North-West Frontier Province


The North-West Frontier Province was a province of British India and later of Pakistan. It was established in 1901 and known by this name until 2010. The area became Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on 19 April 2010 when the Eighteenth Amendment was signed by President Asif Ali Zardari.
The province covered an area of 70,709 km², including much of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but excluding the former princely states of Amb, Chitral, Dir, Phulra, and Swat, and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The capital was the city of Peshawar, and the province was composed of six divisions. 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. Afghanistan lay to the northwest, with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas forming a buffer zone.

Formation

The northwestern frontier areas were annexed to India by the British after the Second Sikh War. The territories thenceforth formed a part of the Punjab until the province, then known as North-West Frontier Province, was created in 1901.
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. Mianwali and Attock were removed from it and merged with Punjab. 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.
TenureGovernors of the North-West Frontier Province
14 August 1947 – 8 April 1948Sir George Cunningham
8 April 1948 – 16 July 1949Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas
16 July 1949 – 14 January 1950Sahibzada Mohammad Kursheed
14 January 1950 – 21 February 1950Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Jhagra
21 February 1950 – 23 November 1951Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar
24 November 1951 – 17 November 1954Khwaja Shahabuddin
17 November 1954 – 14 October 1955Qurban Ali Khan
14 October 1955North-West Frontier Province dissolved

Demographics

At independence there was a clear Muslim Pashtun majority in then 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.