Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

**Khyber Pakhtunkhwa** is a province in northwest Pakistan. The capital is Peshawar and it has a population of over 40 million people and an area of 28,773 mi² or (74,521 km²). The province was created in 1901 during British rule when it was separated from Punjab province of the British India Empire.  A referendum was held in the North West Frontier Province on 2 July 1947. The majority of voters wanted to join with Pakistan, with only a very small number voting to join with India. The province became a part of Pakistan, because of this referendum.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is divided into 29 districts.

### Etymology and Names of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

For over a 150 years from its founding as a province of British India on the 9th of November in 1901, it was known as the North-West Frontier Province. **Afghania** is another name long considered as a replacement for North-West Frontier Province. It was proposed first by the founding leaders of the Muslim League in 1933 and was at least partly chosen to represent the first **"A"** in "P**a**kistan. In 2010 it was renamed.

_Pakhtunkhwa_ (and the other transliteration variants) is derived from _Pakhtun_ and _Khwa_, the former refers to the ethnic group and the latter literally means "Heart". "Khyber" side of the land of the Pashtuns," literally means “Land of Passes”, declared to be the National pass of Pakistan which connects Pak with Afghan-i-stan respectively. **Khyber Pakhtunkhwa** means the "Khyber side of the land of the Pashtuns," where the word _Pakhtunkhwa_ means "Land of the Pashtuns", while according to some scholars, it refers to "Pashtun culture and society". Other names used or proposed for the province include **Gandhara**, **Afghania**, **Pashtunistan**, **Pathanistan**, **Sarhad**, **Abaseen**, **Khyber**, or a combination of names, such as **Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa**.

### Efforts to change the province name

For most of the history of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), there were efforts to change its name. The name _Afghania_ was proposed first by the founding leaders of the Muslim League in 1933 and was at least partly chosen to represent the first **"ā"** in "P**a**kistan". The need for a change was explained by the man who named Pakistan in his "Now or Never" pamphlet, Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan Khan, as:

Suggestions for new names came and went. Although some of the names were ethnically neutral, most proposals emphasized the province's Pashtun ethnic identity. The renaming issue was an emotional one which often crossed party lines and not all supporters of a renaming agreed on the name Pakhtunkhwa.

## North-West Frontier Province

For over a 150 years after its founding as a province of British Raj on the 9th of November, 1901, it was known as the North-West Frontier Province (abbreviated as NWFP) until 2010 due to its relative location being in the northwest of the nation. Unofficially, it was known as **Sarhād** (), derived from the province's Urdu name given to it by the Mughals, which means "Frontier".

### Other Pakistani names

- **Abaseen** (): from the Pashto name for the Indus River.****
- **Khyber**: from the Khyber Pass.
In 1901 it was created as a province of British India and was known as the North-West Frontier Province, it kept this name for over a hundred years, but over time many people wanted the name to change. One of the names people wanted to use was **Afghania** , that name was first suggested by the founding leaders of the Muslim League in 1933.

|Letter(s)|Name|Modern name|
| --- | --- | --- |
|P|**P**unjab|Punjab|
|A|**A**fghania|Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|
|K|**K**ashmir|Kashmir|
|S|**S**ind|Sindh|
|Tan|Baluchis**tan**|Balochistan|

However when Pakistan became independent in 1947 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa kept the old name, it was still known as North-West Frontier Province and not Afghania. Finally in 2010 the government renamed "North-West Frontier Province" to "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa".

Just like Punjab is named after the Punjabi people Khyber **Pakhtun**khwa is named after the Pakhtun people, lately there has been a demand to change the name "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" to just "Pakhtunkhwa" by a Pakhtun party  but some non-Pakhtun people in the province would not be happy with the name change.

## Geography

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is mainly located on the Iranian plateau and forms the point where the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains on the Eurasian plate become the Indus-watered hills approaching South-central Asia. Because these two plates are pushing against each other it has led to earthquakes taking place. The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, the town of Landi Kotal (which is at the western end of the Khyber Pass) is 5km from the Afghan border. While the Kohala Bridge at the other end of the province in Abbottabad District is a major crossing point over the Jhelum River in the east.

The province has an area of 28,773 mi² or (74,521 km²) — similar in size to New England in North America.
Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Hangu are the main cities.

The land varies from dry rocky areas in the south to forests and green plains in the north. The climate can be extreme with intensely hot summers to freezing cold winters. Despite these extremes in weather, agriculture remains important and viable in the area.

The hilly terrain of Kalam, Upper Dir, Swat, Naran and Kaghan is renowned for its beauty and attracts a great many tourists from neighboring regions and from around the world. Swat is popular among tourists as the "Switzerland of South Asia" as there are many landscape similarities between it and the mountainous terrain of Switzerland.

Geographically the province could be divided into two zones:
|Zone|Climate (Winter)|Climate (Summer)|Rainfall|Geographic Extent|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Northern Zone|Cold and snowy|Pleasant (except Peshawar basin: hot)|Heavy (Peshawar basin: moderate)|From Hindu Kush mountains to borders of Peshawar basin|
|Southern Zone|Relatively cold|Hot|Scanty|From Peshawar to Derajat basin|

The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of Peshawar basin, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall. The southern zone is arid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scanty rainfall. The northern zone extends from the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the borders of Peshawar basin while the southern zone extends from Peshawar to the Derajat basin.

The major rivers that cross through the province are the Kabul, Swat, Chitral, Kunar, Siran, Panjgora, Bara, Kurram, Dor, Haroo, Gomal and Zhob.

## People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

According to the 1998 census, the population of the province was approximately 20 million, of whom 52% are males and 48% are females, the density of population is 187 people per km².

### Languages

In KPK about 70% of the people are Pashtuns and they speak Pashto as a first language. Other widely spoken languages are  Kalami, Chitrali, Kohistani, and Yidgha. Panjabi is understood by majority of the people.

## Government

|**Provincial flag**|||
| --- | --- | --- |
||Flag of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa||
||Emblem of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa||
|Kabul markhor|||
|White-crested Kalij pheasant|||
|Brown trout|||
|Afghan pine tree|||
|Lady's tulip|||
|Plum|||
|Pilau rice|||
|Attan dance|||
|Rubab|||
|Pashtun Archery|||

The President of Pakistan appoints a Governor as head of the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There is a directly-elected Provincial Assembly, which has 124 elected members (including 22 seats reserved for women and 3 seats for non-Muslims). The Provincial Assembly elects a Chief Minister to act as the chief executive of the province, assisted by a cabinet of ministers.

## Related pages

- Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- **other name**: Afghania
- **native name**: صوبہ خیبر پختونخوا
- **settlement type**: Province of Pakistan
- **image skyline**: Naran valley 1.jpg
- **image caption**: Road to Naran Valley.
- **image flag**: Flag of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.svg
- **image seal**: Coat of arms of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.svg
- **image map**: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan (claims hatched).svg
- **map caption**: Location of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan
- **image map1**: Pakistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa location map.svg
- **map caption1**: Map of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision type1**: Provinces of Pakistan, Region
- **leader title**: Governors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Governor
- **leader title1**: Chief Ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Minister
- **leader title2**: Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Legislature
- **leader name2**: Unicameral (? seats)
- **established title**: Established
- **established date**: 1 July 1972
- **area total km2**: 74,521
- **population as of**: 2012
- **population total**: 20,215,000
- **timezone**: Pakistan Standard Time, PST
- **utc offset**: +05:00
- **blank name**: Official languages
- **blank info**: Pashto language, PashtoPunjabi language, PanjabiUrdu language, Urdu
- **website**: [http://www.khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk]