Pakhtunkhwa

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Pakhtunkhwa or Pashtunkhwa (Pashto: پښتونخواه) is a name used historically by Pashtun leaders for the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. More recently it has been used by Pashtun nationalists in Pakistan as the name with which they would like to rename the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), commonly known as Sarhad (Urdu: سرحد).

While the concept was first mentioned in the twentieth century by Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. The Federal government views the claim with suspicion as a front for a secessionist movement.

Zia-ul-Haq agreed with Bacha Khan to change the name but he contended that the term Pashtunistan had become controversial. Bacha Khan suggested Pakhtunkhwa. But, again, some hitch was created and Zia-ul-Haq asked Bacha Khan to suggest another name. In response, Bacha Khan wrote a letter (in Pashto) to the President to give up his efforts if he was so constrained.

Within the NWFP Provincial Assembly the first party to table a bill for the renaming of NWFP was the Pakistan Peoples Party NWFP chapter under Aftab Khan Sherpao. Sherpao cleverly exploited the renaming issue to cause a split between the Awami National Party and its right wing allies (traditional opponents of the ANP's ethnic politics and in particular renaming). The bill failed to pass in its first attempt but the issue did anger opponents in the party of the ANP's alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML). The ANP leadership, however, cited its lack of a majority in the provincial assembly and how the issue has not been placed as part of a formal agreement with the leader of the Muslim League Nawaz Sharif as a reason for the bill's failure to pass. Prior to the 1997 general elections, the ANP obtained a formal commitment from Nawaz Sharif on the renaming issue as part of their pre-election political/electoral alliance.

After the alliances victory in the 1997 elections, the PPP under Aftab Sherpao again tabled a bill for a resoluiton on the renaming issue in the provincial assembly. The issue was eventually taken up by the Assembly in the latter half of 1997, and after a brief debate the NWFP Assembly speaker Hidayatullah Chamkani called the issue to a vote asking those members opposing the issue to stand up. This move caught the Muslim League members offguard as they had already decided they would not support the renaming issue. The Pakhtoonkhwa resolution , was supported by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulema -i- Islam (JUI) (F) while the PML abstained. It was opposed only by two members both Pakhtuns - from the PML (J) Salim Saifullah and Humayun Saifullah (Yusufzai, 16 November 1997).

Despite the resolutions' passage, the backlash in the right-wing press and conservative supporters of Nawaz Sharif in Punjab in particular was intense. The issue was then addressed at the Federal level as a formal renaming could only be done through a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds majority. Nawaz Sharif, under pressure from the right wing of his party and outside, backtracked on his previous commitment. In an attempt to save the alliance, Sharif made efforts to resolve the issue by instead offering a compromise name like Nuristan or Abasin. The offer was rejected by the Awami National Party leadership and the ANP withdrew from the Federal and provincial governments [1].