ANP Maintains Firm Stance on Pakhtunkhwa Issue

Awami National Party (ANP), the leading political party of the NWFP province, has firmly reiterated its stance on the issue of renaming NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa (literally meaning ‘land of the Pakhtoons’). In a recent statement, ANP’s working committee member Gul Mina Bilal asked the opponent parties not to challenge the Pakhtunkhwa issue as it has been passed with overwhelming majority in the provincial assembly.

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Miss Bilal expressed her disapproval of the opposition to Pakhtunkhwa by elected representatives of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), PLM Nawaz, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal Group), saying that these leaders were attending the assembly that passed the resolution for renaming NWFP to Pakhtunkhwa. According to her, out of the 24 districts in the province, 20 districts have voted for renaming the province as Pakhtunkhwa while the majority of the population in the other four districts also supported the position of ANP. Miss Bilal admonished the opposing political leaders against creating a conflict on the issue.

Renaming the NWFP province to Pakhtunkhwa has a long political history in Pakistan. Pakhtoons and nationalist groups, which are passionate about naming their inhabited land after their identity as Pakhtoons, have been demanding the change of the province’s name for decades. But a number of political groups and part of general non-Pakhtoon population are not in favor of calling NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa.

In 1992-3, ANP had built an alliance with Muslim League Nawaz Group (N) on the main grounds of renaming NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa. However, Muslim League (N) stepped back from their bond with ANP on the issue, resulting in the end of the alliance of both parties. Now, the issue is up again as ANP has taken the lead in NWFP’s government and this time, Pakhtoon nationalists are standing firmly on their plans for winning their motherland the name Pakhtunkhwa.