NWFP renaming, Afghania emerging as acceptable alternative

By: Rahimullah Yusufzai

The PML-N has made up its mind about the new name of NWFP and its none other than the much-used and worn-out Khyber.

The PML-N secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagr, who holds the same position in ARD, disclosed a few days ago that this party wanted to rename NWFP as Khyber. It was clear that party leader Mian Nawaz Sharif had given approval for the new name.

Now the PML-N provincial joint secretary Arbab Khizer Hayat Khan said in a statement after meeting Nawaz Sharif in Dubai that the former prime minister was in favour of renaming NWFP as Khyber.

It may be recalled that the nationalist ANP had in past pulled out of its coalition government with Nawaz Sharif’s party after failing to convince him to support its demand for renaming NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa.

Though non-controversial, Khyber isn’t one of the popular choices as the new name of NWFP. It is often used as the easy way out while naming institutions in the province Khyber is in fact the name of a pass in Khyber Agency that links Pakistan with Afghanistan. The Khyber Pass, which meanders its way through low-lying mountains, enjoys fame as a tourist destination Adventurers, conquerors and traders have used the Khyber Pass to enter the Indian sub-continent or reach out to Central Asia.

All the political parties now support the move for a new name for the province. Most consider the North-West Frontier Province or NWFP, a meaningless name. They would like to give the province a meaningful name.

The MMA-led provincial government has made a committee under the chairmanship of law minister Malik Zafar Azam to contact other parties and come up with a consensus new name for the NWFP. It is the second, largely half-hearted move on the part of the ruling MMA to coin a new name for the province. Indications are that this time too the MMA government’s initiative may not make much headway, more so when its move has come during the last year of its five-year long rule.

The Pukhtun nationalist parties led by the ANP prefer Pakhtunkhwa as NWFP’s new name. The NWFP Assembly passed resolutions in the past demanding renaming of the province as Pakhtunkhwa. The mainstream PPP, then led by Aftab Sherpao in the NWFP also backed the resolution. Their arguments is that Pakhtuns form an overwhelming majority of the population in the Frontier and Pakhtunkhwa would confer an ethnic and cultural identity to the province.

The nationalists are also ready to accept Afghania as the new name of NWFP. Chaudhry Rahmat Ali and others who coined the word Pakistan as the name of the country reffered to the NWFP as Afghania. The word “a” is for Afghania in Pakistan’s name. Critics often point out the Pakistan’s name is incomplete with naming the NWFP as Afghania.

The Jamaat-e-Islami is opposed to these names. It would like to have an Islamic name for the province. The JUI-F and other smaller Islamic parties are keeping their options open on their choice of name for NWFP. Publicaly, the Islamic parties have been saying that they want to give a suitable and consensus name to the province. The six-party Islamic alliance, MMA, would have to come up with a mutually agreeable name as difference on the renaming issue could create yet another dispute in its ranks and make the uneasy coalition even more fractious.