PESHAWAR, July 20: The Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party has welcomed the formation of a parliamentary committee by the NWFP Assembly to decide a new name for the province, and expressed the hope that the committee will act according to the people’s aspirations. Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, PMAP provincial chief Mukhtiar Khan Yousufzai said his party had trust in the parliamentary committee and considered its formation a good omen.
He said the names of Pukhtunistan, Afghania and Pukhtunkhwa were acceptable to the PMAP but it was opposed to Abasin and Khyber, which were the names of a river and a mountain pass, respectively.
He said the province should be given an identity on national and cultural grounds.
He said the NWFP Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution in the past and agreed to christen the NWFP Pukhtunkhwa.
However, his party was ready to accept the two other names, Afghania and Pukhtunkhwa, which referred to identity of the Pukhtuns, he added.
After the change of the province’s name, the PMAP would launch a struggle to get the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pukhtun area of Balochistan and the districts of Mainsail and Attack annexed with ‘Pukhtunkhwa’, he announced.
Your figures seem off, but anyway, you put too much faith in other ethnicties love for Pashtuns, where none exists. I know what many Chitralis, Balochs, Hindukwans, Tajiks, and Hazaras have to say about Pashtuns. Its something I would not repeat.
The day that happens I will do a mannat of chaadar and langar of Punjabi buffaloes at the daargaah of that Peer Baba in Hazro, no wait I don’t belive in that crap..
The mindset of the people of Attock is more inline with that of NWFP, the only difference is language that’s why even abroad we get on better with Pukhtoons than we do with other Desi’s despite the linguistic simialries.
Give me one good reason why Punjab would be against changeing the name of NWFP...
PLEASE, cut all the garbage and just give me one good reason.
Fact is that your just to blinded by you hatred to see things for anything other then some big conspiric.
When Bengalis made a demand for their rights, Pakistani establishment reacted by avowing to make the land of Bengalis red with the blood of Bengalis. But then had to swallow the bitter taste of their folly.
Stop challenging my friend and talk sense. The problem with you people is that you boost too much.
Bengalis had it far worse then the Pasthuns. Pasthuns are in heaven comapred to the Bengalis. If I had been around when the Bengalis were compaling, I would have joined them in support. Pasthun complaints seem rather hallow in comparison.. There are people who have it far worse.
Most of the discontent from my perspective is due to Pasthuns innate bigotry and their sense of superiority of everyone else..
Looks like you don’t like civilized discussion, so here it is: you people were always under our feet for centuries, you got away with everything so far because you people have this fake certificate of Islam. We consider you people sheeps and us lions, if we want we can just walk all the way to Bengal and you and your kind will be just running like sheeps. This was always the case in the past.
Yaar, im really tired of all this garbage about how Pashtuns are the greatest civilization in the world and how evil we Punjabis are. I cant carry on a civilized conversation in which this is the sentiment of the people im discussing with.
I started this post to show my solicarity with the people of NWFP as fellow Pakistanis. I see myself more as Pakistani and less as Punjabi. The Pathans here completely isolate themselves and start drawing lines in the sand seperating themselves and throwing themselves in with Afghans. I say, if thats the case then by all means, and if you honestly think that Pakistan would allow itself to be torn apart then you have another thing coming, not everyone in Pakistan is as willing to compramise as I am.
If you guys want a civilized conversation then start being civil yourselves...
Respect will earn you respect...
My figures are not off the way. They are rather based on 1998 census report of Pakistan. Probably, these figures are also available online.
As for ethnic harmony, I am not understating tensions. I am just pointing to commonalities and some ground realities especially in the case of Hindko speaking (calling them new Pashtuns or whatever) population of Peshawar, Kohat, and other places. There is a place called Khalisa near Peshawar where Hindku speakers dwelled. Thirty years back, they spoke Hindko but during the last two decade, they have either become bilingual or Pashto speakers. And this they have done of their own v…olition. The reasons is Pashtuns previously were a rural people but during the last twenty to twenty-five years, they have migrated to Peshawar in very large numbers (and they will do so more intensively in future). As consequence, interaction and relations between the two communities reached such a level that they have almost become fused with each other. Nevertheless, I will say that Pashtun haven’t imposed their culture. This is just an impact of demographic shift.
Let us come to Kohistanis. Now let me inform you that there are three Kohistans; Swat Kohistan, Dir Kohistan, and Indus Kohistan. The people of Dir and Swat Kohistan have all their routes passing through Pashtun areas and all their immediate and extensive/intensive economic, political, and social interaction with the neighbouring Pashtuns. They are also a small community demographically. Visit Dir and Swat Kohistan yourself and you would see how rapidly are they adopting Pahto. In fact most of them have already become Pashto speakers. Other reason is that their culture is very similar to Pashtuns.
As for Pashais and Nuristnis of Afghanistan, they are living in Kunar and Laghman provinces in immediate neighbourhood with Pashtuns. Their nearest urban center is Jalalabad with inhabitants of which, they have to interact/transact on daily basis. As a consequence, they are adopting the ways and language of the community that is demographically dominant.
Chitral has three routes to interact with the outside world, the two viable routes passing through Pashtun areas. One connects it to it to Peshawar Valley via Lawari and Dir; and the other connect it to Nangarhar Valley and Peshawar Valley viva Kunar Afghanistan. I talked to many Chitralis about this. And they were very adamant to the idea of Chitral being merged with Northern Area (Gilgath etc.). They were saying it would lead to their isolation.
But this is not limited to other people adopting Pashto. There are Pashtuns in the north of Afghanistan having adopted Dari language or being bilingual. The Durranis of Herat are now Dari speakers just like Mohammadzai of Kabul are.
As for Tajaks of Afghanistan, they may be having ethnic differences with Pashtuns but interestingly, these are Tajiks that are stauch supporters of a strong-centeric Afghanistan. The reasons are again demographic, geographical, and political. As I said, there are more Tajaks in Afghanistan having lived in comparative freedom compared to Tajaks of Tajakistan. If you would pick up an ethnic map of Afghanistan, you woud see that Tajak areas in Afghanistan include Badakhshan, Panjsher, Baghlan, and Talqan. Except for Panjsher, the other Tajak provinces lie to the north of Hindukush and adjoined to Tajakistan. There areas are mostly mountainous and little amenable to road communication. Moreover, Tajakistan itself has been controlled by Russians for the last one century and it is still being controlled by Russians. And Tajaks of Tajakistan are tired of this domination. They want to have political relations to the south than the north. The major urban center of Tajaks is Kabul, south of Hindukush, in the north of which is Tajak area, in the South and East Pashtun area, and the West Hazara.
No, Pakistan had to swallow the bitter taste of the Indian Army being rammed down Pakistan’s throat. Most of the militant traitors had been forced into Indian territory by December 1971.
Anyway … I don’t see why we should be too worried by the words of a couple of angry pakhtuns living outside Pakistan.
Those Pakhtuns in Pakistan have proven time and again their loyalty to Pakistan above any other country. The bravery of the Waziristan Scouts who never flinched from their duty in the recent Waziristan campaign despite heavy casualties, beheading and other atrocities against them is just one example amongst many. During the Waziristan campaign, the overwhelming majority of the tribes in the FATA sided with Pakistan against rebelling Pakhtuns, whilst all Pakhtun population centres were no more discontent with the campaign than any other population centres in Pakistan.
If some of you are so sure of your cause and support from pashtuns, go ahead and start a civil war, because no one will hand NWFP on a platter to Afghanistan.
if that was the case, why do tribesmen say we will sacrifice our whole family and tribe for the protection of a muslim. why is it everything was focused on pashtuns areas and in Afghanistan also? why was it non-pashtuns chose Afghanistan out of all countries, if pashtuns were so against other muslims…why was it uzbeks chose Afghanistan as refuge under taliban, if taliban were more pashtun than muslim. this is which you dont understand, and most pashtuns will say this. if you are a strong pashtun, you are a strong muslim. you cant separate the two. if you dont pray, people will say you are not a practicing muslim and will say what kind of pashtun are you. so it goes hand in hand, its not something separate like in other tribes (ethnicities), where you choose your ethnicity over islam. a pashtun if he abandons islam and takes anything above Allah (swt), he is an outsider…
I am a muslim first, along with being Pashtun…thats my simple equation. my loyalty is with Allah not Pakistan or any country, currently the governments of all muslim countries are against Allah and his teachings. The people are siding with their government, so I am a MUSLIM, where i dont wish to compromise over islam. why should i care about ‘PAKISTAN’…when Allah says care about ISLAM. what is Pakistans interest??? when people say think about Pakistans interest, no way…my interest is what Allah and his prophet (saw) said, which is to do good actions. People try to say why you fighting ‘pak army’, when somebody butchers innocent people, i dont care if that was my fellow tribesmen, he is an enemy…that is what you dont understand, if pashtuns were so firm upon their tribe, like totally un-reasonable, then why is it so many munafiq pashtuns were killed by their fellow tribesmen??? when a pashtun went against islam and the pashtun way, it didnt matter how great his sub-tribe was, he was killed and finished.
As for superiority this was mentioned in the prophet (saw) last sermon, that it is only in the eyes of Allah the one who has more taqwa then the other, not his race…amongst pashtuns you will have people who are the worst of humans, and among them you will have the best of people…its all about their taqwa/iman…thats why i said pashtun munafiqs were killed throughout history by other pashtuns.
PP we here have only contested your arguments. We haven’t talked of any superiority.
And I wonder, how insensitive and myopic do people become when gauging the plights and greviances of others. I will tell you how the politics of pakistan vis-a-vis Afghanistan and Pashtun land have affected Pashtuns.
(1) The only community that has suffered as a consequence of Afghan War are Pashtuns whose land to the west of Durand divide was devastated, h…uman resources destroyed, natural resources plundered, secular-liberal leadership slaughtered, cultural symbols dismantled, and social fabric fragmented, so much so that that brat Akhthar Abdur Rahman ordered burning of Kabul. Now look at the Pashtun land to the east of Durand divide. Pashtuns to the east also suffered colossal losses in terms of damage to their environment, society, land, natural resources, and social, religous, and political harmony.
And who reaped the fruit of all this? Interestingly, BBC conducted a survey in Punjab regarding the popularity of Musharaf versus Ziual-Haq and the people of Punjab responded by favoring Ziaul Haq because one reason they gave was that Zia protected Punjab of the fallouts of Afgan War but benefited it with the fruits of that War. The immense Western military and economic aid during Afghan War was funneled to the development of Punjab. The neo-industrialst tycons like Hamayun Akhthar Khan emerged during that era. And Punjab became an industrial hub during that period.
On top of that Pakistan left no stone unturned to propagate the image of Pashtuns, primarily a secular tribal people, as Taleban.
(2) The Cold War had not yet ended that Pakistan started another war; this time of conquering Afghanistan and installing a pro-Pakistan Islamic government there. Obviously, Pashtuns to the east of Durand divide, due to geographical proximity had to bear the brunt of that “holy” mission.
(3) After 9/11 there was another opportunity for fortune making. Some Al-Queda had escaped Tora Bora and had VERY MYSTERIOUSLY re-surfaced in Waziristan. This time Pashtun land was to become a battle ground for Pakistan’s FAKE WAR against terrorism. And as a reward Punjab-dominated Pakistani establishment was to get heavy military and economic aid apart from an approval to continue ruling Pashtun areas and other Pakistan in an imperialistic way.
The front-line state against terrorism HAS MADE Pashtun land as its WAR FRONT.
In fact it seems Pashtun land will forever be a battle ground for war for Western interests, Arab interests, the interests of Islam, and above all the interests of the Punjabi elite.
(4) Even if Pashtuns decide to be part of Pakistan, majority of them would never like instablity in Pashtun areas of Afghanistan because that always has had an adverse impact on the Pashtun areas of Pakistan. But Punjab-dominated establishment is very ambitious; it is a nuclear power and it wants a zone of influence and if not entire Afghanistan, Pashtun part of it must be a Pakistani sphere of influence, which it should be allowed to rule through forces like Gulbuddin and Taleban.
Even a naive in geopoltics can understand that unless a miracle occurs, Pakistan cannot give up its ambition to dominate/conquer Afghnistan, at least upto Hindukush.
Every sensible Pashtun now understands that their land cannot be forever a battle ground for FAKE and real wars in which Pashtuns will be destroyed but “others” will prosper. Every sensible Pashtun now realizes that the only way out of this is some sort of i…ntegration of the two Pashtuns on either side of Durand divide and choosing some clear geopolitical path-course in regional and world politics to save their land of perpetual fake, proxy, or real wars and great games. We cannot allow our land to be made a war front forever and the future of our future generations to be destroyed.
(5) Despite the demand of tribal people for political and administrative reforms, Pakistani Establishment is hell-bent to retain the old colonial poltical-administrative strutures in FATA. This is it doint to undermine the political, cultural, and societal unity of Pashtuns and to arrest Pashtun Nation building. It wants to arrest the social evolution of Pashtuns to keep it a tribal society as long as it can and so to in a colonial and imperialistic way.
Pakistan wants to keep Pashtun land as a strategic backyard for dirty activities.
(6) As for exploitation of Pashtuns within Pakistan, I will give you two examples. Sometimes back, the Govt of NWFP started Malakand III project to install another turbine at Malakand Hydroelectic Power generating facility and to produce 85 Megawatts of additional electricity. This electricity was to be used to boost industrial development in NWFP. But now the federal givernment has decided to connect this additional electricity to national grid where it will be destributed from LAHORE PUNJAB. Lahore division alone consumes electricity more than that consumed by the entire NWFP and Kashmir.
