Greek Ancestry of Northern Pakistani Ethnic Groups?

Three populations have possible origins from the armies of Alexander the Great: the Burusho, the Kalash, and the Pathans. Modern Greeks show a moderately high frequency of haplogroup 21 (28%; Rosser et al. 2000), but this haplogroup was not seen in either the Burusho or the Kalash sample and was found in only 2% of the Pathans, whereas the local haplogroup 28 was present at 17%, 25%, and 13%, respectively. Greek-admixture estimates of 0% were obtained for the Burusho and the Pathans, but figures of 20%�40% were observed for the Kalash (table 3). In view of the absence of haplogroup 21, we ascribe this result either to drift in the frequencies of the other haplogroups, particularly haplogroups 2 and 1, or to the poor resolution of lineages within these haplogroups, resulting in distinct lineages being classified into the same paraphyletic haplogroups.

PAKISTANI                               ADMIXTURE                                     

                                     ESTIMATE

AND SOURCE                  LONG'S

POPULATIONS                    WLS    mR   m[rho]

Baluch:

  Syria (a)                   -.08   -.1     0

  Pakistan                    1.08   1.1     1

Balti:

  Tibet (b)                   -.06   -.11    0

  Pakistan                    1.06   1.11    1

Burusho:

  Greece (c)                  -.29   -.22    0

  Pakistan                    1.29   1.22    1

Hazara:

  Mongolia (b)                 .67    .52     .41

  Pakistan                     .33    .48     .59

Kalash:

  Greece (c)                    .4    .32     .23

  Pakistan                      .6    .68     .77

Kashmiri:

  Jews (a)                    -.46   -.36    0

  Pakistan                    1.46   1.36    1

Negroid Makrani:

  Sub-Saharan Africa (b)     .12    .12     .13

  Pakistan                     .88    .88     .88

Pathan:

  Greece (c)                  -.03   -.16    0

  Pakistan                    1.03   1.16    1

  Jews (a)                    -.22   -.55    0

  Pakistan                    1.22   1.55    1

Parsis:

  Iran (d)                    1.21   1.06    1

  Pakistan                    -.21   -.06    0

POSTER NO: 533

Investigation of the Greek ancestry of northern Pakistani ethnic groups using Y chromosomal DNA variation

¹Q. Ayub, ¹A. Mansoor, ¹A. Mohyuddin, ¹K. Mazhar, ¹S. Siddiqi, ²M. Papaioannou, ³C. Tyler-Smith, ¹S.Q. Mehdi
¹Biomedical and Genetic Engineering Division, Dr. A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories, P.O. Box 2891, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan, ²Unit of Prenatal Diagnosis, Center for Thalassemia, Laiko General Hospital, Athens, Greece, ³CRC Chromosome Molecular Biology Group, Department of Biochemistry, University of oxford, Oxford, UK

Pakistan lies in a region that has witnessed multiple invasions and migrations over the centuries. Alexander the Great invaded the Indian sub-continent in 327-325 B.C. and three northern Pakistani populations, the Burusho, the Kalash and the Pathan claim descent from Greek soldiers who were left behind in this region. The Burusho reside in the Hunza and Nagar valleys, which are located in the Karakorum Mountains and speak the language isolate Burushaski. The Kalash have been isolated for centuries in the Hindu Kush mountain ranges of northern Pakistan and speak Kalasha, an Indo-European language. The Pathan tribes inhabit the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan and the southern and eastern parts of neighboring Afghanistan. They speak Pushto, also an Indo-European language. To investigate the male-line genetic relationship between the extant Greek population and the three Pakistani ethnic groups, 16 binary unique event polymorphisms, and 16 multiallelic, short-tandem-repeat (STR) loci, mapping on the non-recombining portion of the human Y chromosome were typed in 910 individuals. The combination of the biallelic markers identified 7 stable Y chromosomal lineages in the Greek, Burusho and Pathan populations and 5 in the Kalash. Haplogroups 1, 2, 3 and 9 were present in all four populations. The M20 A to G transition (haplogroup 28) was found in all three Pakistani populations but was absent in the Greeks. This polymorphism probably originated in or near Pakistan as it has not been found at a significant frequency except in this area. Haplogroup 21 was frequent in the Greeks but in these Pakistani populations was found only in the Pathans. Based upon haplogroup frequencies, 65-88% Greek admixture was estimated for the Kalash, consistent with a Greek origin for a significant proportion of Kalash Y chomosomes. However, the Kalash lack haplogroup 21 chromosomes and appeared distinct from the Greeks based upon principal components analysis of haplogroup frequencies and weighted population pairwise FST values based on STR variation within Y Haplogroups.

That's why we post the results of some researches which you have not looked at. Btw read something about the life and culture of Kalash:

When the great hero and general, Alexander, who was as great as the god Apollo and Zeus, left his troops here, he asked them to stay here in this land without changing their beliefs and traditions, their laws and culture until he returned from the battles in the East. This is a story that is told not in a village in Greece but on the the mountainsides of the great Hindu Kush. In this remote area of the northwestern region of Pakistan lives a peculiar tribe, the Kalash. The Kalash proclaim with pride that they are the direct descendents of Alexander the Great. There are many similarities between them and the Hellenes of Alexander the Great's time. Similarities such as religion, culture, and language reinforce their claims to Hellenic ancestry.

The Kalash are a polytheistic people, meaning that they believe in many gods. The gods that they believe in are the twelve gods of Ancient Greece which makes them the only people who continue this worship! Gods such as Zeus, the god of gods, Apollo, the god of the sun, and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, are such gods that they pay homage to. Shrines which are found in every Kalash village remind us of the religious sanctuaries we would stumble across in Ancient Greece. They serve as houses of worship where prayers and sacrifices are offered. Oracles who played a major role in acting as mediators and spokespeople between the gods and the mortals still hold a position of importance in the social structure of the Kalash. Every question or prayer towards the gods is usually followed by a sacrifice of an animal. It is reminiscent of the sacrifices the Hellenes gave to the gods to assure them a victory over the city of Troy.

Religions always possess certain traditions and rituals which are observed by their followers. The Kalash practice a ritual that is celebrated on August 6th. This feast day is named the Day of the Transfiguration. It is the day where the grapes are brought out to the god Dionysus to be blessed and to guarantee them of a plentiful crop. This ritual can be traced back to Ancient Greece where it was practiced by the cult of Dionysus who paid their respect to the god of fertility and wine. An active member of the cult of Dionysus was Olympia, mother of Alexander the Great, who is said to have recruited many of her son's soldiers and who in return practiced it throughout their expedition.

The Kalash also live a lifestyle that can be positively compared to that of the Ancient Greeks. Let us start with the observation of their homes. The Kalash are the only people in the East who make and use accessories such as chairs and stools that cannot be found anywhere else in the surrounding regions! Their chairs are decorated with drawings such as the ram's horns which symbolize the horns that decorated Alexander the Great's helmet. Battle scenes depicting Greek soldiers are also observed. In the recent archaeological discoveries in Vergina, Greek archaeologists found the exact same replicas as the ones the Kalash use in their homes (National Herald, pg. 7).

As we know, Pakistan is a nation ruled by Islamic law. Under the law of the Koran alcohol consumption is prohibited. When we enter the region of the Kalash we encounter fields that are inhabited by grape vines. The Kalash are the only people who produce and consume wine and indulge themselves in feasts such as for the aforementioned feast of Dionysus. Greeks such as Socrates would participate in wine feasts such as we come across in the Symposium. Their feasts are always followed by songs and dances. The Kalash dance in a cyclical motion and the men usually follow it by loud cries of i-a and i-o which can be traced back to the battle cries let loose by Alexander's soldiers. There is a saying held by the Pakistanis who state that only the Greeks and the Kalash whistle in such a way.

In 1896 a British explorer by the name of George Robertson visited the Kalash and did a study on them. He concluded that fifty percent of the Kalash's language derives from Ancient Greek. Such similarities can be found in their gods' names. Zeus is called Zeo, Aphrodite is called Frodait, the name Dionysus has kept the same pronounciation. The Kalash have words such as demos meaning city-state and use the word "ela" as an imperative command meaning come here. There was recently a tablet found in a village of the Kalash whose message was in the form of hieroglyphics. When the code was deciphered the message read, "Alexander the Great lives forever" (National Herald, pg.8).

I doubt all of that is accurate. The Kalash worship at least 13 Gods, the main one isnt Zeus, someone called Khodai. This is the Persian word given to Tengri, the sky God, also worshipped by the ancient Turks (who also believed in many Gods, like the Kalash).

- If you're going to look for Greek descendancy in Pakistani populations, you're best chance would be in the Pathan population. They have some similarities to Greek Y-chromosome structure, perhaps more importantly, some contain E3b.

Median-joining networks of STR haplotypes revealed considerable sub-structuring of Y variation within the Kalash and Burusho, and in particular the haplogroup 21 network showed that the Pathan chromosomes were closely related to the central Greek cluster.

http://hgm2002.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/Abstracts/Publish/WorkshopPoste rs/WorkshopPoster11/hgm0533.htm  

I've little doubts, some Pathans (a minority) do have Greek antescendency, but perhaps only a few hundred thousand (there's about 16 million Pathans in Pakistan). Most Pathans I think are from the North West Caspian area.

I actually believe these people are what remains of the Turanians of the Avesta and Shahnameh.  Because they only differed in religion with Gatha Iranians and they lost the war as described in the gathas and were vanquished.

This is when the Iranians diffused on an ideoligical basis and split off into various branches.