But its a completely human construct is it not ?
Take the Pukhtoons for example - They have a History that goes back maybe 5000 years - Okay so what were they before that ?
Because the Homo Sapien has been here for a lot longer than that which means somewhere along the way the Pukhtoons like every other 'ethnic group' out there was born out of some other preceding ethnic group & if this is true & Anthropology teaches us that it is than what is to say who is or who isn't an 'original' Pukhtoon & not ? As a matter of fact who is to say who is a Pukhtoon at all ?
Similarly the Customs, Traditions, Language, Life-Style & Philosophy etc. are all human constructs which essentially means 'we made them up' & if we did make them up (which we did) what is to stop us from making them up once more ? So how can anyone say that XYZ is Pukhtoon Culture or ABC isn't Pukhtoon Culture or more so in a real-life example how can a Pashto speaking Pukhtoon say to a Hindko or Farsi or Saraiki speaking Pukhtoon that hes more 'Pukhtoon' than the others or they that that they are more 'Pukhtoon' than a Pashto speaking Pukhtoon when Pashto itself is a language which like every other language in the world was created out of some preceding languages !
Likewise even Cultures, Customs, Traditions, Languages etc. aren't static - They are ever-evolving & if they are (which they are) than what would follow is that if 'originality' is to be determined than where in those 5000 years do we make a cut-off point that before that the Pukhtoon Culture & Language etc. was more 'Pure' or more 'Original' than after it ? Because even when it comes to today's Pukhtoons there is a marked difference between a Pukhtoon of a Settled Area & a Pukhtoon of a Tribal Area & like wise between a Pukhtoon of Punjab & a Pukhtoon from the Farsi-speaking areas of Afghanistan - Who is original & who isn't when :
(a) we - the People - created the culture & the language to begin with !
(b) we - the People - continue to add & subtract to it making it an ever evolving thing !
Now do you see the intellectual absurdity of this 'ethno-linguistic' nationalism that some nasal-parast & qaum-parasts prescribe too ?
And this applies for ALL ethnicities & ALL cultures - Pukhtoons, Punjabis, Chinese, Germans, Korean etc.
P.S I didn't even touch on the Biological basis for any of this either because if the human race did indeed start from Africa or Sri Lanka as is often postulated - The Nasal Parasti & the Qaum Parasti sounds even more absurd !