The NWFP has always been in limelight, but for wrong reasons. From the British raj’s Afghan wars in eighteenth century to Russian invasion in 1979 and American ouster of Taliban from Kabul in 2002, NWFP had been pivotal to the imperialistic designs, as it provides road access to Afghanistan. Later, the emergence of local Taliban and militancy, itself a product of 30 years long Afghan war, put the Frontier on the map of world, as the bastion of terrorism.
The media stereotyping put the beautiful aspects of its culture, history and people on the backburner and nowadays world knows the people of the Frontier as mere suicide bombers and terrorists. However, there are many a remarkable traits and cultural aspects, which only the Frontier could claim and linguistic diversity of the province is one of such traits.
There are around 69 languages are spoken in Pakistan, 26 out of these spoken in NWFP, and 12 languages in Chitral district alone. According to Frontier Language Institute (FLI) Bateri (20,000), Chillaso (2,000), Gowro (200) and Kohistani (200,000) are spoken in Indus Kohistan.
Chitral district, according to renowned Norwegian linguistic Georg Morgenstierne, was the area with the highest linguistic diversity in the world. The languages give the district a unique flavor of socio-cultural richness and ethno-linguistic diversity. Dameli (2,000), Gawar-Bati (200), Kalasha (3,000), Khowar (200,000), Palula (2,000), Wakhi (2,000), Yidgha (2,000) and Kam-Kataviri (2,000) are the languages spoken in district.
Kalasha is the mother tongue of the famed and mysterious race of Kalasha living in the valleys of Rambur, Bomboret and Berir, while Kam-Kataviri is of the Nuristani people. Nuristanis are the people believed to be subject of a Kipling story “The Man Who Would Be King” which was adapted as motion picture starring Sean Connery in 1975. Unlike Kalasha who are known as the black Kafirs (infidels) due to the black outfit they wear; Nuristanis are known as Red Kafirs due to the red color of their skin.
While, Domakki (200) Hunza, Shina (200,000) Gilgit, Balti (200,000) Baltistan, Burushaski (20,000) Hunza, Nagar and Yasin, Kashmiri, Kundal Shahi and Pahari-Potwari are spoken in Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir.
Gwari (20,000) is spoken in Swat and Upper Dir, while Torwali (20,000) and Ushojo (200) are spoken in Swat, while Kalkoti (2,000) is spoken in Dir Kohistan and Ormuri (2,000) is spoken in South Waziristan.
Pashto and Gojari are spoken throughout the region and Hindko is spoken in Peshawar, Kohat and Kashmir. However, as most of these languages are spoken by small communities, therefore, qualify for categories of languages near extinction and threatened languages and it is need of the hour to preserve this marvelous part of our ethno-linguistic heritage.
* Number within brackets shows number of speakers in excess of the number
I dont know why these pathans need to snatch more land from Pakistan now even though they have a huge country of thier own that they need to work on first. All this time we were saving ourselves fromt he enemy on the east, turns out they werent as bad as was portrayed! The pathans werent even a major faction of the Indus valley region. You give someone the shift off of your back and they pull it right off and make you naked…we opened our arms and welcomed the afghans and now they wanna claim our land! what if we moved to helmund and claimed it as part of pakistan?
Some of the information is not up to date. The number of speakers of Torwali exceeds 1oo,000 and similarly the number of Gawri. I would like to post one of my articles here published in Dawn this June.
June 28, 2008
Language and identity
By Zubair Torwali
An June 7-8, a two day moot on the various languages spoken in the NWFP was held in Peshawar. The conference was attended by representatives of more than 30 languages spoken in the province. The conference, though apparently a literary moot, was of great significance in the backdrop of the constitutional package recently prepared by the PPP-led coalition government that recommends Pukhtunkhwa as the new name of the NWFP.
Language has always played a crucial socio-political role in Pakistan since its inception. It has been a significant factor in promoting national cohesion or the vice versa. With the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, two things which had a great influence on determining the future course of Pakistan were the role of religion and languages in the newly-born state. The concept and ambiguity about the ideology of Pakistan has delayed the constitution-making for more than a decade while the state
News
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Govt decides to rename NWFP as Pakhtunkhawa
LAHORE: The federal government has decided to rename the NWFP as Pakhtunkhawa, Samaa TV reported. The channel said the decision was made in a meeting between an Awami National Party delegation and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday. It said that ANP chief Asfandyar Wali assured Gilani that his party would support Asif Zardari in the presidential election. daily times monitor
Courtesy Daily Times
The choice for changing the name lies only with the people of NWFP. This is their choice and people of other provinces should simply be happy with the choice they make. Pashtuns have a rich and colorful culture and heritage of which most are very proud of. Renaming to Pakhtunkhwa i believe is justified not only because of this pride but also because some Pashtuns especially in waziristan feel discontent due to NWFP being given a strategic name and all other provinces having regional names according to the traditions and names of the indegenious people in the province (eg sindh sindhi). Pakhtunkhwa or Pashtunistan should be the new name of NWFP. Hope ANP changes the name soon according to the wishes of the people. Afghan Pashtuns also find this a good opportunity to take a few potshots at our motherland.
Long live Pashtuns and long live Pakistan
the Author should have look on data. In nwfp pasthun are in majority, he should mention the population of pashtun. SEraiki is third biggest language of the area got no place in discussion.
I suggest you, only recomended data should be forwarded.
cheeerrrrrrr
I hope the writer should rectify the data. According to 1998 census of pakistan 74% speaks pashtu in Paktunkhwa, and by race more then 80% of population is Pashtoon. IN peshawar and kohat only in small pockets hindku is spoken.
Dear Qaisrani ,
“No mention of Seraiki in the artile?? Seraiki is widely spoken in the southern part of NWFP including Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Laki Marwat”
Does Seraiki needs to be somehow preserved or documented, it being the second most spoken (native) language in Pakistan.
Regards
Mohammad
No mention of Seraiki in the artile?? Seraiki is widely spoken in the southern part of NWFP including Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Laki Marwat.