Central Pashto

The Suleiman Mountains on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan were considered the traditional homeland of the Pashto tribe. The Central Pashto group is found in north Balochistan province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province: Bannu and Karak districts, Waziristan agencies and Lakki Marwat and Tank regions; Punjab province: some border areas in Bhakkar district.

Population in the Project Area :

8,490,000

The People

Pakistan

The Pashtun people have a rich cultural and historical heritage, and they are known for their traditional dress, food, music, and dance. Pashtun society is generally organized around the concept of Pashtunwali, which is a code of conduct that emphasizes hospitality, honor, courage, and justice. The Central Pashto people and their traditions have been influenced by cultures and civilizations from Greece to India for millennia. Farming, gardening, and animal husbandry are traditional occupations of the people. Traditionally, the community is a family and community-oriented society with a strong influence of tribalism. Virtually, the entire Central Pashto community is Sunni Muslims. However, the number of Christians is only a micro per cent (0.025%) in different villages of the Central Pashto tribe. They have original folklore traditions, including legends, myths, stories, and proverbs. The poetic folklore of the community includes songs performed in various social gatherings. Songs and music form a daily part of life for many Central Pashto people.

The Project

Mother-Tongue literacy.

The mother tongue of the ethnic group is known by their community’s name, i.e., Central Pashto. The Central Pashto language is also known as Mahsudi and often by other different village names in which the dialect of the language is spoken. People in the community are mostly partial bilinguals who are able to communicate in their mother tongue as well as Urdu for wider communication. Though, they report that their Urdu language skills are not as strong as those of their mother tongue. They use their mother tongue with all their compatriots and use Urdu with outsiders who don’t understand the Central Pashto language. People have a positive attitude towards their language and believe that their language will survive for the next generations. And, the comparison of dialects within the language shows that even though the different villagers use slightly different dialects but they can all understand each other as long as they use the Central Pashto language. Our team is currently running training program in this ethnic group of Pashto with a focus of understanding the language ability and then forming an efficient system of teaching. In order to identify the language abilities of the participants, we conducted surveys and assessments to determine their proficiency in various languages. Along with these surveys, our staff collects cultural materials and recorded digitally for their preservation. Our goal is to empower them with the skills and knowledge they need to improve their lives and contribute to the broader society.

Progress

As of March 2023

An extensive research is conducted about the language groups in concern. A Sociolinguistic Survey is conducted with the help of experts in order to identify language abilities of the community people, vitality and stability of the mother tongue of these minority groups, to identify different dialects and their mutual intelligibility across the dialect regions and to identify ideal literacy staff from the respective communities. The survey team was assisted by mother tongue speakers from each language group. Also an orientation program for the literacy staff is conducted. This event helped them to collect cultural materials and folk stories from their communities. The literacy staff collected cultural materials, including folk stories, songs, lullabies, riddles, proverbs, etc., They transcribed the materials using the script of state language and also recorded using digital technologies. Most recently, The literacy staff members are currently getting trained in Linguistics (Phonetics, Phonology, and Orthography) and also involved in developing a trail-orthography in their languages.