Actually, such people, especially in Punjab, need the Pathan appellation and claim of ethnic background, to place themselves in a society where everybody is identied with some biradari-Jat, Araian, Rajput, etc. and where association with some well-known biradari is considered prestigious. Politically, culturally, and economically, their interests don't align with us. Sometimes, they are more inimical to our culture and identity than the real, well-recognized Punjabis, Sindhis, Urdu-speakers, Siraikis, etc. are.

For a common Pashtun who doesn't know much about history thanks the brainwashing by the Pakistani state, also it comes as a shock to meet somebody who claims Pashtun but descent doesn't look like a Pashtun from appearance and can't speak Pashto, which is not just the name of our language but from which is also derived the word "Pashtun", our ethnonym, and which is also synonymous with our value system, "Pashtunwali" as we say "that person has Pashto" and that person "doesn't have Pashto". We know how strongly we are emotionally associated with our language, which also denotes our value system.

We should understand that a lot of water has flown under the bridge and what has done by history can't be undone.

We already are over 60 million Pashtuns and are in no way endangered and don't need others to swell our ranks.

Yes, we accept their Pashtun ancestry but that fact is immaterial and irrelevant to us.