North-West Frontier Province

This article is about the province of British India and Pakistan, 1901–2010. For the current province, see Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. For other uses, see North West Frontier (disambiguation).

North-West Frontier Province شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت‎ صوبہ سرحد‎
Former province of British India & Pakistan
1901–1955 1970–2010
Flag Coat of arms
Location within British India 1947–1955 1970–2010 Location within Pakistan
Area
• 1901	100,142 km2 (38,665 sq mi)
Population
• 1901	30,523,371
History
History
• Established	9 November 1901
• Renamed to Khyber Pakthunkhwa	19 April 2010
Preceded by Succeeded by 1901: Punjab Province (British India) 1950: Phulra State 1970 (intervened by West Pakistan): Amb State Swat State Dir State Chitral State Hazara Tribal Agency Kohistan Tribal Agency Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Today part of	Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
www.khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk

The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; Pashto: شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت‎, Urdu: صوبہ سرحد‎) was a province of British India and later of Pakistan. It was established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province and known by this name until 2010, when it was redesignated as the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 19 April 2010 following the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan by erstwhile President Asif Ali Zardari.

The province covered an area of 70,709 km² (27,301 sq mi), including much of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but excluding the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the former princely states of Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra and Swat. Its capital was the city of Peshawar, and the province was composed of six divisions (Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Mardan, and Peshawar Division; Malakand was later added as the seventh division). Until 1947, the province was bordered by five princely states to the north, the minor states of the Gilgit Agency to the northeast, the province of West Punjab to the east and the province of Balochistan to the south. The Kingdom of Afghanistan lay to the northwest, with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas forming a buffer zone between the two.

Formation

File:Pope1880Panjab3.jpg

The Punjab in 1880 (included areas of the later North-West Frontier Province)

Map of the North-West Frontier Province and Kashmir from The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1907-1909)

The northwestern frontier areas were annexed to India by the British after the Second Sikh War (1848–49). The territories thenceforth formed a part of Punjab until the province, then known as North-West Frontier Province, was created in 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. This region along with the 'Frontier Tribal Areas' acted as a 'buffer' zone with Afghanistan.

Inside Pakistan

Before the Partition of India, the 1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum was held in July 1947 to decide the future of NWFP, in which the people of the province decided in favor of joining Pakistan. However, the then Chief Minister Dr Khan Sahib, along with his brother Bacha Khan and the Khudai Khidmatgars, boycotted the referendum, citing that it did not have the options of the NWFP becoming independent or joining Afghanistan.

As a separate province, the NWFP lasted until 1955 when it was merged into the new province of West Pakistan, under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Ali. It was recreated after the dissolution of the One Unit system and lasted under its old nomenclature until April 2010, when it was renamed as the 'Khyber Pakhtunkhwa' province.

Government

The offices of Governor and Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province lasted until 14 October 1955.

Tenure	Governors of the North-West Frontier Province
14 August 1947 – 8 April 1948	Sir George Cunningham
8 April 1948 – 16 July 1949	Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas
16 July 1949 – 14 January 1950	Sahibzada Mohammad Kursheed
14 January 1950 – 21 February 1950	Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Jhagra (acting)
21 February 1950 – 23 November 1951	Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar
24 November 1951 – 17 November 1954	Khwaja Shahabuddin
17 November 1954 – 14 October 1955	Qurban Ali Khan
14 October 1955	North-West Frontier Province dissolved

Tenure	Chief Ministers of the North-West Frontier Province	Political party
1 April 1937 – 7 September 1937	Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan	Non-party government nominee
7 September 1937 – 10 November 1939	Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (1st time)	Indian National Congress
10 November 1939 – 25 May 1943	Governor's rule
25 May 1943 – 16 March 1945	Sardar Aurangzeb Khan	Muslim League
16 March 1945 – 22 August 1947	Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (2nd time)	Indian National Congress
14 August 1947	Independence of Pakistan
23 August 1947 – 23 April 1953	Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri	Pakistan Muslim League
23 April 1953 – 18 July 1955	Sardar Abdur Rashid Khan
19 July 1955 – 14 October 1955	Sardar Bahadur Khan

Demographics

At independence, there was a clear Muslim Pashtun majority in the North-West Frontier Province, although there were some small minorities of Hindus and Sikhs. The languages of the North-West Frontier Province included Pashto, Hindko, Kohistani and others, although most of the population spoke Pashto. Prior to the arrival of the British, the official language, for governmental uses and such, was Persian.

See also

• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Federally Administered Tribal Areas
• Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan

References

• The Imperial Gazetteer of India (26 vol, 1908–31), a highly detailed description of all of India in 1901. online edition

External links

• Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa