The persistence, bordering on blackmail, with which the ANP pressured the Constitutional Reform Committee to rename NWFP has created a bigger issue than the one it thought it had resolved. Hindko speakers of the Hazara belt have been up in arms ever since the National Assembly passed the constitutional amendment bill renaming NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa.
Week-long protest demonstrations in the Hazara areas took a turn for the worst on Monday when the ANP-led provincial government reacted badly to the gathering momentum of protests and ordered imposition of Section 144, banning public rallies-a favourite recourse of undemocratic governments to suppress right demands. As a result, the police and people clashed, leading to the death of seven people and injuries to more than 700, at least 73 of them in serious enough a condition to be hospitalised.
Those leading the protests say the policemen, who fired into the crowd, were brought in by the ANP from the 'outside', ie from Pashtoon areas of Mardan and Swabi, while the provincial government insists the crowed attacked a police station, forcing the police to open fire. Whatever the truth, the name issue is not going to go away.
People continued to vent their anger and resentment all over Haripur, Abbottabad and Mansehra on Tuesday, blocking roads and raising slogans for a separate Hazara province. At least one other person, a class X student, was killed. The spontaneity and the scale of the public reaction the issue has generated seem to have caught everyone by surprise.
Few were willing to take him seriously when Nawaz Sharif held a press conference to seek postponement of the special National Assembly session because of his party's reservations on two issues: judges' appointments and renaming of NWFP. Complex political issues require time and patience. But most people failed to recognise the fact that his party enjoyed considerable electoral support in the Hindko-speaking areas of the province, therefore, it reflected the prevailing sentiment when it opposed the name change.
Nawaz understood the nature of the sentiments involved because a majority of the Hazara belt MNAs and MPAs belong to his party. They were reported to have strongly opposed the renaming proposal. But most outsiders, especially political pundits, thought they knew better, and took the PML-N leader to task for delaying the passage of the 18th Amendment Bill - although he was supposed to be one of its immediate beneficiaries.
Those same pundits are now saying knowing what he knew then, instead of succumbing to public pressure, he should have stuck to his guns. After all, leaders are supposed to lead, goes the argument, not led by the people. Indeed, that is the way it should be. Still, the episode reminds one of the story of boy and his donkey.
It is difficult to comprehend though why Hazara figured nowhere in the three options (Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, Afghania-Pakhtoonkhwa and Abaseen-Pakhtoonkhwa) the PML-N had given the ANP. Equally strange, it suggested Khyber as one of the hyphenated names, which has nothing to do with the Hindko areas, although it does have an obvious Pashtoon connection.
People are sensitive about preserving their linguistic/ethnic identity. If it is important for the Pashtoons to assert their identity, it is equally important for the Hindko speakers of the Hazara belt to do the same. An argument a senior ANP leader Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has been advancing repeatedly in favour of Pakhtoonkhwa is that Ahmad Shah Durrani, a Pashtoon, ruled India for 300 years, therefore the Pushtoons have a right to rule at least the land they now live in. First of all, references to boundaries between provinces and countries drawn by conquerors and colonials are not a civilised way of dealing with our present-day problems.
Second of all, Bilour has his history wrong. Ahmad Shah Abdali a.k.a. Durrani did invade India and conquered Delhi, but he could not rule there for long. He is credited for creating a new country, though, ie, Afghanistan. In any case, it is sad that anyone in this day and age should take pride in invasion and occupation of other people's lands.
Still, if he is so proud of that part of Pashtoon history, Bilour should pay attention to what PML-Q leader and a Haripur native, Gauhar Ayub, has to say on the subject. He referred to the same period to demand a separate Hazara province.
Hazara, Said Gauhar Ayub in a newspaper interview, became a powerful province, extending from Peshawar to Haripur, after Ahmad Shah Durrani turned his attention towards India. Why it cannot be given the same status with some 'minor changes' in its boundaries? he asked.
He had some more historical facts to offer in support of his contention that may madden the ANP leader to no end, such as that Hazara came under the administrative control of Punjab during the Sikh rule, and remained part of that province until 1901 when the British created NWFP and included Hazara into it, which is why, he said, the people of Hazara belt have traditionally looked towards Islamabad and Rawalpindi rather than Peshawar.
Another ANP leader Haji Adeel has been arguing that it is all about identity. Just like Punjabis, Sindhis and Balochis, he contends, he would like people to point to him and say, 'he is a Pashtoon'. As far as common knowledge goes, people in other parts of the country call Pustho-speakers as Pathans, a variant of Pashtoons. It is hard to believe Haji Adeel has had a different experience, hearing others declaring at the sight of him, 'he is a NWFP!'
Situation on the ground is changing fast. The people of Hazara belt are in no mood to give in. Their leadership has offered two options to the government: one reversion to the old name; and second, a separate Hazara province. The third way being talked about is to rename the province as Hazara-Pakhtoonkhwa. Considering that the issue has created unrest in Chitral as well, which has a different language and ethnicity, that may not resolve the problem at this point.
Creation of a separate province will open a Pandora's box (there is no harm in opening it at some later point). In fact, demands for three more new provinces have already been put on the Senate book of business. The longer the ANP resists a solution acceptable to Hazarawals, the more difficult it will become for everyone to keep things from spinning out of control. If there was a time to take quick action for the resolution of a political issue, it is now.
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