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'Pamiri' is the name of an ethnic group that live in Central Asia, primarily in Tajikistan (especially in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province) and in Afghanistan.

Contents

Ethnic Identity

History

References

Ethnic Identity

The Pamiris are composed of people who speak the Pamiri languages, the indigenous languages of Afghanistan's Badakhshan region and in the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous province in Tajikistan, and adhere to the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. The Pamiris are loyal to the Aga Khan, the head of the Ismaili religion. The Pamiris are an Iranian people, but they claim a separate identity from that the the Tajiks, an Iranian ethnic and the majority population in Tajikistan. The Pamiris share close linguistic, cultural and religious ties with the people in Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan, the Sarikoli-speaking Tajiks in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang Province in China, and the Wakhi speakers in Afghanistan. In the Pamiri languages the Pamiris refer to themselves as 'Badakhshani' or 'Badakhshoni', a reference to the historic Badakhshan region where they live.

History

In 1929 Gorno-Badakhshan was attached to the newly formed republic of Tajikistan, and since that point there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the ethnic identity of the Pamiris. Tajik nationalists claim the Pamiris to be Tajik and the Pamiri languages to be dialects of Tajik. The Pamiris claim their own separate identity and there is a consensus amongst linguists that the Pamiri languages are separate languages from Tajik. During the 1980s debate raged in Tajikistan about the official status of the Pamiri languages in the republic. After the independence of Tajikistan in 1991 Pamiri nationalism stirred and the Pamiri nationalist political party Lali Badakhshan took power in Gorno-Badakhshan. Anti-government protests took place in the province's capital, Khorog, and in 1992 the republic declared itself an independent country. This declaration was later repealed. During the Tajikistan Civil War from 1992-1997 the Pamiris were targeted for massacres, especially those living in the capital Dushanbe and other western regions of the country. During the civil war Pamiris in large backed the United Tajik Opposition. Controversy also raged in Tajikistan about the activities of the Aga Khan in Tajikistan. The Aga Khan Foundation became the primary non-governmental organization in Gorno-Badakhsnan and this fuelled concerns that that group’s presence would fuel Pamiri separatism. Today violence against the Pamiris has ended, but the debate about the status of the Pamiris in Tajikistan continues.

References