A Critique of Pashtuns’ Racial Profiling and Generalized Identity through Fatima Bhutto’s Shadow of The Crescent Moon

Abstract

The identity of Pashtuns is generally associated with the stereotypes of violence, social and cultural inferiority and terrorism, especially in the wake of 9/11. This pattern of identity has been in vogue in media discourses as well as literary works. The present study, based on a critical analysis of Bhutto’s Shadow of the Crescent Moon (2013) analyses the link between terrorism and the identity of Pashtuns. The study shows that Bhutto’s depiction of Pashtuns runs counter to that of other writers especially Khaled Husseni’s The Kite Runner (2003) and Kamila Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone (2014), and thereby offers a counter narrative to the stereotypical identity of Pashtuns. The study contends that Pashtuns are not violent and terror oriented rather its worst. The analysis is conducted under the theoretical framework of Kwame Nkrumah's Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965) and supported by Pashtuns’ history and Pashto folklore. The study concludes that Pashtuns are not the perpetrators of war and violence rather its worst victims.