Sufi Muhammad renews support for Pakhtunkhwa

[LahoreEstate]

PESHAWAR: Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who has emerged as the key figure in ending the conflict in Swat and controlling militancy in the rest of the Malakand division, is also a strong supporter of renaming the NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa.

The Maulana, who is at present sitting in a protest camp along with his followers in Timergara, Dir Lower district, to highlight his demand for the enforcement of the Islamic law in the Malakand division, has been telling the Awami National Party (ANP) leaders negotiating with him that he wanted the NWFP to be renamed as Pakhtunkhwa.

Sources in the ANP said he told their party leaders that all the provinces of Pakistan had frontiers with other countries and the word ‘frontier’ should be added to their existing names like the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The Maulana also argued that other provinces were named after the majority ethnic groups living there and the NWFP, with its Pakhtun majority, ought to be renamed as Pakhtunkhwa. Maulana Sufi Muhammad, it may be added, had in the past also publicly stated for renaming the province as Pakhtunkhwa.

http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20364