News
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Pashtuns want their mark on country’s map, says BilourStaff Report
LAHORE: Bengalis worked to remove their identity from Pakistan’s map, but Pashtuns want to put their mark on it, Railways Minister and Awami National Party (ANP) senior leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said on Monday.
Talking to reporters, he said all three provinces have been named after major ethnicities living in the provinces, but Pashtuns were being “denied the right” of renaming the NWFP.
“If it is my child, I, and not anyone else should be naming it,” he said, adding that all political parties should respect the sensitivities of people residing in other provinces.
He said the decision to rename the NWFP as ‘Puktoonkhwa’, was a decision of the provincial assembly, not of any particular person. Bilour said no political party expressed its reservation over the issue during meetings to discuss the matter, but “an issue has now been created over something which is the basic right of the people”.
He said Pashtuns established the first Muslim government in the subcontinent and ruled the area for nearly 300 years.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk