LAHORE While agreeing to hold a referendum over the issue of renaming NWFP, the PML-N has suggested Khyber as the new name for the province, struggling since independence for its recognition in the form of a classification reflecting its Pashtoon identity. As the controversy over renaming of NWFP has resurfaced, it has been learnt that the PML-N has formally floated this suggestion to the Government in the meetings of the Constitutional Reforms Committee, where the issue is being deliberated upon at the moment, besides other constitutional matters including the 17th amendment. While the PPP and other parties are supporting ANPs stance on the issue, the PML-N, on the other hand, has its reservations over the name, Pakhtoonistan or its slightly altered version of Pakhtoonkhawa, mainly because of two reasons. Firstly because of its historical background dating back to the partition period, whereas the second objection pertains to the alleged disagreement over this name among the ethnic groups within the NWFP. Giving his partys viewpoint on the issue, senior PML-N leader, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, while talking to The Nation on Monday, said that his party was not opposed to giving a new name to the NWFP, but wanted the issue to be settled after evolving consensus among all the ethnic groups in the province. According to Mr. Jhagra, who belongs to NWFP, the Hazara tribe in the frontier province, the Hindko speaking population and people of the southern districts including D.I Khan are averse to the idea of giving the name of Pakhtoonistan or Pakhtoonkhawa to their province. He said it was important to satisfy these ethnic communities to avert any future controversy. The PML-N, he continued, was also opposed to the said name because at the time of partition in 1947, the ANP, which was then an ally of the All India Congress and also ruling the province at that time, had suggested this name in opposition to creation of Pakistan. Jhagra also advised the ANP leadership not to make the issue an ego problem and accept some other name by changing its pre-partition thinking. He said his party had suggested Khyber as new name for the province, which has been derived from historic Khyber Pass. He said Khyber was a historical name, as Khyber Pass was known across the world. The PML-N leader said that his party was even willing to holding of a referendum in NWFP to elicit the will of the people of the province on the issue. He asked PPP leadership to accept PML-Ns stance on renaming of NWFP as did the PML-N in case of Kalabagh Dam by accepting PPPs viewpoint that it should be built only when all the four provinces fall in line over the issue. The ANP is unwilling so far to accept any other name except Pakhtoonistan or Pakhtoonkhawa on the plea that if Sindhis and Balochis could have the names of their respective provinces on the basis of their dominant ethnic character, then there was no reason to deny Pushtoons the name of their choice reflecting their Pashtoon identity. Seen in the historical perspective, the British gave this name (NWFP) to the region previously known as Afghania. The alphabet a in the word Pakistan actually refers to Afghania. It is to be noted here that PPP is supporting ANPs stance over renaming of the frontier province as it had given an undertaking to Asfanyars party in this regard when coalition government was in the making after February 2008 elections. In this background, it was not surprising on Monday to see Dr. Babar Awan, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, calling upon the PML-N leadership to show flexibility on the issue so that the Constitutional Reforms Committee could go ahead with its agenda of constitutional reforms.