The Caps of Pakistan

Guest Post by Mast Qalandar (MQ)

Pakistan is a country of several ethnic groups and cultures. This is apparent not only in the people’s looks but also in their language, traditions, food and dress.

One of the things that strikes a newcomer to Pakistan is the variety of caps and turbans Pakistanis wear. Even though with increased travel, TV, and urbanization some of the caps (not turbans, though) worn in one part of the country have also been adopted by people in other parts but, by and large, the cap or a turban a man wears dose hint at the broader ethnicity of that person and, sometime, even at his social status.
North West Frontier Province and the so-called Northern Areas probably have the largest variety of caps and turbans. The most common cap that you see in NWFP, the Northern Areas and in parts of Afghanistan is the Pakol. The name came from Afghanistan where Pakol is a popular headgear among the people of Northern Afghanistan, and probably where the cap originated. Many of the readers would remember that Ahmad Shah Masood, an icon of the Afghan war, was always seen wearing a Pakol. Because of the coverage of the Afghan war by the Western media and the fact that many Westren journalists covering the Afghan war took to wearing the Pakol, it is today generally recognized in the West as an Afghan cap and even sold as such by some online stores to both men and women. But the fact is, it is as much a cap of the Frontier Province of Pakistan as it is of Afghanistan.




Pakol in NWFP is called Chitrali or Gilgiti cap because people of those areas routinely wore this cap for as long as one can remember. It is a round shaped cap and is made out of a coarse woolen cloth, locally known as ‘Pattoo’. It is initially made in the shape of a long inverted cylinder and then the edges of the cylinder are rolled up to the top. The top is flat and protrudes a little bit over the rolled edge giving the suggestion of a brim. Otherwise all caps and turbans in Pakistan are brimless. The reason for not having brimmed caps is that Muslims pray with heads covered and brimmed caps or hats, like they have in the West, would interfere with the Sajdah (the act of prostration). The tiny brim of the Pakol, however, does not hinder the Sajdah.

The Pakol comes mainly in different shades of brown, grey and white colors. When not worn, it is almost flat and looks somewhat like a Frisbee. Actually, if thrown like a Frisbee it can skim through the air, even though for a short distance.

In Hunza and Skardu the white color Pakol is more popular and it is sometimes worn with a peacock feather stuck on the front or to the side of the cap like a badge. The deep blue and green colors of the peacock feather set against the white color of the cap makes the wearer look pretty flamboyant.

Some people wear the cap pulled down almost to the ears while others wear it lightly, sometime at a rakish angle. It’s a warm cap and therefore mostly worn in cold weather. It’s an inexpensive cap, costing anywhere between PKR 200 to 300 (USD 3 to 5), unless things have changed drastically in the last few years, and therefore a popular headgear of the Frontier province. It has also gained acceptance in other provinces of the country. Other than being used as a simple headgear it is also used by workers as a money pouch. I have seen laborers taking out money from the folds of the cap when paying for their purchases at small stores or Tandoors.

I personally like the cap and occasionally wear it too. The only problem I find with it is that, since it is made of coarse woolen cloth, it is very itchy on the forehead. I wish someone would think of lining the rim of the cap with some soft material as they do under the top of the cap.

Another cap, which is often seen in NWFP, is the round white cotton cap with a flat top. It is like an overturned bowl or a cake mold with vertical walls and a flat top. Many of the madrassa students are usually seen wearing this cap. The use of this cap seems to have increased in the past 2-3 decades and has spread even to some of the Tribal Areas, particularly Khyber Agency. This inexpensive cotton cap is, in a way, more common in NWFP, particularly in the districts of Charsadda and Mardan, than the Pakol because it can be used as an all-weather cap and is much cheaper than the Pakol. It is not very popular, though, among the people of the Northern Areas. (Incidentally, it is different from the white crocheted skullcap usually worn by city people to prayers all over the country).

Another cap, which originated from Swat district of NWFP, similar in shape to the cotton cap mentioned earlier but heavily embroidered with ’tila’ (golden thread) is called “tillayee topi” or Swati cap. Probably it was a coincidence that the people who happened to take to this cap and would wear it at a very rakish angle were the ‘tanga-wallas’ and ‘battair baaz’ of Peshawar. (Tonga drivers and people who keep quails as pets and train them as fighter birds.) The reputation of these people, which was not spotless, also rubbed a bit on this otherwise attractive Swati cap and it could not become popular among the ‘gentlemen’ of NWFP.

The other cap that is worn in NWFP and also originated in that part of the world is the Karakul or Karakuli cap. While the Pakol and the white cotton caps are worn both by young and old, rich and poor alike, the use of the Karakul cap is limited to relatively well-to-do people. A true Karakul cap can be expensive.

Actually, Karakul is the name of a sheep bred in Central Asia, which is known for its soft and curly pelt. The best quality pelt, with short and tight curls, is that of a sheep’s kid when it is still in its mother’s womb. Therefore, the pregnant Karakul sheep is slaughtered to get to the fetus and then the fetus is killed to get the pelt. No wonder the animal right activists are no great enthusiasts of the karakul caps!

The Karakul cap is made in two shapes —- the collapsible boat shape and the hard elliptical shape. The most prominent Pakistani who got to wearing the boat-shaped Karakul cap, in the last few years of his life, was Mr. M. A. Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan. Because of him it came to be known as Jinnah Cap. That name still stands. Latter, Ayub Khan would also wear a Karakul cap but his was the hard elliptical version and he wore it at a slightly rakish angle and it sat well on him. During his presidency when Jacqueline Kennedy came visiting and went to Peshawar she was presented with a dark colored Karakul cap which she wore, probably following the example of Ayub Khan, at an angle. By wearing that cap not only she complemented her hosts but also stood out in the crowd.

President Karzai of Afghanistan is always seen wearing a boat-shaped Karakul cap. Wait till the US animal rights people catch up with him!

Punjab is rather cap-less. One cannot think of any cap that originated in Punjab. Punjab, particularly the rural Punjab is the land of ‘Pugs’ and ‘Pugrees’ or simple turbans. Turbans, Punjabi and otherwise, I hope to write about later (here).

One cap that is occasionally seen in Punjab, however is the Roomi Topi, the Fez, or Tarboosh. It virtually disappeared in the rest of the country long time ago, but not completely in certain parts of the Punjab, especially the Southern Pumjab. It is not native to Pakistan. Nor did it come form the North like some of the other caps mentioned earlier. It came fromTurkey. That is why the name Roomi. Actually, the cap originated in the city of Fez in Morocco, hence the name Fez. Somewhere in the mid 19th century the then Ottoman Sultan adopted it and enforced it as a national headgear. Since the Ottoman Empire extended into the Arab lands the Fez was also adopted in Egypt and Iraq as well. That is where it got the Arabic name Tarboosh.

Since Muslims of the Indo-Pak subcontinent had an attachement with Khilafat or Caliphate, and Turkey being the home of the Khilafat at that time, they voluntarily adopted this cap. Khilafat, however, was abolished by Mustafa Kamal in 1924-25 along with the Fez. But the cap stayed among the Indian Muslims till after Pakistan. If one looks at the old pictures of the Pakistan movement one can see Fez caps in those pictures. The Bahawalpur Amirs wore it possibly because of their connections with Baghdad and it seems they even made it a mandatory headgear for their staff and soldiers. The most prominent Pakistani who wore this cap was Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan who wore it all his life.

Sindh has one distinctive cap, which stands out for its colorful embroidery and glasswork; the Sindhi Topi. It is round in shape except that a portion in front is cut out to expose the forehead for the same reasons as explained earlier. It comes in two varieties - hard and soft. The hard variety will keep its shape when not worn but the soft variety can be folded and even put into one’s picket. Most Sindhis, rich or poor, own a Sindhi cap.

The Sindhi cap is also used in Balochistan both by Pashtoons and Baloch. Other than the use of Sindhi cap, Balochistan is a land of turbans. And very distinctive looking turbans, too.

But Turbans require a different post. More on that here.

Mast Qalandar is a connoisseur of caps and other things and a frequent reader and commenter on ATP.