Pakhtunkhwa

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been known by a number of names during its existence. In addition to North-West Frontier Province, the official name by which it was known from 1901 to 2010, other names used or proposed for the province include Afghania, Pakhtunistan, Pashtunistan, Pathanistan, Sarhad, Abasin, Khyber, or a combination of these and other names.

North-West Frontier Province

For over a hundred years from its founding as a province of British India in 1901, it was known as the North-West Frontier Province ( Śhumāl maġribī sarhadī sūbha). Unofficially, it was known as Sarhad , derived from the province's Urdu name which means "frontier".

Pakhtunkhwa, Pakhtoonkhwa, Pukhtunkhwa, or Pashtunkhwa has often been the name used by the Pashtun people

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

for the Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

-dominated areas of Pakistan

Pakistan

. More recently it was used by Pashtun nationalists in Pakistan as the name by which they wanted to rename the former North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), where they are the ethnic majority.

Pakhtunkhwa, et al. means "near the Pakhtuns" or "Pashtuns". The nationalist Pashtuns claim Pakhtunkhwa is an old name of the area inhabited by Pashtuns. But in fact Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was an Afghan, Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India...

(Bacha Khan) proposed this name as alternative to Pakhtunistan to military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...

in 1978 when the latter refused to accept the demand from the former to rename the NWFP as Pashtunistan. The famous Greek historian Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

had recorded it as Paktia, but Pashtun poets from the time of Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghori down to the present age, have been mentioning it as Pakhtunkhwa.

The earliest available historical evidence is Akhund Darweza's (died 1638) Makhzanul Islam (written between 1603 and 1612). A verse in this book reads: "Pakhtunkhwa pa misal shpa wa, dai deewa wo pa andher ke" (Translation: Pakhtunkhwa was like a night and he [Pir Baba Syed Ali Termezi] was like a candle).

Similarly, the often-quoted two lines of a poem by Ahmad Shah Abdali (1723–1773), the Founding Father of Afghan state, mention Pakhtunkhwa as the land of the Pashtuns:
Translation: I forget my Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

throne when I recall the mountain peaks of my own Pakhtunkhwa.

After him, Pashtun poets and writers have frequently used this name for the area which was later named as North-West Frontier Province by the British after they occupied and separated it from mainland Afghanistan

Durand Line

The Durand Line refers to the porous international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which has divided the ethnic Pashtuns . This poorly marked line is approximately long...

dividing the Pashtuns into four divisions. The word Pakhtunkhwa was also used in the modern poetry by contemporary poets like Qalandar Momand (1930–2003) long before it was suggested as the nomenclature for the NWFP.

Dr. A. H. Dani, a well known historian and archaeologist, presently the Director of the Islamabad-based Center for the Study of the Civilizations of Central Asia, told Dawn
Dawn (newspaper)
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...

that Pakhtunistan is a political name but Pakhtunkhwa is not. "Culturally there is no doubt that the land was called Pakhtunkhwa in Pushtu literature since 15th century (we have a trace of literature since that time only). The term has been applied for both tribal and settled areas, he added.

Besides Pashtus, there are many non-Pashtuns who have mentioned this name in their writings. A book by French orientalist James Darmesteter

James Darmesteter

James Darmesteter was a French author, orientalist, and antiquarian.He was born of Jewish parents at Château-Salins, in Alsace. The family name had originated in their earlier home of Darmstadt...

has the title, "Da Pakhtunkhwa Bagh w Bahar", a selection of Pashto poems with a valuable essay on this Afghan language.

Afghania

Afghania is another name long considered as a replacement for North-West Frontier Province. It was proposed first by the founding leaders of the Muslim League in 1933 and was at least partly chosen to represent the first "a" in "Pakistan. The need for a change was explained by the man who named Pakistan in his "Now or Never

Pakistan Declaration

The Pakistan Declaration was a pamphlet published on 28 January 1933 by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, and was supported by Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak, Sahibzada Sheikh Mohd Sadiq, Inayat Ullah Khan in which the word Pakistan was used for the first time and was presented in the round table conference in...

" pamphlet, Choudhary Rahmat Ali

Choudhary Rahmat Ali

Choudhry Rahmat Ali was a Pakistani Muslim nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan. He is credited with creating the name "Pakistan" for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia and is generally known as the founder of the movement for its...

Khan, as "North West Frontier Province - is semantically non-descript and socially wrongful. It is non-descript because it merely indicates their geographical situation as a province of old 'British India' [which no longer exists]. It is wrongful because it suppresses the social entity of these people. In fact, it suppresses that entity so completely that when composing the name 'Pakistan' for our homelands, I had to call the North West Frontier Province the Afghan Province."

Other names

Other names used or proposed for the province include Pakhtunistan (also used for all lands inhabited by Pashtuns), Abasin (Pashto: اباسین); from the Pashto name for the Indus River), Khyber (from the Khyber Pass

Khyber Pass

The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....

), Nuristan
(Pashto: نورستان); which is also the name of a province of Afghanistan), Gandhara (Pashto: ګندارا) Gandḥārā, from the historical kingdom of Gandhara

Gandhara

Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...

in the region), or a combination of these names or others such as Pakhtoonkhwa-Hazara or Hazara-Pukhtun (in reference to the Hazara region where Hindko speakers are dominant as compared to the Pashto speakers elsewhere in the province).

Many of these alternatives were designed to avoid or balance the ethnic connotations of Pakhtunkhwa.

Efforts to change the name

For most of the history of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), there were efforts to change its name. As early as 1933, when "Afghania" was proposed, suggestions for new names came and went. Afghania suggests the historical ties of the region and the people to Afghanistan - as it was a land taken by the British colonial power from Afghanistan and is currently inhibited by ethnic Pashtuns, also known as Afghans. Although some of the names were ethnically neutral, most proposals emphazised the province's Pashtun ethnic identity. The renaming issue was an emotional one which often crossed party lines and not all supporters of a renaming agreed on the name Pakhtunkhwa (some preferred Pashtunistan

Pashtunistan

Pakhtunistan or Pashtunistan, meaning the "land of Pakhtuns" or "land of Pashtuns", is a modern term used for the historical region inhabited by the native Afghans or Pashtun since at least the 1st millennium BC...

/Pakhtunistan).

Pakistan's Punjabi

Punjabi people

The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...

-dominated military establishment saw these renaming efforts as "one dangerous steppingstone toward secession".

Twentieth century efforts

By the late 20th century, President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...

agreed with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was an Afghan, Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India...

to change the name but he contended that the term Pashtunistan had become controversial and was being politicized by Afghanistan. Ghaffar Khan suggested Pakhtunkhwa, but Zia-ul-Haq asked Ghaffar Khan to suggest an alternative.

The name Pakhtunkhwa for NWFP was heard for the first time in 1988 in the Provincial Assembly when the Pakistan Peoples Party

Pakistan Peoples Party

The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...

(PPP) leadership wanted to move a resolution for changing the name. At that time, neither the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party

Awami National Party

The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

(ANP) nor any other party pressed any further for the adoption of the resolution as the then speaker of the Provincial Assembly, Masoud Kausar, ruled that the MPAs were free to call their province whatever name they liked.

The name was first used in the National Assembly in November 1990 when Muhammad Afzal Khan of Pakistan Democratic Alliance referred to the province as Pakhtunkhwa.

The name Pakhtunkhwa is very popular with the ordinary Pashtun people and was approved by the democratically elected constitutional assembly of the province, in 1997, by a 53 to 2 (45 abstentions) majority vote. Some 53 percent of the total lawmakers of the NWFP Assembly voted in favour of the Pakhtunkhwa name when a resolution was moved and passed by the provincial assembly in November 1997, it was tabled by Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao

Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao

Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao is the head of Pakistan Peoples Party and was the 35th Federal Interior Minister of Pakistan. Prior to this assignment he was working as the Federal Minister for Water and Power , Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas and States & Frontier Regions and...

and supported by the ANP, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Independent MPAs, and Jamiat-e-Islami. It was opposed by two MPAs, Salim Saifullah and Humayun Saifullah, both Pashtuns of the Pakistan Muslim League (J)

Pakistan Muslim League (J)

The Pakistan Muslim League was a political party in Pakistan established in 1993. It merged with PML-Q in 2004.It is one of the factions of the original Pakistan Muslim League, named "J" after Junejo...

faction, while the Pakistan Muslim League (N)

Pakistan Muslim League (N)

The Pakistan Muslim League is a conservative political party in Pakistan, affiliated with Western conservatism...

with 37 members abstained.

However, the PML (N) parliamentary party of NWFP rejected the ANP demand but called for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif

Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...

to suggest another "non-controversial" name. PML (N) members noted that Sarhad was a good name for the province but, if a change was needed, then it should be named Khyber or Abasin. The NWFP chief minister, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, called for a referendum on the issue as a way of determining the name. These offers were rejected by the ANP leadership and the ANP withdrew from both the federal and provincial governments

Twenty-first century efforts

The lack of support for a name change by the PML (N) was defended as opposition to the nationalistic politics being pursued by the ANP.

In May 2008, to accommodate a demand by the people of NWFP who voted for the ANP, the PPP proposed that the name of the North-West Frontier Province be changed to Pakhtunkhwa, however the Muslim League Nawaz

Pakistan Muslim League (N)

The Pakistan Muslim League is a conservative political party in Pakistan, affiliated with Western conservatism...

which had considerable support in the Hindko speaking Hazara region of the province announced it might oppose the name change because of it "being on ethnic grounds" due to opposition by its provincial leadership, yet the party fails to explain the fact that the names of the other three provinces, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan do represent the ethnic identity of their majority populace, despite how they camouflage this fact with their version of the history of these provinces.

The name Pakhtunkhwa was mentioned for the first time in the United Nation's General Assembly by Pakistani President Asif Zardari on 26 September 2008.

Renaming and the renaming controversy

In early 2010 the process of renaming proceeded and the Pakistani Senate confirmed the name change to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 18th amendment

Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan

Amendment XVIII of the Constitution of Pakistan, was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on April 8, 2010, removing the power of the President of Pakistan to dissolve the Parliament unilaterally, turning Pakistan from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic, and renaming...

to the Constitution of Pakistan

Constitution of Pakistan

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the supreme law of Pakistan. Known as the Constitution of 1973, it was drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and, following additions by the opposition parties, was approved by the legislative assembly on April 10, 1973...

with a unanimous 90 votes on 15 April 2010.

The renaming of NWFP was welcomed by the majority of the population of the country in general and Pakhtoons, of the province and Karachi, in particular. In spite of turbulent situation in the country amid terrorist attacks, "Jashn-e-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" was celebrated, with full zest and zeal, throughout the country (specially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi). However, as expected, renaming of the province, was overwhelmingly rejected by some of the province's ethnic minorities. There was a widespread protest in Abbotabad and Haripur (Hindko Speaking majority districts of Hazara Division). Some Hazara residents said the new name should be Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa while others said the name should not be changed since people were accustomed to North-West Frontier Province.

External links

Pashtunkhwa- A Development Framework http://www.khyberwatch.com/NDCP/NDCP1.htm

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