.


Interview:

1. Have you ever met any tribal people In Pakistan?

The tribal people we knew were Gujjars (also spelt gujar). While some Gujars have settled down and are living a modern lifestyle, others remain in the traditional extended family tribal groups of 15-30. They wander the northern areas of Pakistan and cross into Afghanistan and India (Kashmir) with their flocks of mostly goats, but also sheep and camels. The camels are used as transport animals. They used to wander freely across borders searching winter and summer pastures (lots of snow forces them south), however, what with the current political problems between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, their migratory patterns have been curtailed. I believe that many small groups do still wander between India and Pakistan crossing at out of the way points on the border.
The women tend to wear long skirts (like many Roman ladies here in Europe) and generally are in fairly colorful clothing. The men wear the traditional shawar chemise of Pakistan/Afghanistan men. Both men and women generally keep their heads covered. The women wear cheap bangles and necklaces. The unwashed children tag along behind their parents. (Washing children is believed to cause the bad spirits—the jinn—to want them, so if you never wash a kids’ hair (yuck!) then evil will be kept from them.

The gujars we know lived in small tent encampments—sometimes circular in formation—and would stay in one area grazing their cattle until they moved on either from over grazing or forced to move by local inhabitants.
One group of gujars (probably about 20 people) stayed each year for maybe 3-4 years in the late 1980s near the famous archaeological site of Axial (which I led tours of over 115 times.) They made the most amazing huts because they stayed all winter—maybe 4 months at the one site. The huts were formed with a circle base with packed mud/mud bricks (maybe stone in them???) about 4 feet high. A narrow mud platform extended from this outer wall. (Used for sleeping/shelf) Then a teepee like structure was built up from that with long poles. Over the poles there was a little plastic sheeting (not perfect like the American Indian teepees). On top of the plastic and bound into the poles was thatch. The fire for cooking and heating was in the center of this teepee hut with smoke escaping where the poles came together. Inside the hut was very dark, smoky but warm and snug on a 40 degree night.
WE were privileged to go into the hut because their was a very sick (dying) infant and my husband being called Dr. Mates, they took that to mean he was a doctor of medicine. We provided them with a little money to take the baby to a near-by famous missionary hospital.
This group of Gujjars were obviously not in the best of health.





2. What are the main rituals that they do?
This I cannot tell you. Some Gujjars are non-practicing Muslims, while others are Hindus. They probably keep some of the religious traditions of the areas visited. In Pakistan there are a number of Muslim religious shrines (not approved of by Saudi Arabian Wahhabi sect) and they could worship at those sites. While I have seen Gujjars at the shrine sites, they were watching their flocks and not in active worship.

3. Do they have a specific religion?
Varies between Muslim and Hindu depending where they live (Pakistan or India) However the groups are uneducated and have only simple beliefs rather than a formal set religion. That is why I would call them “nominal believers” in Islam or Hinduism.
4. Did they live In houses or some other type of shelter?
See above. Their tents were not “official” tents (ask your Dad!) but rather makeshift affairs made out of poles and various old thick cloth pieces which your mother would call a dirty old rag.

5. Do they welcome foreigners?
Not really. They did not mind when we took pictures, but as all peoples they just wanted to be left alone.

6. Do they sacrifice people to the gods?
No.(Only Muslim terrorists do that in Pakistan.) The tradition among these people would be to sacrifice an animal from their flocks.
But perhaps not educating your children, or giving them basic shots or giving the matted hair dirty kids a bath, is sacrificing them to tradition. I am sure the death rate is high for kids in those families. Imagine having no clean water to drink.