Excuse Me but Can ANP Spell Pakhtoonkhwa?

First....u r the one who is an idiot and racist and prejudiced,dont forget that pukhtoonistan is providing you electricity,first of all pukhtoonistan is not part of jinnahs pakistan,less then 40% people voted for pakistan,its been part of Afghanistan,you are right overall conditions in that godforsaken place is deteriorating day by day but who is responsible for that???Punjabi leaders and cruel dictator zia was responsible for all that,its punjabi establishment who imoposed religious fanatics and Afghan refugees on pukhtoons,Your mullahs don't see HEERA MUNDI in Lahore but your taliban are closing our girls schools.
As far PAKHTOONKHWA name is concerned,why u call Punjab,sindh to ur provinces?Ur comments are based on prejudiceness,if u were not prejudice u sholud not say if ANP can spell pukhtoonkhawa,u r the one who even dont know how to spell it.ANP leadership is more educated then NAWAZ SHARIF AND OTHER CHOUDRY BROTHERS.
Mwaqar

I`m not saying anything new- but am highlighting this: the notion that ONLY Islam and Urdu constitute the ideology of Pakistan needs to be thrown out the window. In diversity is unity. The fact is that the majority(of any community)in Pakistan does not find it in their hearts to lay aside all their deprivations for the sake of religious or national ideals. They are forced to accuse each other and they will- that this creates solid divisions should be proof enough that forcing Oneness (a la Islam and Urdu) is failed concept. Pakistan is an over-centralised entity which forces itself to the process of committing suicide. NWFP is a misnomer. There`s nothing wrong with calling it ``Pukhtoonkhwa``- it`s just that do the various ethinic identities in this province feel comfortable. An updated census figure would help in solving ethnic figurations. But a refrendum seems the best way to move about it. The main reason why the central government refused to give into ANP demands was because of the reprecussions it feared would stem from it`s base in the NWFP- ie from the Hazara division and it`s Hindko speaking population. ANP constantly points to the nomenculture of the other provinces. However, Punjab and Sindh were named after their geographical existence and not because of any ethnic configuration. In the end- a referendum is the best solution...

-fraz

Re: Yusuf Khan and Orakzai

By calling for the so called Mohajirs (a ridiculous label that they have had to take up precisely as a reaction to this sort of ethnic bigotry)to be dumped into the sea you appear to promote nothing but further hatred and ethnic division. Furthermore, what ``non-conforming`` has to do with the issues raised by the article is beyond me.

The point being made by Waheed is that given the current state of the WHOLE country if the politicians were truly focused on sorting out its problems this issue would not be brought to such prominence at this time.

Is it too much to ask, in a particularly grave time of national crisis, that Pakistanis of all backgrounds set their goal as de-emphasising divisions, promoting commonality and a consensual constructive approach?

The issue of the renaming of Sarhad is not simply a matter of a name for a province - it is a reflection of broader, complex, longstanding and unresolved issues (principally arising from the intense concentration of power right across Pakistan). No doubt this lack of local democracy is a seriously overdue issue which should be addressed across the nation as a whole - the ordinary people right across Pakistan need empowerment at a local level; not just in Sarhad (Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakhtoonistan, etc). At its core, the recent war in Karachi is another symptom arising from the lack of local democracy. It requires the politicians to highlight a broader debate not just one that begins and ends in further divisions, namecalling and disgust. Sure they got a lot of shallow short term qudos but they are ultimately betraying the people of Pakistan.

The world is getting smaller, we have to learn to live with one another - it is in our collective best interest.

Re: Yousuf Khan

I am all for throwing people into the Arabian sea, but let it be the likes of Benazir, Asif Zardari, Salman Farooqi, Nawaz Sahrif, Altaf Hussein, .... not someone whose parents happen to have been born in UP and not Quetta. Get with the program and recognize the real criminals in our society!

Seeing the replies in this Pandora`s Box, I don`t see ethnic divisiveness EVER, EVER weakening its choke-hold on Pakistan.

There is enough hatred and murder in this page alone to destroy a world. What chance has little Pakistan against a million such blacknesses.

Re: Yousef Khan

``Is this worth discussion?``

Given that you want to throw certain ``ethnically non-conforming`` Pakistanis into the Arabian Sea while calling the right of another non-conforming enthic group to assume a seperate identity a no-brainer, I think there is much worth discussing: Though given statements reeking with such prejudice and ignorance, there is, as I said, little hope from anything positive coming of it all.

re Rashid

i think most of us agree that food, clean water, education, justice, etc. are all important for the people of Pakistan and we should not be hung up on our ethnic differences. However, having an ethnic identity does not necessarily mean that people have to be intolerant, ethnocentric, bigoted or divisive. to put it in a hokey way, `we can all celebrate diversity and difference`. also, there is a problem when one tries to define a common Pakistani identity. who defines it? how? what does it mean? someone who eats paan or naswaar, speaks siraiki or pashto? there is no `average` or `typical` Pakistani. I think the recent ethnic conflict in Pakistan has made us all wary of ethnic lables. But, that is not the way to deal with it. We have to recognize the differences and deal with the real issues behind the conflict, not the symbolic ethnic lables.

As far as the NWFP govt wanting to call its province Pakhtoonkhwa goes, well, choosing what we call ourselves rather than going by someone else`s definition, can be very empowering. Whether or not it is empowering in this instance, i dont know. But, it is not automatically invalid just because Pakhtoons are starving. (At the risk of repeating myself,)They can demand food, education AND the right to change the name of their province - what`s the contradiction?

Well well well. Well done Waheed.

Can us Pakistanis (note: not Pukhtoons, punjabis, mohajirs or any other accidents of birth) please stop indulging in trivialities and focus on the bara picture. If everyone just considered themselves members of the human race we may actually get somewhere.

How can people honestly sit and debate the merits of the name of a geographical area when there is mass illiteracy, hunger, exploitation, social and moral collapse, drugs, bombs and massacres going on? These did n`t arise because provinces are called Pukhtoonkhwa, NWFP, East Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Come on people let us focus on what`s important. Less navel gazing please; you won`t find any answers there. Go out and tell that to your friends, family and most of all political leaders.

Check the way you think. We might get somewhere.

Re MN Islam

Well said!!

It isn`t only the numerical ethnic majority, but the also the social, economic and political `majority` (the so called elite) that presumes to speak for the entire nation, without trying to figure out who the nation is and what the nation really wants. It is the most despicable kind of arrogance to assume that the interests and world view of one group of people are those of a collective. (We see a shining example in Clinton, who warned Saddam Hussein during a state of the union address that the `world` will not tolerate Hussein`s intransigence any longer. I guess in Clinton`s view, the US government and their British chamchaas speak for the world!)

Almost every ethnic group in Pakistan, starting from tbe pre-1971 East Pakistanis, has been labelled `traitor` or ghaddar by the military or government.

Someone very aptly said, ``When I point a finger at you, I point three at myself.``

Very gracefully done Waheed.

I too dont appreciate Mr. Hoti`s extremely personal slanders against Punjabis etc. but we must rise above it i guess.

Re: the debate

I may seem to digress from the debate, but I want to go back to the author`s original theme. the way I read it, he seemed to be saying that unless people`s economic and social rights are upheld, what one calls a province (a civil/political right) is more or less, irrelevant. In my opinoin, the Pukhtoons of Pukhtoonkhwa can demand both that they name their province whatever they want (even if there are those of us who cannot spell or pronounce it) and that they get enough to eat, a roof over their heads, clean water and air and a basic education. What`s the contradiction? As far as I can tell, NWFP is a pretty damned stupid name, besides being a colonial legacy. Why not change it if that`s what the Pukhtoons want? Conceding them civil/political rights does not automatically deny them economic and social rights. They are entitled to ALL of these basic human rights.

Secondly, the author states that such a name is divisive. Well, as some one pointed out, we already have Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan. The divisiveness is already there. Denying the Pukhtoons the preferred name for their province is not going to make the country less divisive!! (I bet you, even if we changed the names around of all provinces in Pakistan, the cause of divison and ethnocentric conflict that`s been aruond for decades will not go away.) There are no easy solutions to the problems in Pakistan and treating smaller provinces flippantly and facetiously is not going to help. Nawaz Sharif (and all of us) should wake up and smell the burning garbage!

RE: J. Hoti

Mr. Hoti:

I agree with the writer of the article in one sense that the PRIORITY of other problems should be higher than the name issue. But then I also fully agree with you and denounce the Central Government for making an issue out of the name change demand. If the Pakhtoons wish to call themselves Pakhtoons, that should be no one else`s business. Long Live Pakhtoonistan...and lets get on with the rest of the business.

This smells like the former Yougoslav state of Mecedonia. They want to call themselves Mecedonia but the Greeks are trying to block that demand. It is patently absurd. Everyone has the right to call themselves what they believe they are. But, unfortunately, in the Islamabad Republic it is the central authority that decides who is who. You can even not call yourself a muslim if the central authority does not condone your particular flavor of dogma.

Unfortunately, I agree with you about the ``writing on the wall`` regarding the future of the central authority in Islamabad. Its frightfully similar to the situation in the former Yougoslavia. Serbia, like our Punjab, was their largest unit and held a disproportionate share of power. The Yougoslav Army was largly a Serb Army, as the Pak Fauj is largly a Punjabi enterprise. In 1990 (and I doubt if the figuers have changed much) over 60 percent of the major and above officers were domiciles of Lahore. This is a published fact. Perhaps, getting qualified to claim a plot in the Defense Housing Society had something to do with it? I don`t know. But still, 60% of senior officers from one city, that`s highly skewed. I hope both you and I are proved wrong and that somehow the present trends are reversed and that we can all live happily ever after, but I fear that is unlikely.

BTW, on a personal level, are you any relation to Mohammed Akbar Khan Hoti, who was in Aitchison in the 60`s?

...SR

I agree with Mr. Alani and Mr Hoti. Writing is clearly on the wall. The only salvation for what remains of Pakistan is for its leadership (?) to step out of the box to connect the dots and give each of the states more powers and rights to conduct their own
governance within a few commonsensical limitations (defense, currency, foreign affairs, etc).

We should all re-read Dr Rabbani`s excellent article on Chowk somewhere ... he has already predicted so accurately what wil be the writing on the wall ... it`s a matter of time.

Re: Waheed Nobody

Sir,

I have to admit that its no use palying a ``Bansari`` infront of a cow...and that too , the one from GowalMandi, Lahore.

Or might I add ``civic pride`` :)-

Re: Waheed Malik

You have a very concrete view of the whole story.At one hand you insist that Colonial names should not be there while you insist that a name given by some illiterate East India Company`s Clerk remain.

How does Islam fit in to all this? Islam has clearly indicated that ``tribes have been created amongst you so that you can be identified``. How would you like to be named Mr. Waheed Nobody instead of Mr. Waheed Malik? Malik is your ID.

Re:Observer

I like your sense of humor, and I agree that we are looking at petty matters while ignoring the broader picture.

BUT......in order to bring peace and harmony into a household mutual respect needs to be established.

In Canada, when the Quebecians demanded that French be their official language it was respected and at the same time when they demanded to become a seperate state with more autonomy they were voted down.Vote is the key to all the issues.

Whatever progress Pakistan makes in Science, Technology, etc. it will all be a waste if Pakistan is not there. So, lets learn to respect each other and not try to Prevail simply because one group is bigger than the others, or economically stronger than the other.

Its not true that History Repeats Itself Rather People Not Learning From The Lessons Of History.