83-689: The House of Elders or Mesherano Jirga ( Pashto : د افغانستان مشرانو جرګه ), was the upper house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan , alongside the lower House of the People (Wolesi Jirga). It was effectively dissolved when the Taliban seized power on 15 August 2021 . The Taliban did not include the House of Elders and several other agencies of the former government in its first national budget in May 2022. Government spokesman Innamullah Samangani said that due to
166-453: A royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian. Thus Pashto became a national language , a symbol for Pashtun nationalism . The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian
249-519: A danger in the consolidation of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city of Ghazni both in the reign of Sebuktigin and in that of his son Mahmud , which initiated the Muslim Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles. Sebuk Tigin, however, defeated him, and he was forced to pay an indemnity. Jayapala defaulted on the payment and took to the battlefield once more. Jayapala however, lost control of
332-940: A hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word μηχανή ( mēkhanḗ , i.e. a device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu , with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French , and German . However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto. Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings: naṛә́i jahān dunyā tod/táwda garm aṛtyā́ ḍarurah híla umid də...pə aṛá bāra bolә́la qasidah Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ( /ˌkaɪbər pəkˈtuːŋkwə/ ; Pashto : خېبر پښتونخوا [ˈxebaɾ paxtunˈxwɑ] ; Urdu : خیبر پختونخوا , pronounced [ˈxɛːbəɾ pəxˈtuːnxʷɑː] ; abbr. KP or KPK ), formerly known as North West Frontier Province (NWFP),
415-645: A promoter of the wealth and antiquity of Afghanistan's Pashto culture." From the 16th century, Pashto poetry become very popular among the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of the Pashto alphabet ), Khushal Khan Khattak , Rahman Baba , Nazo Tokhi , and Ahmad Shah Durrani , founder of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani Empire . The Pashtun literary tradition grew in
498-559: A province of old "British India" [which no longer exists]. It is wrongful because it suppresses the social entity of these people. In fact, it suppresses that entity so completely that when composing the name "Pakistan" for our homelands, I had to call the North-West Frontier Province the Afghan Province. Suggestions for new names came and went. Although some of the names were ethnically neutral, most proposals emphasised
581-496: A referendum on the issue as a way of determining the name. These offers were rejected by the ANP leadership and the ANP withdrew from both the federal and provincial governments. The lack of support for a name change by the PML (N) was defended as opposition to the nationalistic politics being pursued by the ANP. In May 2008, to accommodate a demand by the people of NWFP who voted for the ANP,
664-522: A variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian . However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian . Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan : Zə tā winə́m /ɐz dɐ wənən/ Az bū tū dzunim Strabo , who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that
747-421: Is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns. A national language of Afghanistan , Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan . In Pakistan , Pashto
830-432: Is a province of Pakistan . Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Pakistan by land area and the third-largest province by population. It is bordered by Balochistan to the south; Punjab , Islamabad Capital Territory , and Azad Kashmir to the east; and Gilgit-Baltistan to the north and northeast. It shares an international border with Afghanistan to
913-567: Is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family , natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan . It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ( افغانی , Afghāni ). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns , it is one of
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#1733084634519996-629: Is characterized by frequent invasions by various empires, largely due to its geographical proximity to the historically important Khyber Pass . Although it is colloquially known by a variety of other names, the name "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" was brought into effect for the North-West Frontier Province in April 2010, following the passing of the 18th Constitutional Amendment . On 24 May 2018, the National Assembly of Pakistan voted in favour of
1079-510: Is home to 16.9 percent of Pakistan's total population . The province is multiethnic, with the main ethnic groups being the Pashtuns , Hindkowans , Saraikis , and Chitralis . Once a stronghold of Buddhism , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the site of the ancient region of Gandhara , including the ruins of the Gandharan capital of Pushkalavati (located near present day Charsadda ). The region's history
1162-541: Is one of the earliest incidents of police brutality in Pakistan in recent years, occurring before the Model Town Lahore incident , whose FIR has not been registered still today. Arif Nizami, former editor of The Nation , said, "This has actually opened a Pandora's box, because of Pakistan's very tenuous polity. Now, on one side, there are identity issues and ethnic issues and provincial autonomy issues. The other side
1245-401: Is religious issues and terrorism. It's a very explosive situation." Many alternative names were proposed for the province. Many of these alternatives were designed to avoid or balance the ethnic connotations of Pakhtunkhwa. The name Gandhāra was proposed by Pakistan Muslim League (N) , as a neutral name for the province. Gandhara was an ancient Indo-Aryan civilization centered in
1328-541: Is spoken by 15% of its population, mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province , areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad . Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi , Sindh, which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in
1411-504: Is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu. Professor Tariq Rahman states: "The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged
1494-542: The 25th Constitutional Amendment , which merged the FATA as well as the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa subsequently approved the bill on 28 May 2018; it was signed into law on 31 May by erstwhile Pakistani president Mamnoon Hussain , which officially completed the administrative merger process. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa means
1577-506: The Kuchis . Speakers of the Mesherano Jirga since establishment in 1931 Having been absent from the decision-making process for centuries, Afghan women for the first time entered the political arena in 2001, after the overthrow of Taliban . With the introduction of reserved seats provision in the 2002 Emergency Loya Jirga , when ten percent of 1600 seats were reserved for women, the ground
1660-634: The Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). Meanwhile, the Pashtuns now appeared as a political factor. At the close of the fourteenth century they were firmly established in their present-day demographics south of Kohat, and in 1451 Bahlol Lodi's accession to the throne of Delhi gave them a dominant position in Northern India . Yusufzai tribes from the Kabul and Jalalabad valleys began migrating to the Valley of Peshawar beginning in
1743-643: The Nanda Empire , establishing the Mauryan Empire. A while after, Alexander's general Seleucus had attempted to once again invade the subcontinent from the Khyber pass hoping to take lands that Alexander had conquered, but never fully absorbed into this empire. Seleucus was defeated and the lands of Aria, Arachosia, Gandhara, and Gedrosia were ceded to the Mauryans in exchange for a matrimonial alliance and 500 elephants. With
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#17330846345191826-461: 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 Sarhad ( Urdu : سرحد ), derived from the province's Urdu name given to it by the Mughals, which means "frontier". For most of the history of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), there were efforts to change its name. The name Afghania
1909-709: The Pashtuns . His descendants reigned till 1179, when Muhammad of Ghor took Peshawar, making it part of his expanding Ghurid Empire . Following the invasion by the Ghurids, five unrelated heterogeneous dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and
1992-636: The Uzbek Shaybanids . He was forced to retreat westwards to Kabul but returned to defeat the Lodis in July 1526, when he captured Peshawar from Daulat Khan Lodi , though the region was never considered to be fully subjugated to the Mughals. Under the reign of Babar's son, Humayun , a direct Mughal rule was briefly challenged with the rise of the Pashtun Emperor, Sher Shah Suri , who began construction of
2075-772: The Yuezhi invasion of Bactria and relocated to Gandhara, pushing the Indo-Greeks east of the Jhelum River . The last known Indo-Greek ruler was Theodamas , from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, mentioned on a 1st-century CE signet ring, bearing the Kharoṣṭhī inscription "Su Theodamasa" ( "Su" was the Greek transliteration of the Kushan royal title "Shau" (" Shah " or "King")). It is during this period that
2158-509: The second urbanisation . The region was a major centre for Greco-Buddhism under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties, including Indo-Scythians , Indo-Parthians and Kushans . Gandhara was also a central location for the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia. Gāndhārī , an Indo-Aryan language written in Kharosthi script , acted as lingua franca of
2241-455: 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". The province has had various names throughout history. 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 . When
2324-833: The 15th century, and displaced the Swatis of the Bhittani confederation and Dilazak Pashtun tribes across the Indus River to Hazara Division . Mughal suzerainty over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region was partially established after Babar, the founder of the Mughal Empire, invaded the region in 1505 CE via the Khyber Pass . The Mughal Empire noted the importance of the region as a weak point in their empire's defences, and determined to hold Peshawar and Kabul at all cost against any threats from
2407-629: The 16 Mahajanapadas of Vedic era . It was the centre of Vedic and later forms of Hinduism . Gandhara was frequently mentioned in Vedic epics, including Rig Veda , Ramayana and Mahabharata . It was the home of Gandhari , the princess of Gandhara Kingdom . In the spring of 327 BC Alexander the Great crossed the Hindu Kush and advanced to Nicaea , where Omphis, king of Taxila and other chiefs joined him. Alexander then dispatched part of his force through
2490-593: The 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society Pashto Anjuman in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to
2573-805: The 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana . Pə́ṭa Xazāná ( پټه خزانه ) is a Pashto manuscript claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar ; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi. Nile Green comments in this regard: "In 1944, Habibi claimed to have discovered an eighteenth-century manuscript anthology containing much older biographies and verses of Pashto poets that stretched back as far as
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2656-553: The British established it as a province, they called it "North West Frontier Province" (abbreviated as NWFP) until 2010 due to its relative location being in the northwest of the British Indian Empire . After the creation of Pakistan, Pakistan continued with this name but a Pashtun political party, Awami National Party based in the province demanded that the province name be changed to "Pakhtunkhwa". Their logic behind that demand
2739-656: The Kabul valley. Their dates are still a matter of dispute, but it is beyond question that they reigned early in the Christian era. To this period may be ascribed the fine statues and bas-reliefs found in Gandhara and Udyana. Under Huvishka's successor, Vasushka , the dominions of the Kushan kings shrank. The Turk Shahis ruled Gandhara until 870, when they were overthrown by the Hindu Shahis . The Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to
2822-568: The PPP proposed that the name of the North-West Frontier Province be changed to Pakhtunkhwa, however the Muslim League Nawaz which had considerable support in the Hindko -speaking Hazara region of the province announced it might oppose the name change because of it "being on ethnic grounds" because of opposition by its provincial leadership. The name Pakhtunkhwa was mentioned for the first time in
2905-517: The Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism." Robert Nicols states: "In the end, national language policy, especially in
2988-537: The Pashto-speakers elsewhere in the province), and others said the name should not be changed since the people were accustomed to North-West Frontier Province. During the times of Indus Valley civilisation (3300 BCE – 1700 BCE) the Khyber Pass through Hindu Kush provided a route to other neighbouring empires and was used by merchants on trade excursions. From 1500 BCE, Indo-Iranian peoples started to enter in
3071-510: The Pashtun identity in it as they argued that there were other minor communities living in the province especially the Hazarewals of the Hazara region who spoke Hindko thus the word Khyber was introduced with the name because it is the name of a major pass which connects Pakistan to Afghanistan. For over a hundred years after its founding as a province of British Raj in 1901, it was known as
3154-662: The Pathan community in the city of Kolkata , often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul "). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia . Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian . Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian,
3237-620: The Shahi dynasty. Jayapala was succeeded by his son Anandapala , who along with other succeeding generations of the Shahiya dynasty took part in various unsuccessful campaigns against the advancing Ghaznvids but were unsuccessful. The Hindu rulers eventually exiled themselves to the Kashmir Siwalik Hills. After the battle of Peshawar, Mahmud of Ghazni had secured controlled over southern regions of Pakhtunkhwa. He also (1024 and 1025) raided
3320-653: The Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto. In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of 15% of its population (per the 1998 census). However, Urdu and English are
3403-457: The United Nation's General Assembly by Pakistani President Asif Zardari on 26 September 2008. The Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party based in the province demanded that the province name be changed to "Pakhtunkhwa". Their logic behind that demand was that Punjabi people , Sindhi people and Baloch people have their provinces named after their ethnicities but that is not the case for Pashtun people . Pakistan Muslim League (N) ,
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3486-408: The Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana (modern Swat) in Gandhara, although they are also variously stated to be Brāhmāns or Kshātriyas. The first king Kallar had moved the capital into Udabandhapura from Kabul, in the modern village of Hund for its new capital. At its zenith, the kingdom stretched over the Kabul Valley , Gandhara and western Punjab under Jayapala . Jayapala saw
3569-401: The backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses. For instance Khushal Khattak laments in : "The Afghans (Pashtuns) are far superior to the Mughals at the sword, Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet. If
3652-539: The commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978. Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing". King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936
3735-437: The defeat of the Greeks, the land was once more under Hindu rule. Chandragupta's son Bindusara further expanded the empire. However, it was Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka , who converted to Buddhism and made it the official state religion in Gandhara and also Pakhli , the modern Hazara, as evidenced by rock-inscriptions at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra . After Ashoka's death the Mauryan empire fell to pieces, just as in
3818-410: The different tribes would but support each other, Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them" Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity . In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with
3901-443: The eighth century. It was an extraordinary claim, implying as it did that the history of Pashto literature reached back further in time than Persian, thus supplanting the hold of Persian over the medieval Afghan past. Although it was later convincingly discredited through formal linguistic analysis, Habibi's publication of the text under the title Pata Khazana ('Hidden Treasure') would (in Afghanistan at least) establish his reputation as
3984-435: The entire region between the Kabul Valley and Indus River . In the year 1001, soon after Sultan Mahmud came to power and was occupied with the Qarakhanids north of the Hindu Kush , Jaipal attacked Ghazni once more and upon suffering yet another defeat by the powerful Ghaznavid forces, near present-day Peshawar . After the Battle of Peshawar , he died because of regretting as his subjects brought disaster and disgrace to
4067-400: The famous Grand Trunk Road – which links Kabul, Afghanistan with Chittagong , Bangladesh over 2000 miles to the east. Later, local rulers once again pledged loyalty to the Mughal emperor. Yusufzai tribes rose against Mughals during the Yusufzai Revolt of 1667, and engaged in pitched-battles with Mughal battalions in Peshawar and Attock . Afridi tribes resisted Aurangzeb rule during
4150-400: The field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power..." Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still
4233-527: The financial crisis, only active agencies were included in the budget, and the excluded ones had been dissolved, but noted they could be brought back "if needed." The House of Elders primarily had an advisory role rather than a maker of law. However, it does have some veto power. The House of Elders has 102 members. One-third (34) were elected by district councils (one per province) for three-year terms, one-third (34) by provincial councils (one per province) for four-year terms, and one-third (34) were nominated by
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#17330846345194316-474: The fusion of Hellenistic and South Asian mythological, artistic and religious elements becomes most apparent, especially in the region of Gandhara. Local Greek rulers still exercised a feeble and precarious power along the borderland, but the last vestige of the Greco-Indian rulers were finished by a people known to the old Chinese as the Yeuh-Chi. The Indo-Scythians were descended from the Sakas (Scythians) who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia from
4399-399: The government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity". Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or
4482-428: The largest opposition party at the time was ready to change the province's name by supporting the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and ANP, in a constitutional amendment but wanted to name the province something other than which does not carry only the Pashtun identity in it as they argued that there were other minor communities living in the province especially the Hazarewals of the Hazara region who spoke Hindko thus
4565-426: The literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue . King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. In
4648-405: The middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara to Mathura . The first Indo-Scythian king Maues established Saka hegemony by conquering Indo-Greek territories. The power of the Saka rulers declined after the defeat to Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century. The Indo-Parthian Kingdom
4731-413: The native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word مېچن [mečә́n] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 4) ( help ) i.e.
4814-491: The nomadic Xiongnu . One group, known as the Kushan, took the lead, and its chief, Kadphises I , seized vast territories extending south to the Kabul valley. His son Kadphises II conquered North-Western India, which he governed through his generals. His immediate successors were the fabled Hindu kings : Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasushka or Vasudeva, of whom the first reigned over a territory which extended as far east as Benares, far south as Malwa, and also including Bactria and
4897-399: The people of Hazara region and protests erupted in the region with wheel and shutter jam strikes. Abbottabad became the nerve center of the movement. On the 10th of April, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police fired at unarmed protesters, leaving 7 dead and dozens injured. Allegedly, the firing was ordered by the coalition government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, led by the Awami National Party . This
4980-465: The possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify. Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions —prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. *The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [ 𝼈 ] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [ ɽ ] or approximant [ ɻ ] elsewhere. In Pashto, most of
5063-419: The present-day province. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley and Swat valley , though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to the Taxila region in Potohar Plateau and westwards into the Kabul valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range. It was attested in the Rigveda , and it was one of the 16 Mahajanapadas of
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#17330846345195146-404: The president for five-year terms. However, elections for the district councils were not held in the 2005 parliamentary elections. As such, each provincial council also selected one of its elected members to temporarily hold seats in the house until district council elections were held. Half of the presidential nominees had to be women, two representatives from the disabled and impaired and two from
5229-547: 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. By the late 20th century, President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq agreed with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to change the name to Pashtunistan but he contended that the term Pashtunistan had become controversial and was being politicized by Afghanistan. Ghaffar Khan suggested Pakhtunkhwa, but Zia-ul-Haq asked Ghaffar Khan to suggest an alternative. The name Pakhtunkhwa
5312-409: The region from Central Asia after having passed the Khyber Pass. The region of Gandhara , which was primarily based in the area of modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa features prominently in the Rigveda ( c. 1500 – c. 1200 BCE ), as well as the Zoroastrian Avesta , which mentions it as Vaēkərəta , the sixth most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda . It was one of
5395-437: The region. Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art which is influenced by the classical Hellenistic styles, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire , who had their capital at Peshawar ( Puruṣapura ). Some Hazara residents said that the new name should be Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa (in reference to the Hazara region where Hindko -speakers are dominant as compared to
5478-402: The rock Aornos, but Alexander made Embolima (possibly Amb ) his base, and attacked the rock from there, which was captured after a desperate resistance. Meanwhile, Peukelaotis (in Hashtnagar , 17 miles (27 km) north-west of Peshawar ) had submitted, and Nicanor, a Macedonian, was appointed satrap of the country west of the Indus. Mauryan rule began with Chandragupta Maurya displacing
5561-444: The subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verbs are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood . Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes
5644-417: The tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana . This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name Afghan ( Abgan ). Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in
5727-418: The two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari , and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan , spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan . Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million, although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto
5810-411: The two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north Balochistan . Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu. The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto
5893-526: The valley of the Kabul River, while he himself advanced into Bajaur and Swat with his light troops. Craterus was ordered to fortify and repopulate Arigaion , probably in Bajaur, which its inhabitants had burnt and deserted. Having defeated the Aspasians, from whom he took 40,000 prisoners and 230,000 oxen, Alexander crossed the Gouraios ( Panjkora ) and entered the territory of the Assakenoi and laid siege to Massaga, which he took by storm. Ora and Bazira (possibly Bazar) soon fell. The people of Bazira fled to
5976-638: The west the Seleucid power was waning. The Indo-Greek king Menander I (reigned 155–130 BCE) drove the Greco-Bactrians out of Gandhara and beyond the Hindu Kush , becoming king shortly after his victory. His empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last independent Greek king, Strato II , disappeared around 10 CE. Around 125 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles , son of Eucratides, fled from
6059-402: The west. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a varied geography of rugged mountain ranges , valleys, rolling foothills, and dense agricultural farms. While it is the third-largest Pakistani province in terms of both its population and its economy , it is geographically the smallest. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's share of Pakistan's GDP has historically comprised 10.5%, amounting to over US$ 30 billion. The province
6142-541: The word Khyber was introduced with the name because it is the name of a major pass which connects Pakistan to Afghanistan. In early 2010, the process of renaming proceeded and the Pakistani Senate confirmed the name change to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 18th amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan with a unanimous 90 votes on 15 April 2010. The name change of the province was met with strong opposition from
6225-682: The world. Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India , Tajikistan , and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen , near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan , and
6308-735: The worldwide average of 18.5% and above the average of the United States at 16.8% for the House and 15.4% for the Senate . This legislature -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about government in Afghanistan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pashto language Pashto ( / ˈ p ʌ ʃ t oʊ / PUH -shto , / ˈ p æ ʃ t oʊ / PASH -toe ; پښتو , Pəx̌tó , [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto] )
6391-474: Was approved by the democratically elected constitutional assembly of the province in 1997 by majority vote. However, the PML (N) parliamentary party of NWFP rejected the ANP demand but called for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to suggest another "non-controversial" name. PML (N) members noted that Sarhad was a good name for the province but, if a change was needed, then it should be named Khyber or Abasin. The NWFP chief minister, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, called for
6474-472: Was laid for participation of Afghan women in parliament. The new 2004 constitution secured reserved seats for women and minorities in both houses of parliament. In the 2005 parliamentarian elections, Afghan women won 89 seats. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union , in 2009 they held 67 seats (27.7%) in the House of the People and 22 (21.6%) in the House of Elders. This representation is above
6557-565: Was officially renamed to Dari . The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto. In British India , prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP : Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended
6640-495: Was often inspired by the Arsacid dynasty, but they probably belonged to a wider groups of Iranic tribes who lived east of Parthia proper, and there is no evidence that all the kings who assumed the title Gondophares , which means "Holder of Glory", were even related. The Yuezhi nomads had driven the Sakas from the highlands of Central Asia , and were themselves forced southwards by
6723-501: 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". The need for a change was explained by the man who named Pakistan in his " Now or Never " pamphlet, Choudhary Rahmat Ali Khan, as: "North-West Frontier Province" is semantically non-descript and socially wrongful. It is non-descript because it merely indicates their geographical situation as
6806-455: Was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its first ruler Gondophares . For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings held Taxila (in the present Punjab province of Pakistan ) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted between Kabul and Peshawar . These kings have traditionally been referred to as Indo-Parthians, as their coinage
6889-442: Was that Punjabi people , Sindhi people and Baloch people have their provinces named after their ethnicities but that is not the case for Pashtun people . Pakistan Muslim League (N) , the largest opposition party at the time was ready to change the province's name by supporting the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and ANP, in a constitutional amendment but wanted to name the province something other than which does not carry only
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