Patriarchal tribal customary practices have been perpetuating male privilege and enhancing men’s control over women in the war ragged Pukhtun land. Consequently, various dimensions of socio-political life including gender relations are largely governed by tribal codes, customs and institutions with an admixture of Islam. Since time immemorial, adherence to tribal kinship political machinations of imperialism and the ensuing Great Game, political instability, militarization of Pukhtun by various emperors, invaders, empires, state and non-state actors, ‘Cold War’ and ‘War on Terror’ continuing war in Afghanistan for more than three decades as well as state policies marginalizing Pukhun in Pakistan have been instrumental in sustaining primitive tribal mindset. Pukhtun tribes range from sedentary to semi-sedentary, semi-nomads and nomads. Metropolitan cities, such as Karachi, also find Pukhtun in millions. They also constitute the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, dwelling largely in the South, Southwest and East of Afghanistan. In Pakistan, Pukhtun tribes predominantly inhabit provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Themes expressed in tapa are further substantiated by narratives of Pukhtun women from either side of the Durand Line. Since time immemorial women have been articulating and expressing in Tapa, forbidden desires, aspirations and sentiments, considered taboos in ordinary discourse. Pukhtun women, however, find ways to contest oppressive customs and traditions and negotiate their desires and sentiments. Through various notions, customs, traditions and institutions of Pukhtunwali, all aspects of Pukhtun life, including women’s bodies, desires, sentiments and aspirations are regulated and oppressed.
Pukhtun profess adherence to Pukhtunwali, the unwritten Pukhtun code of conduct. It also discusses ways Pukhtun women use tradition as modality for change. It identifies patterns of expression of women’s desires and aspirations in Pukhtun society. This paper uses ‘Tapa’, a genere of Pukhto folk poetry, and narratives of Pukhtun women, collected from both sides of Durand Line, to delineate customary instruments regulating and oppressing women. Ka da charho pa suko lar vi ra ba shee naĮven if the path towards me leads on the tips of the knives, he will manage to reach If the messenger keeps on coming twice a day Regulation, Oppression and Expression of Pukhtun Women: In ‘Tapa’ and Narrativesįinally I will get killed by elder brother
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