Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rioting in Abbottabad (AP Photo: M. Mohsin)
Renaming Pakistan’s northernmost province has not gone down well with local residents who belong to the Hazara ethnic group. What was known by the British colonial name of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as decreed on March 31 by the central Pakistani government. Although the new name inspired spontaneous street celebrations by Pashtuns in most of the province, it sparked protests in the Hazara region of the province, leading to a police crackdown and at least ten deaths, as well more than 100 injured.
The five million Hazaras, who speak the ancient Hindko language, represent a quarter of the population of the province. The new name means “Khyber side of the land of the Pashtuns,” the Pashtuns being the province’s largest ethnic group. Some Hazaras are demanding that their division of the region be declared a separate province.
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
Ethnicity Main Cause of Clashes (by Ashfaq Ahmed, Gulf News)
Anti-Pakhtunkhwa Protest Claims Seven Lives in Abbottabad (Karachi International News)
Abbottabad Violence (editorial, Dawn)
North-West Frontier Province (Wikipedia)
Hazara, Pakistan (Wikipedia)
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