What’s in a name?


Asif Akhtar April 24, 2010

The recent issue of changing the name of the North West Frontier Province seems to have conflagrated into a political maelstrom. Though the issue has been a significant stumbling block stuck in all our respective political throats for the past 60 odd years, it was only logical that a province of the national federation not be known as a set of geographical parameters relevant only to the British Empire.

The question of what to change the name to seems to, however, seems like even more of a pickle as a Pandora’s box of ethno-linguistic nationalities seems to have been sprung open. First the issue seemed to be about representation. Logically following, if Punjab is for the Punjabis, Sindh for the Sindhis, Balochistan for the Baloch, then why can’t there be a Pakhtunkhwa for the Pakhtuns? Fair enough, but the renaming seems to have been caught up in the country’s slipping in and out of the one-unit philosophy, and subsequently buried in the graveyard of political reforms.

The thorny Hazara issue seemed to have been resolved through a convenient hyphenation mimicking what seems to be the current fashion — ala the recent naming of Gilgit-Baltistan, the newest of the provinces. It was decided that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa would be the name. It was highly ironic that Khyber also happened to be the target of an airstrike, a few days after the name change, which killed a few dozen civilians. Maybe this is a way of letting liberated post-colonial constituencies know that they are in fact liberated, or maybe it was some sort of sick joke. Regardless, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa turned out to be an even more problematic name than just Pakhtunkhwa by itself, because now all the other unrepresented constituencies, including linguistic and ethno-geographic groups like Hazara, want to be in on the hyphenation nomenclature.

Would a Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa-Hazara solve the problem? Perhaps they can condense four names into another acronym by adding Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa-Hazara-Waziristan to make it KPHW. Maybe if creative minds sit together they can actually come up with a conglomerate name that condenses back into NWFP, ending with Pakhtunkhwa of course. Historically name changes have mostly been a sticky issue, even minor spelling corrections such as changing Sind to Sindh have had to go through a complicated constitutional process. The process of liberating geographical areas from the colonial yoke of oppression is far from over though.

While the conversion from Lyallpur to Faisalabad was relatively painless, places like Murree have kept their name as bestowed by the British. And it seems odd that Abottabad, the epicentre of the protests against the current renaming, was actually named after Major James Abbott, who settled the district in 1848. My point is that if naming and renaming is such an arduous political task, maybe its best that the whole business be taken care of in one swift move rather than addressing these hiccups every few decades, causing spontaneous eruptions of violence every now and then. Indeed even the naming Pakistan was no simple task.

Apparently Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, the mastermind behind this ingenious name, had intended it to be an acronym for all its constituent parts: Punjab, Afghania (NWFP), Kashmir, Sind, and the “tan” from Balochistan. The original spelling was intended to be PAKSTAN, which sounds more like how you’d say it in Punjabi, later on the “i” was added with the rationalisation that it signified the lands of the Indus. It was due to this philosophy of acronymic naming that the name was hotly contested by groups in Bengal, because the “B” was denied representation in the name. Since names are so vital to our post-colonial identity, it would be advisable to tread prudently where such renaming matters are concerned, lest we unravel that very hypothetical fabric which binds us together.

COMMENTS (9)

nazarrabi | 14 years ago | Reply these people are the number one enmey of pashtuns,these hazara niver have a problam, with english name, n.w.f.p..but the have problim with pakhtun khwa ... ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Q (Like-Minded group) has started making contacts with political parties in the parliament on the issue of adopting Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as new name for the erstwhile NWFP and suggested to further change it to ‘Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa’. “I have informally contacted leaderships of PML-N and ANP and they are ready to accept this proposal,” claimed Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, the president of his own faction of the PML-Q, while talking to Dawn on Saturday. Mr Saifullah said his party wanted the government to bring the 19th constitutional amendment bill during the ongoing sessions of the National Assembly and Senate for amending the name of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to “Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa” before “it is too late”. On the other hand, Mr Saifullah’s proposal was rejected by ANP’s Haji Adeel, whereas PML-N’s Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said the proposal would be acceptable to his party provided the people of Hazara also agreed to it. Senator Saifullah claimed that besides the ANP and the PML-N, his party had also contacted the leadership of Hazara Province Movement in an effort to end bitterness in the Hazara division. The PML-Q (LM) chief was of the view that the present situation in Hazara division demanded immediate attention of the federal and provincial governments. He suggested that political parties should admit that they had committed a mistake by agreeing on the name Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Mr Saifullah, who himself belongs to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, claimed that all parties had shown willingness to change the name of the province again and now the only question was as to who should bring this amendment. He said everyone had now realised that this was the right time to heal the wounds of the Hazara people. “If the government delays or does not take substantial step to resolve this problem effectively, it will create disturbances in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan too,” he warned. Mr Saifullah said the demand for a separate province would die after renaming of the province as “Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa”. Senator Haji Adeel of ANP said making amendments to the Constitution was not a joke. He said the ANP had carried out a peaceful and democratic struggle for 20 years to change the name of the province to Pakhtunkhwa.
nazarrabi | 14 years ago | Reply we are pakhtun , pakhtunkhwa you like it or not ,we should wake up just like these hazara,panjabis,pashtun should look after pashtuns children intrist,only just like these hazar panjabi,niver trust them with pashtuns children life
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ