MNA Mohsin Dawar Tables Bill Seeking Removal Of ‘Khyber’ From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Name

MNA Mohsin Dawar Tables Bill Seeking Removal Of ‘Khyber’ From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Name
Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and North Waziristan lawmaker Mohsin Dawar has tabled a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly, urging the House to change the name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to 'Pakhtunkhwa'.

According to MNA Dawar, "People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have been deprived of their historic name for their province since independence. Previously, North West Frontier Province and now called the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the name is impractical."

"This amendment, therefore, proposes to change the name of the province b substituting the word Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Pakhtunkhwa," said the lawmaker.



In 2008,  the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government accepted the Awami National Party's demand and proposed an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution under which the name of the NWFP (North West Frontier Province) would be changed to Pakhtoonkhwa, said a report by Dawn.

However, after opposition to the name by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz due to its vote bank in the Hazara region, the name was later changed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We are not against changing the name of the province but our Hazara division people totally disagree with Pakhtunkhwa because of its being on ethnic grounds,” the PML-N Provincial President Pir Sabir Shah had told The News at that time.