Etymology of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Afghania/Pakistan)
For over a 150 years from its founding as a province of British India on the 9th of November in 1901, it was known as the North-West Frontier Province. Afghania is another name long considered as a replacement for North-West Frontier Province.[1][2] It was proposed first by the founding leaders of the Muslim League in 1933[2] and was at least partly chosen to represent the first "A" in "Pakistan. In 2010 it was renamed.
Pakhtunkhwa (and the other transliteration variants) is derived from Pakhtun and Khwa, the former refers to the ethnic group and the latter literally means "Heart". "Khyber" side of the land of the Pashtuns,[3]" literally means “Land of Passes”, declared to be the National pass of Pakistan which connects Pak with Afghan-i-stan respectively.[4] Khyber Pakhtunkhwa means the "Khyber side of the land of the Pashtuns,[3]" where the word Pakhtunkhwa means "Land of the Pashtuns",[5] while according to some scholars, it refers to "Pashtun culture and society".[6] Other names used or proposed for the province include Gandhara, Afghania, Pashtunistan, Pathanistan, Sarhad, Abaseen, Khyber,[7][8] or a combination of names, such as Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa.[9][10]
Efforts to change the province name[edit]
For most of the history of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), there were efforts to change its name. The name Afghania was proposed first by the founding leaders of the Muslim League in 1933 and was at least partly chosen to represent the first "ā" in "Pakistan". The need for a change was explained by the man who named Pakistan in his "Now or Never" pamphlet, Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan Khan, as:
"'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' [which no longer exists]. 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."[11]
Suggestions for new names came and went. Although some of the names were ethnically neutral, most proposals emphasized the province's Pashtun ethnic identity. The renaming issue was an emotional one which often crossed party lines and not all supporters of a renaming agreed on the name Pakhtunkhwa.
North-West Frontier Province[edit]
For over a 150 years after its founding as a province of British Raj on the 9th of November, 1901, it was known as the North-West Frontier Province (abbreviated as NWFP) until 2010 due to its relative location being in the northwest of the nation.[12] Unofficially, it was known as Sarhād (Urdu: سرحد), derived from the province's Urdu name given to it by the Mughals, which means "Frontier".
Other Pakistani names[edit]
- Abaseen (Urdu: اباسین): from the Pashto name for the Indus River.[13][14][8]
- Khyber: from the Khyber Pass.[13][14][8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Zeeshan Haider. "Islamists want Pakistan province renamed 'Afghania'." Reuters. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "No end in sight to ANP-PML-N row over NWFP renaming." One Pakistan. 28 January 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 U.S. Department of State (2011). Background Notes: South Asia, May, 2011. InfoStrategist.com. ISBN 978-1592431298. Search this book on
Cite error: Invalid <ref>tag; name "USDS" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPakhtunkhwa - ↑ Marwat, Fazal-ur-Rahim Khan (1997). The evolution and growth of communism in Afghanistan, 1917–79: an appraisal. Royal Book Co. p. XXXV. Search this book on
- ↑ Barnes, Robert Harrison; Gray, Andrew; Kingsbury, Benedict (1995). Indigenous peoples of Asia. Association for Asian Studies. p. 171. ISBN 0924304146. Search this book on
- ↑ "It's KP, not KPK". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
Initially, a number of names were proposed for the province. These ranged from its ancient names, Gandhara and Afghania, to the controversial Pakhtunistan and Pashtunistan and the absurd Pathanistan, and from Abaseen denoting the River Indus passing through it to the meaningless Sarhad.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Spat over renaming NWFP". The Hindu. 2010-03-22. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
Besides Pukhtoonkhwa, five other names are under consideration. The ANP has suggested Pukhtoonistan and Afghania. And, the PML(N) Gandhara, Khyber and Abbasin (Pushto for the river Indus). Senior ANP leader Zahid Khan was hopeful of a compromise on the issue and suggested that the leaderships of the two parties may settle for a hyphenated name that pleases all.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:0 - ↑ "Renaming of NWFP: PML-N suggests 'Hazara Pakhtunkhwa'". DAWN.COM. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
- ↑ Choudhary Rahmat Ali, 1947, Pakistan: the fatherland of the Pak nation, Cambridge, OCLC: 12241695
- ↑ Morrison, Cameron (1909). A New Geography of the Indian Empire and Ceylon. T.Nelson and Sons. p. 176. Search this book on
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Khan, Riaz; Toosi, Nahal; Writers, Associated Press (2010-03-31). "Pakistan moves closer to renaming volatile region". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Khan, Riaz; Toosi, Nahal (1 April 2010). "Pakistan moves closer to renaming volatile region". Washington Post. Retrieved 1 April 2010.[dead link]
