Pakhtunkhwa, Pakhtoonkhwa, Pukhtunkhwa, or Pashtunkhwa (Pashto: پښتونخوا) has often been the name used by the Pashtun people for the Pashtunized and Pashtun-dominated areas of Pakistan. More recently it was used by Pashtun nationalists in Pakistan as the name by which they wanted to rename the former North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), where they are the ethnic majority.
Pakhtunkhwa, et al. means "near the Pakhtuns" or "Pashtuns". The nationalist Pashtuns claim Pakhtunkhwa is an old name of the area inhabited by Pashtuns. But in fact Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) proposed this name as alternative to Pakhtunistan to military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1978 when the latter refused to accept the demand from the former to rename the NWFP as Pashtunistan. The famous Greek historian Herodotus had recorded it as Paktia, but Pashtun poets from the time of Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghori down to the present age, have been mentioning it as Pakhtunkhwa.
The earliest available historical evidence is Akhund Darweza's (died 1638) Makhzanul Islam (written between 1603 and 1612). A verse in this book reads: "Pakhtunkhwa pa misal shpa wa, dai deewa wo pa andher ke" (Translation: Pakhtunkhwa was like a night and he was like a candle).
Similarly, the often-quoted two lines of a poem by Ahmad Shah Abdali (1723–1773), the Founding Father of Afghan state, mention Pakhtunkhwa as the land of the Pashtuns:
Da Dehli takht herawoma che rayad kram Zama da khpale Pakhtunkhwa da ghro saroona- Translation: I forget my Delhi throne when I recall the mountain peaks of my own Pakhtunkhwa.
After him, Pashtun poets and writers have frequently used this name for the area which was later named as North-West Frontier Province by the British after they occupied and separated it from mainland Afghanistan dividing the Pashtuns into four divisions. The word Pakhtunkhwa was also used in the modern poetry by contemporary poets like Qalandar Momand (1930–2003) long before it was suggested as the nomenclature for the NWFP.
Dr. A. H. Dani, a well known historian and archaeologist, presently the Director of the Islamabad-based Center for the Study of the Civilizations of Central Asia, told Dawn that Pakhtunistan is a political name but Pakhtunkhwa is not. "Culturally there is no doubt that the land was called Pakhtunkhwa in Pushtu literature since 15th century (we have a trace of literature since that time only). The term has been applied for both tribal and settled areas, he added.
Besides Pashtus, there are many non-Pashtuns who have mentioned this name in their writings. A book by French orientalist James Darmesteter has the title, "Da Pakhtunkhwa Bagh w Bahar", a selection of Pashto poems with a valuable essay on this Afghan language.
Read more about this topic: Names Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa