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[[Image:Flag of Pakhtunistan.png|thumb|left|250px|Flag believed to be that of Pashtunistan {{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}]]
'''Pashtunistan''' or '''Pakhtunistan''' {{lang-ps|پښتونستان}}; meaning "land of the [[Pashtuns]]" or "[[Pakhtuns]]")<ref>Various spellings result from different pronunciation in various Pashtun dialects. See [[Pashto language#Dialects|Pashto language: Dialects]] for further information.</ref> is the name of a region that is inhabited by the [[Pashtun people]] since ancient time.
Pashtun nationalists believe this historic homeland was divided in 1893 by the [[Durand Line]], a disputed and poorly-marked border between [[British India]] and [[Afghanistan]].<ref>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/01/2693FF42-CB16-4AE8-87B1-254ADA6EF4EE.html Pakistan: Analyst Discusses Controversial 'Pashtunistan' Proposal], [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL)]]</ref> Pashtunistan has been proffered as a future [[sovereign state]] for all Pashtuns by some since the late 1940s when [[Partition of India|India was partitioned]] and [[Pakistan]] created. It has also been a vehicle for Afghanistan's claims on core Pashtun areas on the grounds that Afghanistan is the original home of all Pashtuns. Finally, it has been a term used within Pakistan for those who believed that the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), now [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], should be renamed to reflect the majority ethnic identity.
==Pashtun people==
{{main|Pashtun people}}
The Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest in Pakistan. They are concentrated mainly in the south and east of Afghanistan but also exist in northern and western parts of the country as a minority group. In Pakistan they inhabit mainly [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] (formerly the North-West Frontier Province [NWFP]), the [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]] (FATA), as well as parts of [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]], [[Gilgit-Baltistan]] in [[Pakistan-administered Kashmir]], and [[Mianwali District|Mianwali]] and [[Attock District|Attock]] districts of north-west [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]]. The main language spoken in the delineated Pashtunistan region is [[Pashto language|Pashto]],<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/445556/Pashtunistan Encyclopædia Britannica 2008 : ''Pashtunistan''] Retrieved 29 September 2008</ref> followed by others such as [[Balochi language|Balochi]], [[Hindko language|Hindko]], [[Urdu]], and [[Dari language|Dari]].
Pashtuns practice ''[[Pashtunwali]]'', the indigenous culture of the Pashtuns, and this pre-Islamic identity remains significant for many Pashtuns and is one of the factors that have kept the Pashtunistan issue alive. Although the Pashtuns are separated by the [[Durand Line]] between [[Pakistan]] and [[Afghanistan]], many Pashtuns, especially tribesmen from the [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan|FATA]] area, tend to ignore the border and cross back and forth with relative disregard.
<ref>Ahmed, Feroz (1998) Ethnicity and politics in Pakistan. Karachi. Oxford University Press.</ref>
Khan Abdul Wali Khan, who founded his own faction of the [[National Awami Party]], is remembered for having eloquently replied to a Pakistani critic of the Pashtunistan cause, who asked him if he considered himself a Pakistani Muslim first or a Pashtun, by stating that: "I have been a Pashtun for six thousand years, a Muslim for thirteen hundred years, and a Pakistani for twenty-five." This has become an often repeated sentence by the remaining Pashtun nationalists in Pakistan.
Pashtuns constitute 42 per cent of Afghanistan's population.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html Afghanistan], [[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]] Retrieved 5 April 2010</ref> Pashtuns constitute 15.42 per cent of Pakistan's population.<ref>[http://www.eurojournals.com/ejss_8_3_10.pdf European Journal of Social Sciences : Volume 8 Number 3 : ''Poverty Alleviation Through Power-Sharing in Pakistan''] Retrieved 5 April 2010</ref> In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pashtun speakers constitute 73.9 per cent of the province's population.<ref>[http://www.census.gov.pk/MotherTongue.htm Pakistan Census report 1998]</ref>
==History==
[[File:Afghanistan region during 500 BC.jpg|thumb|left|The ancient name of Pashtunistan during 500 B.C. was recorded as [[Arachosia]] and inhabited by a people called the Pactyans.]]
===Pre-colonial history===
The Pashtunistan area was historically called Pashtunkhwa or Pakhtunkhwa ("Pakhtun Quarter", according to [[H. W. Bellew]]) or Paktika (according to [[Herodotus]]) and mentioned by many Pashto poets in their verses as Pakhtunkhwa since the 11th century.
The famous couplet of [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] (Ahmad Shah Abdali) speaks of the association the people have with the region,
<blockquote>
''Da Dili takht herauma cheh rayad krhm,''
''Zma da khkule Pukhtunkhwa da ghre saroona.''
</blockquote>
Translation: "I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall,
The mountain peaks of my beautiful Pukhtunkhwa."
An early Pashtun nationalist was the Pashtun "warrior-poet" [[Khushal Khan Khattak]] who was imprisoned by the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Aurangzeb]] for trying to incite the Pashtuns to rebel against the rule of the Mughals. But, despite sharing a common language and believing in a common ancestry, Pashtuns have rarely been united, and did not achieve unity until the 18th century. The last Afghan empire (the [[Durrani Empire]]) of Ahmad Shah Durrani, which was established in 1747 and encompassed the Pashtun areas, united the Pashtuns until conflicts with the encroaching [[British Empire]] and the [[Ranjit Singh]]'s Sikh kingdom both of whom were beaten back by the Pashtuns, led to the eventual dismemberment of the old Durrani Empire.
[[File:Ahmad Shah Durrani - 1747.jpg|thumb|[[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], an ethnic [[Pashtun people|Pashtun]], showin in this painting being crowned as the first [[List of leaders of Afghanistan|Emir of Afghanistan]] in October 1747.]]
===Colonial history===
Following the decline of the Durrani Empire, the Pashtun domains began to shrink as they lost control of the regions (some parts only) now in Pakistan to the Sikhs, Balochis, and ultimately the British. The British arrived in the middle of the 19th century, and the Pashtunistan region became an area of importance for both the British and the Russians. The [[Anglo-Afghan wars]] were fought as part of the overall imperialistic [[Great Game]] that was waged between the [[Russian Empire]] and the British, and the Afghans found their territories greatly diminished as a result of border adjustments made as a result of British peace terms. During the reign of the Afghan "Iron" [[Amir Abdur Rahman]], in the late 19th century, the Afghans gave up nearly half of the Pashtun territories to the British. The British finalized the agreement as part of their permanent political border with Afghanistan{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}.
In 1905, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) was created and roughly corresponded to Pashtun majority regions within the British domain and seemed to indicate the permanence of the border from the British point of view. The [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]] (FATA) was created to further placate the Pashtun tribesmen who never fully accepted British rule and were prone to rebellions, while [[Peshawar]] was directly administered as part of a British protectorate state with full integration into the federal rule of law.
During World War I, the Afghan government was contacted by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turkey]] and [[Imperial Germany|Germany]], through the [[Niedermayer-Hentig Mission]], to join the Central Allies on behalf of the [[Caliph]] in a [[Jihad]]; some revolutionaries and Afghan leaders including a brother of the Amir named Nasrullah Khan were in favour of the delegation and wanted the Amir to declare Jihad.
That delegation included Kazim Bey, a Turk minister and special envoy of the last Sultan of the Turkish [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Mehmed V]] (also known as Mohammad Khamis).
Kazim Bey carried a [[Firman (decree)|firman]] from the Khalifa in Persian. It was addressed to "the residents of [[Pathanistan]]." It said that when the British were defeated, "His Majesty the Khalifa, in agreement with allied States, will acquire guarantee for independence of the united state of Pathanistan and will provide every kind of assistance to it. Thereafter, I will not allow any interference in the country of Pathanistan." (Ahmad Chagharzai; 1989; PP: 138-139). However the efforts failed and the Afghan Amir [[Habibullah Khan]] maintained Afghanistan's neutrality throughout World War I (for more information see <ref>[http://khyberwatch.com/cute/example2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1147384716&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& http://khyberwatch.com/]</ref>).
[[Image:Afghanmap1893.JPG|thumb|Afghanistan before the 1893 controversial [[Durand Line]] border]]
Similarly, during the 1942 [[Cripps mission]], and [[1946 Cabinet Mission to India]], the Afghan government made repeated attempts to ensure that any debate about the independence of India must include Afghanistan's role in the future of the NWFP. The British government wavered between reassuring the Afghan to the rejection of their role and insistence that NWFP was an integral part of British India.<ref name=" Roberts">Roberts, J(2003) The origins of conflict in Afghanistan. Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0275978788, 9780275978785 pp. 92-94</ref>
The [[Khudai Khidmatgar]] were a [[non-violence|non-violent]] group, and [[Ghaffar Khan]] openly claimed to have been inspired by [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. While the Red Shirts were willing to work with the [[Indian National Congress]] from a political point of view, the Pashtuns desired independence from both India and the newly created state of Pakistan following the departure of the British. When the decision for partition was announced, it included the condition of a referendum being held in the North West Frontier Province because it was ruled by the Khudai Khidmatgar-backed Congress government of [[Dr. Khan Sahib]].
They inhabitants of the province were given two choices, both of which they did not want from the beginning: the choice to join either India or Pakistan, with whom they felt they had little in common including language, culture, temperament, or history. On 21 June 1947, Khudai Khidmatgar leaders met under the presidency of [[Amir Mohammad Khan]] at Bannu and believed that a referendum was inevitable and that the participants would declare that Pukhtuns did not accept India or Pakistan and announced a boycott of the referendum.
===History since 1947===
The Afghan government became the only government to oppose the entry of Pakistan into the United Nations, which was a few months later reversed by the Afghan government.
In July 1949, the Afghan Parliament declared that "it does not recognize the imaginary Durand or any similar Line." It formally cancelled all agreements with the British governments.<ref name="Hilali> A. Z. Hilali (2005) ''US-Pakistan Relationship: Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan''. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0754642208, 9780754642206 p. 45.</ref>
Afghan backed fighters crossed the [[Durand Line]] from Afghanistan to openly combat the Pakistani military between 1950 to 1955, and diplomatic relations were briefly severed during this tense period. Relations were resumed in 1951, but the issue of control of Pashtun areas remained unresolved. A constant propaganda war was waged between the two governments, while there was evidence to suggest that the Afghan government intentionally or unintentionally was encouraging secessionist activities in Pakistan, besides Afghanistan many Congress party leaders felt a sense of obligation to their former compatriots in the [[Khudai Khidmatgar]].<ref>Paul Wolf. [http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/pashtunistan.htm#precolonialroots "Pashtunistan."] ''Pakistan: Partition and Military Succession.'' 2004.</ref>
As the Cold War progressed, Pakistan formally joined the Baghdad pact and CENTO because of its underlying security needs in relation to larger [[India]]. The Soviets had established closer ties to Afghanistan in 1955 and during a state visit by Soviet Premier [[Nikolai Bulganin]], the USSR declared that it supported the right to self-determination of Pashtunistan, with the belief that any state would either be ruled by its Afghan allies, or be socialist in nature.
However despite the controversy, Afghanistan and Pashtun nationalists did not exploit Pakistan's vulnerability during the nation's [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965|1965]] and [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|1971 wars]] with India, and even backed Pakistan against a largely Hindu India. Further, had Pakistan been annexed by India, nationalists would have had to fight against a much bigger country than Pakistan for their independence.
In the 1970s, the roles of Pakistan and Afghanistan reversed, despite the fresh crackdown on Baloch and Pashtun nationalists by the government of [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]]. The Pakistan government decided to retaliate against the Afghan government's Pashtunistan policy by supporting [[Islamist]] opponents of the Afghan government including future Mujahidin leaders [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] and [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]].<ref>[http://www.defencejournal.com/2001/apr/babar.htm "Remembering Our Warriors: Babar 'the great'."] Interview of Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Naseerullah Khan Babar, by A. H. Amin. ''Defence Journal''. April 2001. Retrieved 15 April 2010.</ref> This operation was remarkably successful, and by 1977 the Afghan government of [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]] was willing to settle all outstanding issues in exchange for a lifting of the ban on the [[National Awami Party]] and a commitment towards provincial autonomy for Pashtuns, which was already guaranteed by Pakistan's Constitution, but stripped by the Bhutto government.{{Clarify|date=April 2010}}
The [[Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan]] and civil war in Afghanistan sidelined the Pashtunistan issue, which remained a cause championed by small pockets of Pashtun nationalists in Afghanistan, but with diminished support.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Afghanistan's non-Pashtun population, which may be 55% of the country, are incredibly wary of a Pashtun majority since many blame Pashtuns in general for the excesses of the Taliban regime.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Occasionally, the issue of the Durand Line comes into play, but is quickly silenced by the Afghan government.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
==Variations of the Pashtunistan claim==
There are several different types of claims with regard to the Pashtunistan issue, they sometimes overlap but can be distinctively defined.<ref>Feroz Ahmed. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2569059 "Pushtoonistan and the Pushtoon National Question."] (Sep., 1973) ''Pakistan Forum'', Vol. 3, No. 12. September 1973. pp. 8-19+22.</ref>
===Afghanistan's claims on Pashtunistan===
Afghanistan makes its core claim on the Pashtun areas on the grounds that Afghanistan is the original home of all Pashtuns. According to historic sources Pukhtun/Afghan tribes did not appear in Peshawar Valley until after 800 AD, when the Islamic conquest of this area took place. <ref>[[H. G. Raverty]], (1898)Tarikh-e-Farishtah; Notes on Afghanistan; Peshawar District Gazetteer 1897-98.</ref>
The Afghan governments claim can be based on two different concepts, a more historical-based one and a more ethnic-based.
====Historical claim====
One claim aims for the restoration of the Afghan Empire as formed by [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] (Ahmad Shah Abdali) as it was prior to the capture of certain areas by [[Ranjit Singh]] in the early 19th century. This swathe of territory includes [[Kashmir]], much of Pakistani [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]] (up to [[Jhelum River|Jhelum river]]) in particular [[Multan]] and the Pashtun areas of [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] especially Quetta. This claim while not formally declared is often mentioned by Afghans. The territory in question also stakes claim to [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]], which was not formally a part of the Afghan Empire but did however did pay tribute to it during the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani. Critics claim that Ahmad Shah Abdali's empire varied at different points in time, including all of Pakistan (Panjab, Sindh, Kashmir) at one point. Some Afghans state that if the claim can extend to a return of the Afghan Empire, then all of Pakistan should be consolidated into Afghanistan. Proponents of this view are of the belief that an initial confederation between Pakistan and Afghanistan would prove beneficial to both countries while removing the political antagonism that often exists between them and also resolving the issue of Pashtun re-unification.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://pakistantimes.net/2004/02/19/guest1.htm|title= The Inevitable Pak-Afghan Union|accessdate=2007-12-07 |last= |first= Abid Ullah Jan|coauthors= |date= 2004-02-19|work= |publisher= [[Pakistan Times]]}}</ref>
====Ethnic claim====
Another claim is based on purely Pashtun-inhabited territory, which includes the restoration of [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] (formerly North-West Frontier Province [NWFP]), [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]] (FATA), Pashtun areas of [[Attock District]] and the Pashtun belt of [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]]. This overlaps with the first claim as some proponents also include [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] in this claim. This claim has some legal basis, as the Afghan government cites three international documents as basis for it, one of which is the limited validity of the Durand Line agreement signed between the British Empire and the Afghan government. The Durand border agreement demarcated the area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghanistan unsuccessfully argued that the agreement should have been valid for only 100 years. Later, international tribunal and courts found that the Durand Treaty never specified any time frame, and that Pakistan was the true heir and successor state of these regions which were handed over to the Colonial British.
Agreements cited by the Afghan government as proof of their claim over the Pashtun tribes include Article 11 of the [[Anglo–Afghan Treaty of 1921]], which states: "The two contracting parties, being mutually satisfied themselves each regarding the goodwill of the other and especially regarding their benevolent intentions towards the tribes residing close to their respective boundaries, hereby undertake to inform each other of any future military operations which may appear necessary for the maintenance of order among the frontier tribes residing within their respective spheres before the commencement of such operations."<ref name= "Caroe">Olaf Caroe. ''The Pathans.'' 1981.</ref> A supplementary letter to the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921 reads: "As the conditions of the Frontier tribes of the two governments are of interest to the Government of Afghanistan. I inform you that the British government entertains feelings of goodwill towards all the Frontier tribes and has every intention of treating them generously, provided they abstain from outrages against the people of India."<ref name="Caroe"/>
=== Advocates of Independent Pashtunistan ===
[[File:Major ethnic groups of Pakistan in 1980.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Major ethnic groups of Pakistan. Pashtuns shown in green.]]
Some Pashtun Nationalists believe the Pashtun people are within their rights to form their own State. They believe that either Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA with the Pashtun areas of Balochistan and Attock along with south and eastern Pashtun areas of Afghanistan should be granted independence forming a new state possibly separate from Pakistan and India called Pashtunistan or Pakhtunistan. They base this on the claim that the 1947 referendum was illegitimate because the option of independence or joining Afghanistan was not given, the legitimacy of it is doubtful as it was not based on adult franchise but of a limited electoral college of approximately half a million and still polled barely 51%, and the NWFP provincial Assembly in 1947 was the only provincial Assembly deprived of the right to decide which choice it would have preferred. As such they argue that the decision to join Pakistan was illegal, and not just illegitimate, which would be more likely under common law.
In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union through Afghanistan supported Pashtun ambitions for the creation of an independent Pashtunistan (also called Pakhtunistan) in the border areas of West Pakistan. Several border clashes and ruptures of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan ensued. The movement was never able to gain popular support considering that Pashtuns in Pakistan were always better off than their counterparts in Afghanistan. Furthermore, an independent Pashtunistan would likely suffer economic and political hardship as Pashtuns in Pakistan have successfully integrated and have a disproportionately high representation in the government, bureaucracy, military and more importantly business. Critics claim, that advocates of Pashtunistan will likely worsen the economic status of the community. Pashtuns also dominate the vital transport trade in Pakistan along with many other commercial and business ventures in many of it urban cities not located in the Pashtunkwa regions.<ref>[http://www.yespakistan.com/hdf/Mardan/pathans.asp "Who are the Pathans?"] YesPakistan.com. 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2010.</ref>
Pashtunistan advocates also questioned Afghan support for their cause, since it was largely known that Afghanistan did not wish to ever see an independent Pashtunistan, but aimed to annex it. Also, Afghanistan never showed willingness to allow its own Pashtun majority regions to join an independent Pashtunistan.
=== Status of Pashtunistan advocacy within Pakistan===
The belief in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that the Pashtuns get an unfair deal from the Pakistani government which is based on the failure to honor Hydro royalty agreements, previous refusal to allow the renaming of the province, refusal to grant provincial autonomy, perceived discrimination by other ethnic groups (to be more precise Pashtun Nationalists often target Punjabis) towards Pashtuns, and their language and culture, and the fact that the after the Baloch many of the regions of official poverty in Pakistan are in the Pashtun belts.<ref>Syed Shahid Husain. [http://www.dawn.com/2002/09/23/ebr2.htm "Deprivation profile of regions."] ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]''. 23 September 2002. Retrieved 21 June 2004</ref><ref>[http://www.un.org.pk/nhdr/nhdr-pak-2003.pdf Ranking of Districts by Human Development Index 2003.] Retrieved on 10 July 2005</ref>
However, pan-Pashtun nationalism has weakened over time as Pashtuns have increased their presence in Pakistani government, military, and society an Pashtun regions in Afghanistan were destabilised by a Taliban insurgency.<ref name="Brulliard">Karin Brulliard. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041602398.html "Tensions over renamed Pakistan province overshadow government reforms."] ''[[Washington Post]]''. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2010.</ref> The Pashtun presence within Pakistan's ruling establishment is quite significant. Pashtuns are represented in the armed forces, civil service, political system and in business both nationally and provincially. Pakistan's former prime minister, [[Ayub Khan]], was a Pashtun, while President [[Ghulam Ishaq Khan]] was a Pashtun from Bannu.
As cultural and historical grievances against Pakistan have dissipated over the years, nationalists have begun turning to language and economic arguments to bolster their cause. They also now state that Pakistan's other ethnic communities look down upon Pashtuns with disdain. They further resent the prevalence of Urdu and Persian words in the Pashto language, and believe that if left unchecked, Pashto will be diluted with Urdu words in Pakistan, and with Persian words in Afghanistan.
An argument by Pashtuns nationalists against remaining as part of Pakistan is that the Pakistani Government have in fact little interest in the promotion of Pashtun culture, they cite the widespread usage of [[Urdu]] and its use as the only national language of Pakistan. While there is considerable resentment towards the use of Urdu, this resentment is shared by all of Pakistan's provinces including a sizeable number of Panjabis, Siraikis, Balochis, Brahuis, Kashmiris, and Chitralis who also do not have official patronage of their language. With the exception of Urdu (Language of the [[Muhajir (Pakistan)|Mohajir]]) and Sindhi (which was introduced as a provincial language in the 1970s after much protests and ethnic tension against Mohajirs), no other indigenous ethnic group of Pakistan has official patronage of their maternal tongues. However, population-wise, Punjab province, at 47% of the state's population, dominates many aspects of social, political, and economic society.
Critics point out that in Afghanistan, though not always the case, both Dari and Pashto are official languages that are taught to students. Pashto culture is a main element of Afghan culture, particularly in the south and east, as it is in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the northern part of Balochistan. Many Pakistani Pashtuns, and non Pashtuns alike, call for official patronage of the Pashto language and culture (and that of other indigenous groups of Pakistan like [[Baloch people|Balochis]], [[Saraiki people|Saraikis]], [[Burki]]s, [[Hindko]]s, [[Khowar]]s, [[Shina]]s, [[Burusho]]s, etc.). They believe that that state should do more to promote these native languages at least at the elementary level.
== Criticism of the Pashtunistan concept ==
[[File:Muhammed Ayub Khan.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Ayub Khan]], [[President of Pakistan]] from 1958 to 1969, was a non-[[Pashto language|Pashto]]-speaker from the [[Tareen]] tribe of [[Abbottabad]].]]
Some Pakistani opponents of the Pashtunistan issue challenge the central tenet of the Afghan argument that Afghanistan is the [[sovereign state]] of Pashtuns. Pakistan's rulers like [[President of Pakistan|President]] [[Ayub Khan]], who was an ethnic Pashtun, opposed the separation of NWFP from Pakistan. He believed there was a difference between the Pakhtunistan advocated by Ghaffar Khan, who initially favored independence from both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the Pukhtunistan promoted by Afghanistan, which sought to annex the region. {{Quote|An important development in Pakistan during the Ayub period (1958-1969) was the gradual integration into Pakistani society and the military-bureaucratic establishment. It was a period of Pakistan's political history which saw a large number of ethnic Pashtuns holding high positions in the military and the bureaucracy. Ayub himself was a non-Pashto speaking ethnic Pashtun belonging to the [[Tareen|Tarin sub-tribe]] of the Hazara district in the Frontier. The growing participation of Pashtuns in the Pakistani Government resulted in the erosion of the support for the Pashtunistan movement in the Province by the end of the 1960s.<ref>Rizwan Hussain. ''Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan''. 2005. p. 74.</ref>|Rizwan Hussain|2005}}
Many ethnic Pashtuns support the status quo in regards to Pashtun influence in Pakistan and consider the Pashtunistan movement dead. They point out various Pashtun leaders, intellectuals and cricketers (e.g. [[Imran Khan]]) who have contributed to Pakistan and the level of influence ethnic Pashtuns enjoy in Pakistan. They also point out the influence of Pashtuns in the creation of Pakistan. For example, of the four co-signatories of the pamphlet "[[Pakistan Declaration|Now or Never]]" calling for an independent Pakistan, three were ethnic Pashtuns from the [[Khyber Agency]]. Also, one of the senior-most leaders in the [[Pakistan Movement]], [[Abdur Rab Nishtar]], was a Pashtun of the [[Kakar]] tribe. He was a close confident of [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]], along with [[Liaquat Ali Khan]], and was a frequent critic of the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] establishment in the NWFP led by [[Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan]] and [[Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan]].
Considering the fact that Pashtuns live in every province of Pakistan, and that 25 per cent of Pakistan's army - the most influential body in Pakistan - is Pashtun, many Pashtuns feel they have considerable influence in Pakistan and see it as their homeland.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} [[Karachi]], rather than [[Kabul]] or even [[Peshawar]], is the largest Pashtun city in the world, with close to 7 million [[Pashtun people|Pashtuns]] by some estimates.<ref>[[Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy]]. [http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/07/karachis_invisi.html "Pakistan: Karachi's Invisible Enemy."] ''[[Frontline]]: Rough Cut.'' 17 July 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2010.</ref> These pro-Pakistan Pashtuns claim to be the majority and point to democratic elections in Northwest Frontier Province as proof of this.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} They are highly sensitive to the idea of Pashtun separatism or Pashtunistan, which they believe would be unsustainable without deep ties to Pakistan.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
Other Pashtuns residing in Pakistan feel the issue of Pashtunistan is exploitative and meant to disrupt relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} They point to continuous and tacit support for the issue emanating from foreign countries such as during the war in Afghanistan in which the [[Soviet Union]] financially funded several campaigns to promote Pashtunistan.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
Pashtun nationalists in Pakistan, however, are cognizant of the fact that Afghanistan simply wishes to annex Pashtunistan, and are weary of its support.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} The old claim that Pashtunistan could rely on Afghanistan instead of Pakistan has also been diminished, since Afghanistan's economy and infrastructure have been decimated. Further, many members of Afghanistan's non-Pashtun majority express hostility and antagonism towards Pashtuns, since the [[Taliban]] is primarily Pashtun.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Pashtun nationalists no longer can find a reliable friend in Afghanistan, or the USSR, and their disdain for Indians (Pashtun Nationalists see Punjabi culture as oppressive, but view India as the ultimate source of those traditions) means that few are left to support Pashtunistan.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}
===Efforts to rename NWFP as Pashtunistan===
{{Main|Names of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa}}
Prominent 20th century proponents of the Pashtunistan cause have included the late [[Khan Abdul Wali Khan]] and [[Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan]]. Ghaffar Khan stated in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in 1948 that he simply wanted "the renaming of his province as Pakhtunistan. Like Sindh, Punjab, etc." Another name mentioned is '''[[Afghania]]''' where the initial "A" in [[Choudhary Rahmat Ali]] Khan's [[theory]] stated in the "[[Pakistan Declaration|Now or Never]]" pamphlet stands for the second letter in "P'''a'''kistan". However this name has failed to capture political support in the province.
There was support, however, to rename NWFP as '''Pakhtunkhwa''' (which translates as "Pashtun quarter"). [[Nasim Wali Khan]] (the wife of [[Khan Abdul Wali Khan]]) declared in an interview: ''"I want an identity.. I want the name to change so that Pathans may be identified on the map of Pakistan... [Pakhtunkhwa was] the 3,000 year old name of this area: the name used by Ahmed Shah Abdali who said he forgot everything including the throne of Delhi but not Pakhtunkhwa".''
On 31 March 2010, Pakistan's Constitutional Reform Committee agreed that the province be renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.<ref>[[BBC News Online]] - [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8600447.stm Pakistan debates key amendment bill] Retrieved 5 April 2010</ref><ref>[[Dawn News]] - [http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-consensus+reached+on+renaming+nwfp--bi-02 Consensus reached on renaming NWFP ] Retrieved 5 April 2010</ref>
==See also==
*[[Pashtun people]]
*[[Pashto language]]
*[[Pashtun culture]]
*[[Pashtunization]]
*[[Demographics of Pakistan]]
*[[Demographics of Afghanistan]]
*[[Names of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa]]
*[[Durand Line]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/south_asia_reluctant_return/html/1.stm In pictures: The Afghans who do not want to go to their homeland]
== Further reading ==
*Ahmed, Feroz (1998)'' Ethnicity and politics in Pakistan''. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
*Ahmad, M.(1989) ''Pukhtunkhwa Kiyun Nahin'' by Mubarak Chagharzai. pp. 138-139.
*Amin, Tahir (1988) -''National Language Movements of Pakistan''. Islamabad Institute of Policy Studies.
*[[Barry Buzan|Buzan, Barry]] and Rizvi, Gowher (1986),'' South Asian Insecurity and the Great Powers'', London: Macmillan. p. 73.
*[[Olaf Caroe|Caroe, Olaf]] (1983) ''The Pathans with an Epilogue on Russia''. Oxford University Press. pp. 464-465.
{{Nationalism in South Asia}}
{{Pashtun nationalism}}
[[Category:North-West Frontier Province]]
[[Category:Durand line]]
[[Category:Geography of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Geography of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Afghanistan–Pakistan relations]]
[[Category:Proposed countries]]
[[ca:Paixtunistan]]
[[cs:Paštunistán]]
[[da:Pashtunistan]]
[[es:Pashtunistán]]
[[fa:پشتونستان]]
[[no:Pashtunistan]]
[[pl:Pasztunistan]]
[[ps:پښتونستان]]
[[pt:Pashtunistão]]
[[zh:普什图尼斯坦]]
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