Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Archive

5 killed in Abbottabad over Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa renaming issue: PML-Q leaders have been agitating day and night for the last one week over the issue of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa renaming. On 6 April 2010 Umar Ayub Khan, son of Gohar Ayub Khan and former MNA and formerly State Minister of
Fallacies of nationalism and the 18th amendment — by Dr Manzur Ejaz: For a large section of the establishment, religious identity was the only one compatible with Pakistan, thus seeking national identities was automatically unpatriotic The passage of the 18th Amendment, specifically, the naming of the NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a
Peace, prosperity and progress for tribal people — by Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed: What is utterly disgraceful is the fact that women have been effectively and comprehensively denied their right to education by both commission and omission. Nowhere is this fact more glaringly manifest than in FATA My recent discussion of tribal
Taliban massacre at least 43 Pakhtuns in Dir: Enemies of Pakistan and Islam, known as Taliban, have once again struck the innocent people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This time their target was a thanksgiving rally of Awami National Party (ANP) in Timargara, lower Dir. At least 43 people
18th Amendment, Na Manzoor: From Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa to Karachi, from Lahore to Gilgit-Baltistan and from Larkana to Queta, the entire nation is celebrating the parliamentary consensus on the proposed 18th amendment in Pakistan’s constitution. Constitutional experts and parliamentarians belonging to diverse ethnic and
Constitutional Reforms: A victory of democracy – by Ayaz Amir: Thank God for small mercies Islamabad diary This could have been a wrecking moment, another corrosive chapter in a history not given to too many bright moments. But if the worst did not happen, and if disaster was averted,
Pakhtoon will always remember President Asif Ali Zardari: If there is one person who can be in the main credited with the change of name of the NWFP to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, it is President Asif Zardari. The movement for renaming the NWFP saw many ups and downs over
Thank you, democracy! NWFP to be renamed as ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’: The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR) has agreed to rename North West Frontier Province (NWFP) with ‘Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’ on Wednesday. The PCCR met with its chairman Senator Raza Rabbani of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in chair to end
The case for Pakhtunkhwa – by Rahimullah Yusufzai: The debate on renaming the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is serious business because it concerns the identity of its people and their place in the federation of Pakistan. However, the direction it has taken is sometimes comical, and at
Shahbaz Sharif – Reality Check: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s statement  to spare the Punjab from attacks since  both Taliban and N -league has same agenda was condemnable . My question to Mr Sharif is if both N-league and Taliban has same agenda ;wheter the agenda
Nawaz Sharif ne apna zameer baich diya – by Ahsan Abbas Shah: نواز شریف نے اپنا ضمیر بیچ دِیا سید احسن عباس رضوی
A parochial stance – by Murtaza Razvi: Originally Published at DAWN MIAN Nawaz Sharif’s abrupt about-turn on the constitutional amendments that MNAs of his own party hammered out after intense negotiations with their counterparts from other major political parties will be seen as doing little service
Pashtun nationalism — by Dr Manzur Ejaz: Most of the time, secular Pashtun nationalists have highlighted their economic deprivation. But if the Pashtuns’ share in the army, the bureaucracy and the economy in Pakistan is higher than the proportion of their population, such an argument becomes
Pak-US dialogue: a Pakhtun perspective — by Farhat Taj: Basically, the jirga is saying that it does not trust the military establishment, which is leading the dialogue with the US. The military establishment will follow the policy of strategic depth in Afghanistan, which is the key cause of
Dialogue about Pakhtuns without Pakhtuns! — by Shahid Ilyas: Talking is not a bad thing, but when it is done without the participation of those who are the subject of such talks, it will most likely result in a disaster Pakistan’s political and military top brass will soon
PML-N and ANP disagree over renaming the NWFP – by Amir Wasim: New name for NWFP threatens to hit constitutional reforms The blame game between the two parties started a day after the 26-member all-party parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms completed the first reading of the draft of the proposed 18th
What Punjab CM should learn from Taliban? – by Ismail Khan: How does it feel caught in the eye of the storm? For nearly seven years, the people of the NWFP and the adjacent tribal regions and the security forces braved bombings and terrorist attacks, laying down their lives and
Assaulting the Pakhtun culture: a rejoinder to Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed — by Farhat Taj: The Pakhtun culture is reflected in Ghaffar Khan’s non-violent movement, in the mysticism of Rahman Baba’s poetry and in the romanticism of Ghani Khan’s poetry. This is a society that produced hundreds of anti-Taliban lashkar leaders all over Pakhtunkhwa
Well done, students of Peshawar University and Pashtun Aman Committee – by Nasir Ahmad: Pashtunkhwa Peace Forum, a worldwide group of Pashtun students and professional, lauds students of Peshawar University and Pashtun Aman Committee for stopping Zaid Hamid from speaking at the Islamia College Campus. A belligerent hate monger, racist, chauvinist and thug,
Peshawar: The tale of an orphan city – by Ismail Khan: The scars of wars went deeper and left an impression not only on the social and cultural fibre but also devastated Peshawar’s infrastructure. — Photo by AP “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the
Zaid Hamid faces tough resistance in Peshawar: This was really a bad day for Zahid Hamid in Islamia College Peshawar when he was fully resisted by workers of Amn Tehrik and both factions of Pakhtun Students Federation. Zaid Hamid arrived today with full VIP protocol to
Amn Tehrik protest in Peshawar: We strongly condemn arrest of Amn Tehrik leaders; Governor NWFP should be removed immediately because of his support for a pro-terrorism cleric. Members of Amn Tehrik and leaders of various students organisations who opposed Zaid Hamid’s entry into the
The dauntless heroes of NWFP Police — by Farhat Taj: A police officer and bystanders remove an injured victim of a suicide car bomb in Peshawar. Photograph: A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images The public perceive the police as as much an innocent casualty as the innocent civilians in the state’s pursuit
Remembering Ajmal Khattak – by Harris Khalique: Sunday party In the darkness and apathy that surround us, the passing of another great man, scholar, poet and politician, Ajmal Khattak, was yet another blow to his comrades and disciples who believe in creating a modern, progressive and
The real ‘National’ languages – by NAD Pukhtunyar: The Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, while observing the following: 1 Pakistan is a state comprising five different ethnicities/nations; 2 The national, economic and cultural rights of all the nationalities are invoilable; 3 All institutions of the state such as
Give Pashto official status – PkMAP, PkSO: The PkMAP and the PkSO called upon the government to declare Pushto as the official language in Pakhtun-dominated areas.—Photo by APP QUETTA: The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Pakhtunkhwa Students Organisation called upon the government on Sunday to declare
Hijacking Democracy – by Anas Muhammad: Today we live in an increasingly dangerous world, which is filled with people who have their ulterior motives and willingness to harm others to benefit themselves. Our world is filled with criminals, gangsters, murderers, and terrorists. The people who
Political Autonomy for Pashtuns – by Pir Rokhan: Political autonomy is the first pre-requisite for the progress and development of a nation. If we trace back the reasons for the underdevelopment of a nation all of them converge to one root cause and that is – the
Pukhtunkhwa: The Land of Pashtuns – by Mukhtar Ali Abazai: Recent remarks by the PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif and PML-Q about renaming of the province have once again generated controversy. Abaseen, Khyber and Hazara Pukhtunkhwa? What does it mean? A joke with millions of Pukhtoons? Leaders and workers from
The Rightist Judicio-Politico Mafia – by Anas Muhammad:   Saturday February 13 – The Chief Justice of Pakistan defied Presidential orders through a suo moto action against the Presidential notification for appointment of certain judges. Chief Justice, in a rare nightly emergency session, formed a three members
Defeating militancy in Musharraf style? – by Talat Masood: Defeating militancy Gen Musharraf spoke ad nauseam on fighting extremism and terrorism. And the West and many of our fellow citizens, especially amongst the elite, mistakenly believed that he was the leader who could really steer the country from
Shame on political parties, especially our own PPP: Women’s disenfranchisement Election observers have reported that thousands of women from Lakki Marwat were denied their right to vote during Wednesday’s by-election for PF-75, which was also marked by procedural irregularities and illegal campaigning. Having visited the majority of
Reconciliation Is No Silver Bullet – by Anas Muhammad: Two years ago – February 2008 – Pakistan began its transformation to democracy with a general election that brought Benazir Bhutto’s PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) into power. The party decided to continue its policy, introduced by its slain leader
Badshah Khan: The unsung champion of federalism and democracy – by Nadir Ali Dirojay Pukhtunyar: The Pashtun homeland in the south and east of Afghanistan and the north-west of Pakistan has become synonymous with terrorism and violence. Certain quarters suggest that the Pashtun region and society is intrinsically violence driven. The Pashtuns have a
Long live Punjabi Chief Justice and Punjabi fascism!: Accountability — why only non-Punjabis? By Shafiq Awan There can be no doubt that the Supreme Court’s judgement on the National Reconciliation Ordinance was a historic decision and speaks volumes for the independence of the judiciary. But the verdict
President Zardari’s advisors – by Saleem Safi: Saleem Safi writes an article questioning the ‘intellect’ and the ‘credibility’ of certain advisors of President Asif Zardari, such as
Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Islam and non-violence — by Ishtiaq Ahmed: Abdul Ghaffar Khan was a man of peace. He approached Islam in the hope of finding a complementary message to Gandhi’s interpretation of Hinduism as Ram Raj and ahimsa (non-violence) and he found it
Governor Ghani: Pakistan doesn’t have any friend in the world except Allah !: *Governor NWFP has said World Powers want Pakistan’s division & if the world is ‘playing boxing with us’ then we don’t have any choice but to fight with them and answer them in same manner !
Why do Taliban (and their supporters) attack secualr Pashtuns?: US responsible for the situation in Pakistan Irfan Khan Momand UK irfan188@hotmail.com Source: “FRONTIER POST” FEB.12, 2008 The recent suicide attack on Awami national Party rally in Charsadda was certainly a very shameful act. We condemned this suicide attack
Allama Iqbal, Bacha Khan and terrorists – by Suroosh Irfani: It might well be that the heartless war our homegrown jihadis and Afghan Taliban are waging against Pakistan exemplifies Islam’s dangerous inversion that Iqbal had warned against some three generations ago. Such inversion has virtually displaced Bacha Khan and