NWFP to be renamed Pakhtoonkhwa: Zardari

[pak-one]

@thejoke

Imagine if Kalabagh am was put under a referendum - the people of the affected 3 provinces ie sindh, nwfp, punjab voted and punjab won - would that man the dam should be constructed? Not every problem is solved by votes and majority rules - at times commonsense, compromise and looking at views from another angle matters too.

Faisalabad was not named after an ethnic group - its a neutral name. Many people call NWFP Name Wanted for Province - but that name should reflect the current and modern heritage of the area. 50% of Pashtu speakers within NWFP are not even classed as Pashtuns by the locals.

What surprises me or should i say does not - is that the very people who are so pro renaming Pashtunkhwa/pakhtunistan are the very people who complain that “Indic” groups (the terms they use) such as Muhajirs and Punjabis are dominating Pakistan in very sphere an forcing an “Indic” culture upon non-Indic areas such as NWFP/Balochistan. But these very people who complain now want to force a Pakhtun identity on so many non-Pakhtuns because thy feel “left out”. The renaming would never affect Pakhtun integration into Pakistan.

One more thing the ANP leaders from the very bottom of their hearts do not believe in Pakistan let alone their integration into it. Given the chance they will go back to their anti-Pakistan ways. All thy have really changed is what they say publicly as they know that the vast majority of Pakhtuns in NWFP are pro-Pakistan and would not tolerate their secular nationalistic approach.

Wow so you are actually arguing against democracy and the majority will of the people now? I guess my forefathers were fools to vote for Pakistan in a certain referendum.

Actually you’re dead wrong about the percentage of Pakhtu speakers: http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/other_tables/pop_by_mother_tongue.pdf

If you look at the chart, you will find that the Punjabi speakers predominate in Punjab, Sindhi speakers in Sindh, and Pakhto/Pashto speakers in Pakhtunkhwa.

I think that a name change hardly means an imposition of Pakhtun identity on minorities. I don’t think any Urdu speaker in Sindh will say that the provincial name ‘Sindh’ is imposing a Sindhi identity. It is more about economic and social policies that cause disagreements rather than the name itself.

I don’t speak for the ANP leadership, however on this issue they 100% reflect the majority views of the province. Despite being pro Pakistani for decades, the simple aspiration of Pakhtuns to have a province that includes the history of their land and moves away from the colonial construct, is being denied due to weak minority arguments, baseless separatism fears, and the denial of democratic-majoritarian opinion.