WHY PAKHTUNKHWA?

NWFP or Pakhtunkhwa?
Wajih Abbasi (Daily The Post)
The North West Frontier Province was established in 1901 by detaching the districts of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara from the then extended province of Punjab. It should be noted that the capital of the British Indian Empire at the time was Calcutta (now Kolkata). The British decided to shift the capital to Delhi in 1911 and constructed a new city (New Delhi) for the purpose. For an imperialist power ruling from Kolkata it might have been permissible to refer to the province for its geographical location but for the same seems strange in a democratic nation state many times smaller the size of the British Indian empire and having its capital at the doorsteps of what is being referred to as ‘north west frontier’.

It is pertinent to mention that the British have been showing the penchant for referring to different regions in the world as well as areas within countries by their geographical locations as in relation to their imperial headquarters in London or regional headquarters of their colonial empire. West Indies, East Indies, Near East, Middle East, South East and Far East are all British coined terms for different parts of the world. In the same way, they named different provinces in their Indian empire according their location to Calcutta. Areas containing the present Indian states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh were initially called North Western Province. The term was later changed to United Provinces of Ohad and Bihar.

Even during the British times the name of North West Frontier Province was considered a misnomer. Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, who coined word Pakistan by buying alphabets from the four provinces and Kashmir, writes in his book, “Pakistan: The Fatherland of Pak Nation”, “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’. 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.”

Sixty one years after the realization of dream of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali one fifth of the population of the country is still groping for a proper name for its province. The people of province have been demanding the change of the name. Initially, Pakhtun leaders from the Red Shirt Movement as well as parties from NWFP, except those belonging to the various PML factions, demanded that the province should be renamed as Pakhtunistan. It, however, became controversial when some groups in the media and right wing political parties accused that the Red Shirt leaders were planning to establish a separate country with support from India, Afghanistan and USSR.

In order to end the controversy ANP decided in 1988 to forgo the word Pakhtunistan and said the province be renamed as Pakhtunkhwa. It is the name with which the area was known almost one thousand years ago. However, even the changed name was not acceptable to the Muslim Leaguers in the province as well as other parts of the country.

Before the 1997 elections, the ANP and PML-N entered into an agreement under which both the parties agreed to change the name of the province after the elections. However, once the elections were over and PML-N was able to get its Chief Minister elected it reneged from the promise. When ANP, PPP, and JUI-F submitted a resolution in the provincial assembly for renaming the province as Pakhtunkhwa the PML-N members in the provincial assembly decided to abstain. Other PML faction in the assembly, the Junejo group having two seats voted against the resolution.

Those opposing the word Pakhtunkhwa argue that the name will not represent non Pashto speaking population of the province. The argument is unjustified and impractical. There is hardly any country in the world which does not have ethnic minorities. Even in Pakistan Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan have large number of people who do not speak the language their names ostensibly suggest. The 74 percent population of NWFP speaks Pashto as mother language in present day NWFP and the proportion will greatly increase when FATA will ultimately be merged in the province.

Other names suggested such as Abaseen, Khyber or Ghandahara may be good suggestions but the problem is that the majority of the population of NWFP does not approve these names. Holding a referendum on the issue will unnecessarily acerbate ethnic fault lines in the province as well as the country as a whole. It would be advisable leave the issue to the parliament as the NWFP Assembly.

The renaming issue is getting entangled in historical rivalry between Muslim League and the followers of Khudai Khidmatgar Movement also known as ‘Red Shirts’ of which ANP is just a new face. During the independence movement the ‘Red Shirts’ lead by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, grandfather ANP Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, supported the Congress Party instead of the Muslim League. The Red Shirts opposed the referendum held in July 1947 on question whether the province should join India or Pakistan and said people should also be given independence as an option.

Except for a brief period between 1955 and 1957 when Abdul Jabbar Khan, elder brother of Abdul Ghaffar Khan who was commonly known as Dr. Khan Sahib served as Chief Minister of West Pakistan, the family of Ghaffar Khan always found itself on the wrong side of powerful Pakistani establishment. Male members of his family spent larger part of their lives as prisoners of conscience. Even during the time of Dr. Khan Sahib’s chief ministry Khan Ghaffar Khan and his son Abdul Wali Khan remained in the forefront of struggle against one unit and other issues that went against the perceived interests of the establishment of the time.

Due to their history of opposition to the ‘establishment’ the Red Shirts always remained outsiders in the state. They faced virulent propaganda directed against them in which they were continued to be dubbed as enemies of the country and agents of India, Afghanistan and erstwhile USSR. The Muslim Leaguers on the other hand have always been party in each sitting government in one colour or the other and been beneficiaries of the propaganda against the red shirts.

The Red Shirts were not the only ones from the present day Pakistan who had opposed the establishment of the country. The Punjabi landlords, united in the Unionists Party, were forsaken enemies of the Muslim League and its demand for an independent country. Many of them joined Muslim League just before the 1945 elections in order to milk League’s popularity. Others remained in the Unionist Party and gave tough time to the All India Muslim League during the 1945 elections and opposed the creation of Pakistan. Same is true about religious parties particularly Jammait Ulema-e-Hind (the mother party of JUI), and Jamaat-e-Islami as well as pro Congress parties in the other provinces which later formed Pakistan.

One does believe that groups which did not agree to Muslim League and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah on Pakistan issue should be penalized. In any struggle for independence especially when one part of the country wants to break up from the whole, there is always a large section of the society which is against the break up. Even in the case of United States more than one third population of the colonies which later formed United States of America opposed the independence movement and even supported the British army against the revolutionaries. However in most of the cases the matter is over as things settle down after the independence.

In Pakistan however the issue was over stressed and used to gain political mileage in the post independence period when accusing others of treason became a common practice. Though the religious parties and Punjabi landlords were soon forgiven but liberal forces from other provinces were penalized for long. The Red Shirts because of their unrelenting opposition to undemocratic and dictatorial regimes in Pakistan have been the worst victims.

Leaders from the PML factions are using the same mantras to oppose the renaming of NWFP. PML leaders are often seen alluding to ANP’s past to press their arguments. This practise has not served the country in the past and will not do today or in future. It has hurt the nation enough. Objection to PPP’s policy on judges’ issue notwithstanding party’s present government has been trying to heal injuries inflicted on the federation in past decades. Withdrawal of cases against the Baloch leaders and seeking an apology from the Baloch people on behalf Pakistan state were steps in this direction. The party has also suggested changes in the constitution to give more powers to the federating units and provide greater say to smaller federating units in the affairs of the state. In the same spirit he has started using word Pakhtunkhwa for NWFP.

It is time that politicians belonging to different factions of Muslim League too come out of their mindset and start and objectively treating the demands the smaller provinces. It will help us build a stronger and more vibrant federation.
ENDS