Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa new name for NWFP: Consensus at last

[sonicboom]

Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa new name for NWFP: Consensus at last

* Reforms committee finalises draft of 18th Amend bill
* PML-Q, PPP-Sherpao vow to oppose it in NA
* PML-N’s demand for change in composition of proposed judicial commission accepted

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms on Wednesday concluded a landmark task by finalising its recommendations for the draft 18th amendment bill, after it arrived at a consensus on the renaming of the NWFP and the composition of the judicial commission.

The 26-member committee headed by Mian Raza Rabbani signed the final draft of the amendment package at the Parliament House and the draft is likely to be tabled in parliament in the next couple of days.

Renaming: In Wednesday’s deliberations, the Awami National Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz agreed to rename the NWFP Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa. However, the PML-Q and the PPP-Sherpao wrote a “note of reiteration” over the clause and vowed to vote against it whenever the draft is moved in parliament for approval.

PML-N demands: The parliamentary committee also included PML-N’s demands regarding the composition of the proposed judicial commission. The PML-N had demanded that the appointment of judges to superior courts should be based on the chief justice’s recommendations, who
must have the authority to appoint a retired judge, who never took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), as seventh member of the proposed commission. The committee also decided that the law minister, instead of the attorney general, would represent the government in the commission.

PPP-Sherpao chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said his party supported Pakhtoonkhwa as the new name for the NWFP, as the provincial assembly had adopted a resolution in its favour. PML-Q’s Amir Muqam called the proposed name for the NWFP “highly biased”, fearing it will create linguistic rifts in the province.

Under the proposed package, the Council of Common Interest has been given additional powers and the provinces have been given more say on national matters by enhancing their representation in the council, which would be authorised to deal with all subjects put under part-2 of the federal list. The committee also proposed the abolition of Article 58(2b), which empowers the president to dissolve parliament.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...1-4-2010_pg1_1

[Interceptor]

This is wrong in all fairness choose a name that is easy to pronounce and to establish in books, why is the name so long. Look at the other provincial names we have Sindh and the people of Sindh are called Sindhi, Punjab --- Punjabi, Blochistan --- Blochi. How will we pronounce the people of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa?

[Neo]

The case for Pakhtunkhwa

Tuesday March 30, 2010

The debate on renaming the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is serious business because it concerns the identity of its people and their place in the federation of Pakistan. However, the direction it has taken is sometimes comical, and at best uninformed and politicised. Coining a new name for the province has become a favourite pastime for many people and, surprisingly, even those not belonging to it appear keen to select, if not impose, a name of their own choices.

Names such as Neelab, Nuristan and Darul Islam have been proposed for NWFP. People with fertile imaginations and unconcerned that the issue was to provide identity to its majority Pakhtun population came up with still more bizarre names that don`t even deserve to be discussed. Abaseen and Khyber were pushed into the limelight after receiving backing from the PML-N and PML-Q. Abaseen is a name used for River Indus that runs not just through the NWFP but also Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab and Sindh, while Khyber is the name of a mountain pass that links Afghanistan with Pakistan.

Khyber Pass is the most famous of them, but we also have the Gomal, Tochi, Khojak, Nawa and other passes that connect the two countries. Naming educational institutions, banks and other institutions after Khyber has been a popular option because it is non-controversial and possibly also for want of more suitable names. But neither Abaseen nor Khyber could confer the identity that most people in NWFP seek in demanding the renaming of their province.

Lately, compound names have been proposed for NWFP as a compromise to overcome the deadlock between the two major parties to the dispute, the Awami National Party (ANP) and the PML-N. Hyphenation to "Pakhtunkhwa" of names including "Abaseen," "Khyber," "Hazara" and "Afghania" have been suggested as a way out of the stalemate. But not only will this make the new name long, but there will be no end to demands by other parts of NWFP, including Dera Ismail Khan and Chitral, seeking the addition of the names of the own regions. Certain politicians from Dera Ismail Khan even suggested "Pakhtunkhwa-Dera-Hazara." One didn`t hear Gandhara, the old Buddhist-era name of the Frontier, as a possible new name, or part of a compound name. Gandhara is certainly better in the historical context than, say, Khyber and Abaseen.

It is understandable if politicians with an eye to their respective vote banks adopt unreasonable attitudes on the issue. But it is disappointing if respected people such as Air Marshal (r) M Asghar Khan and retired civil servant Kunwar Idris don`t check their facts before commenting on the question. Writing in a newspaper on March 28, Asghar Khan commented that "in a province in which the Pakhtuns are a little over half its population, insisting on renaming it Pakhtunkhwa could prove a divisive one." He also proposed Sarhad, which means "border" and is already used in reference to the province in Urdu, as the new name. In the same paper, Dawn, the same day, Kunwar Idris wrote that "most Punjabi- and Hindko-speaking inhabitants of the province (who, perhaps, outnumber the Pashto speakers)..." He also said that Pakhtunkhwa would carry a ring of Pakhtunistan for the devout Muslim Leaguers opposed to the ANP, which is spearheading the campaign for the name Pakhtunkhwa.

For the information of Asghar Khan, Kunwar Idris and others, the 1998 census showed that 73.9 per cent of NWFP`s population spoke Pashto, 3.86 per cent, largely in Dera Ismail Khan, spoke Saraiki, 0.97 per cent Punjabi, 0.78 per cent Urdu, 0.04 per cent Sindhi and 0.01 per cent Balochi. A significant 20.43 per cent people listed in the "Others" column obviously included speakers of Hindko (believed to around 18 per cent), Chitrali, Gojri and other languages. The next population census must have separate columns for Hindko and the other languages to avoid future controversies.

73.9 per cent Pakhtuns in the census mentioned Pashto as their mother tongue, though there are many others in Dera Ismail Khan, including the Jadoons, Tarins, Mashwanis and Swatis in Hazara region and Miankhels, Gandapurs and Kundis, who are Pakhtuns but have forgotten Pashto. Challenge them that they aren`t Pakhtun, and there is a chance they might come to blows with you.

The census figures for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which are geographically and politically part of NWFP, are even more revealing in terms of the Pakhtun identity of the population. In 1998 an overwhelming 99.1 per cent of the 3.176 million population of Fata, to which the change of name will also apply, declared Pashto as their mother tongue. Even though the tribal areas have a largely separate administrative setup, it is headed by the governor of NWFP. If the Fata figures are added to those of the settled areas or districts falling under NWFP, the percentage of Pakhtuns and Pashto-speakers will rise even further.

In opposing the renaming of the province to Pakhtunkhwa, the two Muslim League factions led by Mian Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain are driven by the fear of losing votes in certain non-Pashto-speaking areas. These are the only two significant political parties represented in parliament that object to the name Pakhtunkhwa. The Jamaat-e-Islami and Imran Khan`s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf -- lacking representation in the parliament after unwisely boycotting the 2008 general elections and now keen to contest every by-election to get back into the assemblies -- also have reservations about Pakhtunkhwa and would likely support a provincial referendum on the issue. Almost all other political parties support Pakhtunkhwa, or in case of a stalemate, the alternative names Pakhtunistan and Afghania.

If democratic norms are to be followed, then the wishes of the majority need to be respected in the renaming. The NWFP Assembly, reflecting the will of the people, a passed resolution in favour of Pakhtunkhwa by majority vote in November 1997, with only the Saifullah brothers, Salim and Humayun, opposing it, and lawmakers from the PML-N, which was then a coalition partner of the ANP in NWFP, abstaining from the vote.

Abstention isn`t opposition and the decision not to oppose the resolution was taken to save the coalition government from collapsing. Politics rather than principles was behind this decision by the then PML-affiliated chief minister Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan, Pir Sabir Shah and other Hazara politicians now in the forefront of opposition to Pakhtunkhwa. It is intriguing that the PML-N, according to Pir Sabir Shah, was willing to accept Afghania as the new name for NWFP. Though the ANP leadership too appears ready to agree to Afghania, it is difficult to understand how this name would protect the identity of non-Pakhtuns in Hazara or elsewhere who believe Pakhtunkhwa would wipe out their identity. Abaseen, Khyber and other names too cannot give an identity to the non-Pakhtun populations, but they would certainly deprive the majority Pakhtuns of their identity.

The argument against Pakhtunkhwa that it is ethnic-based is neutralised by the fact that all other provinces in Pakistan carry names that identify the majority ethnic groups living there. Even if Punjab is named after its five rivers or Sindh after the River Indus, the majority populations in the two provinces have come to be known as Punjabis and Sindhis. Balochistan is obviously named after the Baloch, the majority ethnic group in the province along with their Brahvi cousins.

Controversies would erupt if Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan were to be renamed today. The number of Saraiki-speakers in Punjab are 17.36 per cent of its population, compared to 75.23 Punjabis; in Sindh only 59.73 per cent of the population speaks Sindhi, while 21.05 per cent speaks Urdu; 6.99 per cent speak Punjabi and 4.19 per cent Pashto; in Balochistan, not more than 54.76 per cent of the population name Balochi as their mother tongue, compared to 29.64 per cent naming Pashto, 5.58 per cent Sindhi, 2.52 per cent Punjabi, and 2.42 per cent Saraiki. In fact, Pashto-speakers in NWFP and Fata form the largest group of a single ethnicity in any province in Pakistan.

Ignoring the aspirations of the Pakhtun people (15.42 per cent), who form the second-largest ethnic group in Pakistan after Punjabis (44.15 per cent) and refusing to provide them an identity in the renaming of their province, would be both undemocratic and unjust.

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?226001

[Neo]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

This is wrong in all fairness choose a name that is easy to pronounce and to establish in books, why is the name so long. Look at the other provincial names we have Sindh and the people of Sindh are called Sindhi, Punjab --- Punjabi, Blochistan --- Blochi. How will we pronounce the people of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa?

I agree, the name is too ethno-centric and difficult. Wish we could have stuck with just Khyber.

[Interceptor]

Yes this ia difficult hope it would be changed at a later time for now their having their parties. Why not call it Pakthunistan or Khyber, Abaseen simple names. What good or will it bring by naming it so long and so ethnic based, we dont mind if its ethnic. Since in Punjab there live many sects but the main ones are Punjabi same applies for the other provinces.

[Zaki]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

This is wrong in all fairness choose a name that is easy to pronounce and to establish in books, why is the name so long. Look at the other provincial names we have Sindh and the people of Sindh are called Sindhi, Punjab --- Punjabi, Blochistan --- Blochi. How will we pronounce the people of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa?

oh well this is wrong, The word Punjab does not represent the ethnic groups of this province. The ethnic groups in punjab are Shaikhs, Arain, Awan, Dogar, Gujjars, Jat, Mughal, Rajputs, Gakhars etc etc. It is (Punj-Aab) means Five rivers, as you know five rivers flows in Punjab so this name was chosen after these rivers.......... Punj = Five in punjabi and Aab = Water

Similar is the case for Sindh. In Sanskrit, the province was called Sindhu meaning the river Sindh and the people living on its banks that later on we started calling it as Sindh.

Like Neo said (and incidentally i was saying to my grand father yesterday) i would have preffered the name Khybar instead of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and the reason is simple, i would have kept any name but that does not represent any one ethnic groups. Look at the other countries like UK for example what can you say about London? is it representing only one ethnic group or anybody living in London is Londener?. The person living in London goes to Manchester and he does not feel any kind of discrimination...... all country is considered as ONE. Now here its a different scenario.... if say Punjabi goes to Pakhtoonkhwa........ the word Pakhtoon will be coming into his mind and he might feel stranger and not only a Pakistani.

Thats my own opinion only

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Zaki

oh well this is wrong, The word Punjab does not represent the ethnic groups of this province. The ethnic groups in punjab are Shaikhs, Arain, Awan, Dogar, Gujjars, Jat, Mughal, Rajputs, Gakhars etc etc. It is (Punj-Aab) means Five rivers, as you know five rivers flows in Punjab so this name was chosen after these rivers.......... Punj = Five in punjabi and Aab = Water

Similar is the case for Sindh. In Sanskrit, the province was called Sindhu meaning the river Sindh and the people living on its banks that later on we started calling it as Sindh.

Like Neo said (and incidentally i was saying to my grand father yesterday) i would have preffered the name Khybar instead of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa and the reason is simple, i would have kept any name but that does not represent any one ethnic groups. Look at the other countries like UK for example what can you say about London? is it representing only one ethnic group or anybody living in London is Londener?. The person living in London goes to Manchester and he does not feel any kind of discrimination...... all country is considered as ONE. Now here its a different scenario.... if say Punjabi goes to Pakhtoonkhwa........ the word Pakhtoon will be coming into his mind and he might feel stranger and not only a Pakistani.

Thats my own opinion only

I know what it means and Punjabi is an ethnic group which is the majority, there is no discrimination if one ethnic group stands out more than the other. Since we arent fascist; it should be named accordingly to which culture or sect stands out.

Who told you London is provincial name? These are the city names and do not represent provincial properties at all. The UK has different system based on governance similar to Indian system they have divided share of power through what is known as counties, and the greater names are based on Nations, England, Wales Scotland so on and under these come counties. unfortunately you are mistaken to think these are provincial names these arent provincial names since I too live in the UK.

[Zaki]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

I know what it means and Punjabi is an ethnic group which is the majority, there is no discrimination if one ethnic group stands out more than the other. Since we arent fascist; it should be named accordingly to which culture or sect stands out.

Who told you London is provincial name? These are the city names and do not represent provincial properties at all. The UK has different system based on governance similar to Indian system they have divided share of power through what is known as counties, and the greater names are based on Nations, England, Wales Scotland so on and under these come counties. unfortunately you are mistaken to think these are provincial names these arent provincial names since I too live in the UK.

and you are also mistaken

i did not say London is a provincial name i was just giving an example like London means nothing in itself it is not representing any one ethnic group. There is no discrimination among the cities....... all cities are considered parts of UK and respresenting nobody.

I live in London i know the UK system of governance.

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Zaki

and you are also mistaken

i did not say London is a provincial name i was just giving an example like London means nothing in itself it is not representing any one ethnic group. There is no discrimination among the cities....... all cities are considered parts of UK and respresenting nobody.

I live in London i know the UK system of governance.

Dont mind me but this does have an abnormal logic, what were you trying to prove with this? What Pakistani cities have ethnic centric names? Non tbh. We are still on the same topic of provincial name right?

[sonicboom]

Is Pakhtunkhwa a proper name or what?


Monday, April 05, 2010
By Behroz Khan

Unlike the popular quote of William Shakespeare, there is a lot in the name when it comes to politics. The controversy is over the name of a region inhabited by a race which is rich culturally, politically, historically and with an abundance of resources. The fight is for the rights of Pakhtuns and giving them a name reflecting their identity within the federation of Pakistan.

The debate on naming NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa, or the proposed name for the federating unit as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is taking the issue to new heights. Pakhtun intellectuals, nationalists and academicians are searching books and coming up with historical evidences to prove that the region was always referred to as Pakhtunkhwa till the point the British India carved out a new province from then Punjab and named it as NWFP in 1901. Leave alone the Pakhtun rulers like Ahmad Shah Abdali, Mir Wais Neka or the poet-cum-warrior Khushal Khan Khattak and the mystic poet Rehman Baba, foreign writers too have mentioned in their books and documents that the area was called as Pakhtunkhwa. For example, Notes on Afghanistan & Balochistan by Henry George 1888, Asiatic Research Vol-9 by Ledin 1812, A Chrestomathy of Pashto by Bernard Dorn 1847, Pashto Grammar by Dr Henry Walter 1867 and Necklace of Pakhtunkhwa by James Dermstater 1886 are the few references to name.

Now former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in the heat of the debate. He has raised objection to the name on the basis of reservations expressed by his party workers from Hazara Division, which is almost equally divided by Hindko and Pashto speaking population even if we ignore the reality that Pashto speaking population can outnumber the rest for sure. According to the 1998 national census, two out of the five districts of Hazara, namely Mansehra and Battagram are predominantly Pashto speaking areas, while Kohistan is inhabited by Kohistanis and their second language is Pashto. Hindko speaking Pakhtuns are again in majority in the rest of the two districts i.e. Abbottabad and Haripur, so how can Nawaz Sharif put weight behind his party stalwart from Abbottabad, Mahtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi or his son-in-law, Capt (R) Safdar by overlooking the fact that such a move on his part could damage no other but the PML-N alone. The other opposing party is PML-Q giving approval to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with a note of dissent.

However, the PML-N is going to lose support because it objected to the name on behalf of leaguers from Hazara, who wanted to add the word Abaseen with Pakhtunkhwa and not Khyber. Another connotation is that ANP has lost nothing by accepting Khyber as a prefix to Pakhtunkhwa, though the party is struggling to win a name, which is one word, whether it is Pakhtunkhwa, Pakhtunistan or Afghania.

A 1997 resolution passed by the Frontier Assembly with majority vote approved the name of Pakhtunkhwa for the province. The issue was raised by late Bacha Khan with late General Ziaul Haq, who had offered to give a name to the nameless province, but later on Zia did not accept any of these three names, which compelled Bacha Khan to abandon negotiations with then martial law administrator. Bacha Khan also advocated that Punjab has annexed four districts of Pakhtunkhwa namely, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Campbellpur, which was later on named Attock, and Mianwali. In one of his 1987 speeches in Karachi, Bacha Khan offered a solution by giving Jhelum and Rawalpindi to Punjab, saying that Punjabis are presently in majority in these two districts and demanded return of Mianwali and Attock on the basis that Pakhtuns are still in majority there.

However, Bacha Khan’s son, Khan Abdul Wali Khan did not press for the return of the two districts but kept the issue alive by demanding a name for the province to dump the legacy of the British era. He could not succeed. The war of nerves and patience continued till March 31, 2010 when all the parties having representation in the sitting parliament finally agreed to the demand of Asfandyar Wali Khan to propose Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as the new name for NWFP in the historical constitutional package awaiting approval from the National Assembly and the Senate.

The prefix of Khyber is likely to give another opportunity to ANP and other Pakhtun nationalist parties to press for the completion of the incomplete agenda to unite the divided Pakhtuns. The longstanding demand of the ANP together with Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) of Mehmud Khan Achakzai is that Pakhtuns living in Fata and Balochistan be made one unit and the new name can give a justification and clue to that direction. The Pakhtuns living in Balochistan always referred to the Pakhtunland in that province as southern Pakhtunkhwa and the people of Fata call themselves as Pakhtuns from central Pakhtunkhwa. The addition of Khyber also technically gives an edge to the nationalist parties to demand merger of Fata with the province because Khyber will become part of the province with the new name by the constitution.

Administration of Fata is a federal subject. If Nawaz Sharif and others have agreed to give a name to the province, Pakhtunkhwa is the proper name and any prefix or suffix to it will bring no rewards to him but could backfire.

Apart from the name, the impending 18th amendment in the constitution will enable provinces to get control of their resources with the repeal of the concurrent list and strengthen democratic dispensation for the first time when an elected president has agreed to empower the Parliament. No one expected that President Asif Ali Zardari would even share powers with the prime minister, rather than surrendering his authority.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=232677