Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa خیبر پختونخوا (Urdu) خېبر پښتونخوا (Pashto)
Province
Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Swat River Bab-e-Khyber Mahabat Khan Mosque Kalam Valley Bahrain Lake Saiful Muluk Kaghan Valley
Flag Seal
Location of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within Pakistan
Coordinates: 34°00′N 71°19′E / 34.00°N 71.32°E / 34.00; 71.32
Country	Pakistan
Established (as NWFP)	9 November 1901; 123 years ago (9 November 1901)
Provincial status	1935; 90 years ago (1935)
Accession to Pakistan	July / August 1947
Merged into West Pakistan	1955; 70 years ago (1955)
Restoration	1 July 1970; 54 years ago (1 July 1970)
Name Changed	2010
FATA Merger	May 2018
Capital and largest city	Peshawar
Administrative Divisions	07 Bannu Division Dera Ismail Khan Division Hazara Division Kohat Division Malakand Division Mardan Division Peshawar Division
Government
• Type	2023 census)[1]
• Province	40,641,120
• Rank	3rd
• Density	402/km2 (1,040/sq mi)
• Urban	6,086,705 (15.01%)
• Rural	34,554,415 (84.99%)
GDP (nominal)
• Total (2022)	$38 billion (3rd)[a]
GDP (PPP)
• Total (2022)	$152 billion (3rd)[a]
Time zone	UTC+05:00 (PKT)
Area code	9291
ISO 3166 code	PK-KP
Official languages	English Urdu
Notable sports teams	List: Peshawar Zalmi Peshawar Panthers Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cricket team
HDI (2019)	0.529 [4] low
Literacy rate (2020)	56.1%
Seats in National Assembly	65
Seats in Provincial Assembly	145
Divisions	7
Districts	38
Tehsils	105
Union councils	986
Website	kp.gov.pk

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (

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.^[5] The province 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.^[6][7]

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 is characterized by frequent invasions by various empires, largely due to its geographical proximity to the historically important Khyber Pass.^[8]

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 the 25th Constitutional Amendment, which merged the FATA as well as the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.^[9] The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa subsequently approved the bill on 28 May 2018;^[10] it was signed into law on 31 May by erstwhile Pakistani president Mamnoon Hussain, which officially completed the administrative merger process.^[11][12]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa means the "Khyber side of the land of the Pashtuns,^[13]" where the word Pakhtunkhwa means "Land of the Pashtuns",^[14] while according to some scholars, it refers to "Pashtun culture and society".^[15] The province has had various names throughout history. Other names used or proposed for the province include Gandhara, Afghania, Pashtunistan, Pathanistan, Sarhad, Abaseen, Khyber,^[16][17] or a combination of names, such as Hazara-Pakhtunkhwa.^[18][19]

When 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

"North-West Frontier Province" is semantically non-descript and socially wrongful. It is non-descript because it merely indicates their geographical situation as 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.[24]

Suggestions for new names came and went. Although some of the names were ethnically neutral, most proposals emphasised 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

The name Pakhtunkhwa was approved by the democratically elected constitutional assembly of the province in 1997 by majority vote.[26] 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.^[26] 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.^[26] The NWFP chief minister, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, called for a referendum on the issue as a way of determining the name.^[26] These offers were rejected by the ANP leadership and the ANP withdrew from both the federal and provincial governments.^[26]

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.^[27]

In May 2008, to accommodate a demand by the people of NWFP who voted for the ANP, the PPP proposed that the name of the North-West Frontier Province be changed to Pakhtunkhwa,^[28][29] 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.^[30]

The name Pakhtunkhwa was mentioned for the first time in the United Nation's General Assembly by Pakistani President Asif Zardari on 26 September 2008.^[31]

The

The name change of the province was met with strong opposition from 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.^[34] Allegedly, the firing was ordered by the coalition government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, led by the Awami National Party.^[35] This 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.^[36]

Arif Nizami, former editor of

Many alternative names were proposed for the province. Many of these alternatives were designed to avoid or balance the ethnic connotations of Pakhtunkhwa.[16]^[17]

The name Gandhāra was proposed by

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 the Pashto-speakers elsewhere in the province),^[51][11] and others said the name should not be changed since the people were accustomed to North-West Frontier Province.^[37]

• Abaseen (
  Indus River.^[52][53][17]
• Khyber: from the Khyber Pass.^[52][53][17]

During the times of

Mauryan rule began with

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,

It is during this period that the fusion of Hellenistic and South Asian mythological, artistic and religious elements becomes most apparent, especially in the region of Gandhara.^[citation needed]

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.^[62]

The

The Turk Shahis ruled Gandhara until 870, when they were overthrown by the Hindu Shahis. The Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana (modern Swat) in Gandhara,^[69][70] although they are also variously stated to be Brāhmāns or Kshātriyas.^[71]

The first king Kallar had moved the capital into Udabandhapura from Kabul, in the modern village of

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 the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526).^[80]

Meanwhile, the

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,^[83] though the region was never considered to be fully subjugated to the Mughals.^[81]

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 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.^{[citation needed]}

Yusufzai tribes rose against Mughals during the Yusufzai Revolt of 1667,^[82] and engaged in pitched-battles with Mughal battalions in Peshawar and Attock.^[82] Afridi tribes resisted Aurangzeb rule during the Afridi Revolt of the 1670s.^[82] The Afridis massacred a Mughal battalion in the Khyber Pass in 1672 and shut the pass to lucrative trade routes.^[84] Following another massacre in the winter of 1673, Mughal armies led by Emperor Aurangzeb himself regained control of the entire area in 1674,^[82] and enticed tribal leaders with various awards in order to end the rebellion.^[82]

Referred to as the "Father of Pashto Literature" and hailing from the city of

The area fell subsequently under the rule of

Their rule was interrupted by a brief invasion of the Hindu Marathas, who ruled over the region following the 1758 Battle of Peshawar for eleven months till early 1759 when the Durrani rule was re-established.^[91]

Under the reign of Timur Shah, the Mughal practice of using Kabul as a summer capital and Peshawar as a winter capital was reintroduced,^[81][92] Peshawar's Bala Hissar Fort served as the residence of Durrani kings during their winter stay in Peshawar.

Mahmud Shah Durrani became king, and quickly sought to seize Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah Durrani.^[93] Shah Shujah was then himself proclaimed king in 1803, and recaptured Peshawar while Mahmud Shah was imprisoned at Bala Hissar fort until his eventual escape.^[93] In 1809, the British sent an emissary to the court of Shah Shujah in Peshawar, marking the first diplomatic meeting between the British and Afghans.^[93] Mahmud Shah allied himself with the Barakzai Pashtuns, and amassed an army in 1809, and captured Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah, establishing Mahmud Shah's second reign,^[93] which lasted under 1818.

Ranjit Singh invaded Peshawar in 1818 and captured it from the Durrani Empire. The Sikh Empire based in Lahore did not immediately secure direct control of the Peshawar region, but rather paid nominal tribute to Jehandad Khan of Khattak, who was nominated by Ranjit Singh to be ruler of the region.

After Ranjit Singh's departure from the region, Khattak's rule was undermined and power seized by Yar Muhammad Khan. In 1823, Ranjit Singh returned to capture Peshawar, and was met by the armies of Azim Khan at Nowshera. Following the Sikh victory at the Battle of Nowshera, Ranjit Singh re-captured Peshawar. Rather than re-appointing Jehandad Khan of Khattak, Ranjit Singh selected Yar Muhammad Khan to once again rule the region.

The Sikh Empire annexed the lower parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region following advances from the armies of

During Sikh rule, an Italian named Paolo Avitabile was appointed an administrator of Peshawar in 1838, and is remembered for having unleashed a reign of fear there. The city's famous Mahabat Khan, built in 1630 in the Jeweller's Bazaar, was badly damaged and desecrated by the Sikhs, who also rebuilt the Bala Hissar fort during their occupation of Peshawar.

British campaigns to subdue tribesmen along the Durand Line, as well as three Anglo-Afghan wars, made travel between Afghanistan and the densely populated heartlands of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa increasingly difficult. The two regions were largely isolated from one another from the start of the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878 until the start of

There were other tensions in the area as well, particularly those that involved agitations by Pashtun tribesmen against the Imperial government. For example, in 1936, a British Indian court ruled against the marriage of a Hindu girl allegedly converted to Islam in Bannu, after the girl's family filed a case of abduction and forced conversion.[103] The ruling was based on the fact that the girl was a minor and was asked to make her decision of conversion and marriage after she reaches the age of majority, till then she was asked to live with a third party.^[103] After the girl's family filed a case, the court ruled in the family's favour, angering the local Muslims who had later gone on to lead attacks against the Bannu Brigade.^[103]

Such controversies stirred up anti-Hindu sentiments amongst the province's Muslim population.^[104] By 1947 the majority of the ulama in the province began supporting the Muslim League's idea of Pakistan.^[105]

Immediately prior to 1947 Partition of India, the British held a referendum in the NWFP to allow voters to choose between joining India or Pakistan. The polling began on 6 July 1947 and the referendum results were made public on 20 July 1947. According to the official results, there were 572,798 registered voters, out of which 289,244 (99.02%) votes were cast in favour of Pakistan, while 2,874 (0.98%) were cast in favour of India. The Muslim League declared the results as valid since over half of all eligible voters backed the merger with Pakistan.^[106]

The then

Their appeal for boycott had an effect, as according to an estimate, the total turnout for the referendum was 15% lower than the total turnout in the 1946 elections,[109] although over half of all eligible voters backed merger with Pakistan.^[106]

Bacha Khan pledged allegiance to the new state of Pakistan in 1947, and thereafter abandoned his goals of an independent Pashtunistan and a united India in favour of supporting increased autonomy for the NWFP within Pakistan.^[56] He was subsequently arrested several times for his opposition to the strong centralized rule.^[110] He later claimed that "Pashtunistan was never a reality". The idea of Pashtunistan never helped Pashtuns and it only caused suffering for them. He further claimed that the "successive governments of Afghanistan only exploited the idea for their own political goals".^[111]

There had been tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan ever since Afghanistan voted against Pakistan's inclusion in the United Nations in 1948.

After the Afghan-Soviet War, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become one of the areas of top focus for the War against Terror. The province has been reported to struggle with the issues of crumbling schools, non-existent healthcare, and lack of any sound infrastructure while areas such as Islamabad and Rawalpindi receive priority funding.^[118]

In 2010, the name of the province changed to "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa". Protests arose among the locals of the Hazara division due to this name change, as they began to demand their own province.^[119] Seven people were killed and 100 injured in protests on 11 April 2011.^[119]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sits primarily on the

Geographically the province could be divided into two zones: the northern zone extending from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the borders of the Peshawar basin and the southern zone extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin.

The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of the Peshawar basin, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall.^{[citation needed]}

The southern zone is arid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scanty rainfall.^[121] The Sheikh Badin Hills, a spur of clay and sandstone hills that stretch east from the Sulaiman Mountains to the Indus River, separates Dera Ismail Khan District from the Marwat plains of the Lakki Marwat. The highest peak in the range is the limestone Sheikh Badin Mountain, which is protected by the Sheikh Badin National Park. Near the Indus River, the terminus of the Sheikh Badin Hills is a spur of limestone hills known as the Kafir Kot hills, where the ancient Hindu complex of Kafir Kot is located.^[122]

The major rivers that criss-cross the province are Kabul, Swat, Chitral, Kunar, Siran, Panjkora, Bara, Kurram, Dor, Haroo, Gomal, and Zhob.

Its snow-capped peaks and lush green valleys of unusual beauty have enormous potential for tourism.^[123]

The

Rainfall also varies widely. Although large parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are typically dry, the province also contains the wettest parts of Pakistan in its eastern fringe especially in monsoon season from mid-June to mid-September.

Upper Chitral District and Lower Chitral District, due to their location, are completely sheltered from the monsoon that controls the weather in eastern Pakistan, owing to its relatively westerly location and the shielding effect of the Nanga Parbat massif. In many ways, they have more in common regarding climate with Central Asia than South Asia.^[125] The winters are generally cold even in the valleys, and heavy snow during the winter blocks passes and isolates the region. In the valleys, however, summers can be hotter than on the windward side of the mountains due to lower cloud cover: Chitral can reach 40 °C (104 °F) frequently during this period.^[126] However, the humidity is extremely low during these hot spells and, as a result, the summer climate is less torrid than in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.

Most precipitation falls as thunderstorms or snow during winter and spring, so that the climate at the lowest elevations is

At elevations above 5,000 metres (16,400 ft), as much as a third of the snow which feeds the large Karakoram and Hindukush glaciers comes from the monsoon since these elevations are too high to be shielded from its moisture.^[125]

On the southern flanks of Nanga Parbat and in Upper and Lower Dir Districts, rainfall is much heavier than further north because moist winds from the Arabian Sea are able to penetrate the region. When they collide with the mountain slopes, winter depressions provide heavy precipitation. The monsoon, although short, is generally powerful. As a result, the southern slopes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the wettest part of Pakistan. Annual rainfall ranges from around 500 millimetres (20 in) in the most sheltered areas to as much as 1,750 millimetres (69 in) in parts of Abbottabad and Mansehra Districts.

This region's climate is classed at lower elevations as humid subtropical (Cfa in the west; Cwa in the east); whilst at higher elevations with a southerly aspect, it becomes classed as humid continental (Dfb). However, accurate data for altitudes above 2,000 metres (6,560 ft) are practically nonexistent here, in Chitral, or in the south of the province.

The seasonality of rainfall in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shows very marked gradients from east to west. At Dir, March remains the wettest month due to frequent frontal cloud bands, whereas in Hazara more than half the rainfall comes from the monsoon.^[129] This creates a unique situation characterized by a bimodal rainfall regime, which extends into the southern part of the province described below.^[129]

Since cold air from the Siberian High loses its chilling capacity upon crossing the vast Karakoram and Himalaya ranges, winters in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are somewhat milder than in Chitral. Snow remains very frequent at high altitudes but rarely lasts long on the ground in the major towns and agricultural valleys. Outside of winter, temperatures in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are not so hot as in Chitral. ^{[citation needed]}

Significantly higher humidity when the monsoon is active means that heat discomfort can be greater. However, even during the most humid periods the high altitudes typically allow for some relief from the heat overnight.^[130]

As one moves further away from the foothills of the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges, the climate changes from the humid subtropical climate of the foothills to the typically

Temperatures in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are extremely hot: Dera Ismail Khan in the southernmost district of the province is known as one of the hottest places in the world with temperatures known to have reached 50 °C (122 °F).[131] In the cooler months, nights can be cold and frosts remain frequent; snow is very rare, and daytime temperatures remain comfortably warm with abundant sunshine.

There are about 29 National Parks in Pakistan and 7 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Name	Photo	Location	Date established	Area (Hec)	Key wildlife
Ayubia National Park		Abbottabad District	1984	3,122	Indian leopard, Leopard cat, Yellow-throated marten, Asian palm civet, Masked palm civet, Rhesus macaque, Red giant flying squirrel, Koklass pheasant and Kalij pheasant
Chitral Gol National Park		Lower Chitral District	1984	7,750	Himalayan lynx, Himalayan brown bear, Chukar partridge, Snow partridge, Himalayan snowcock and Himalayan black bear
Broghil Valley National Park		Upper Chitral District	2010	134,744	Himalayan musk deer, Himalayan brown bear and Long-tailed marmot
Sheikh Badin National Park		Dera Ismail Khan District	1999	15,540	Persian leopard, Indian wolf, Bengal fox, Urial, Markhor, Chukar partridge, Indian boar, Black francolin and Grey francolin
Saiful Muluk National Park		Mansehra District	2003	12,026	Himalayan musk deer, Siberian ibex, Himalayan monal and Cheer pheasant
Lulusar-Dudipatsar National Park		Mansehra District	2003	75,058	Persian leopard, Yellow-throated marten, Himalayan black bear, Siberian ibex, Himalayan goral, Himalayan monal and Western tragopan

The current province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a population of 40.9 million at the time of the 2023 Census of Pakistan. Over 85% of the population lived in rural areas.^[141]

The Pashtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa observe tribal code of conduct called Pashtunwali which has four high value components called nang (honour), badal (revenge), melmastiya (hospitality) and nanawata (rights to refuge).^[5]

Urdu, being the national and official language, serves as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communications, and sometimes Pashto and Urdu are the second and third languages among communities that speak other ethnic languages.^[5]

According to the

In 2011 the provincial government approved in principle the introduction of Pashto, Saraiki, Hindko, Khowar and Kohistani as compulsory subjects for schools in the areas where they are spoken.[149]

The overwhelming majority of the residents of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows and professes the

Religion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (1881–2023)

Religious group	1881[140]: 17–18		1891[139]: 14–15		1901[138]: 34–36		1911[137]: 307–308		1921[136]: 345–346		1931[135]: 373–375		1941[134]: 22		1951[155]: 12–21		1998[156]		2017[157]		2023[158][159]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
Islam	1,787,341	91.4%	2,088,015	91.51%	1,890,479	92.19%	2,039,994	92.86%	2,062,786	91.62%	2,227,303	91.84%	2,788,797	91.8%	5,858,080	99.89%	20,808,480	99.47%	35,428,857	99.79%	40,486,153	99.62%
Hinduism [e]	154,081	7.88%	166,984	7.32%	129,306	6.31%	119,942	5.46%	149,881	6.66%	142,977	5.9%	180,321	5.94%	2,432	0.04%	7,011	0.03%	6,373	0.02%	6,102	0.02%
Sikhism	9,205	0.47%	21,110	0.93%	25,733	1.25%	30,345	1.38%	28,040	1.25%	42,510	1.75%	57,939	1.91%	—	—	—	—	—	—	4,050	0.01%
Christianity	4,725	0.24%	5,437	0.24%	5,119	0.25%	6,585	0.3%	10,610	0.47%	12,213	0.5%	10,889	0.36%	3,823	0.07%	38,974	0.19%	50,018	0.14%	134,884	0.33%
Jainism	106	0.01%	108	0.005%	37	0.002%	4	0.0002%	3	0.0001%	0	0%	1	0%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Zoroastrianism	52	0.003%	48	0.002%	46	0.002%	49	0.002%	20	0.001%	60	0.002%	24	0.001%	—	—	—	—	—	—	36	0.0001%
Buddhism	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	2	0.0001%	25	0.001%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Judaism	—	—	4	0.0002%	4	0.0002%	14	0.001%	0	0%	11	0.0005%	71	0.002%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Ahmadiyya	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	48,703	0.23%	7,204	0.02%	951	0.002%
Others	5	0.0003%	2	0.0001%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	215	0.004%	16,808	0.08%	9,512	0.03%	8,944	0.02%
Total Responses[f]	1,955,515	100%	2,281,708	100%	2,050,724	96.48%	2,196,933	57.53%	2,251,340	44.35%	2,425,076	51.77%	3,038,067	56.1%	5,864,550[g]	99.4%	20,919,976	100%	35,501,964	100%	40,641,120	99.47%
Total Population[f]	1,955,515	100%	2,281,708	100%	2,125,480	100%	3,819,027	100%	5,076,476	100%	4,684,364	100%	5,415,666	100%	5,899,905	100%	20,919,976	100%	35,501,964	100%	40,856,097	100%
Note1: Pre-partition populations for religious data is for North-West Frontier Province only and excludes the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (both administrative divisions later merged to form Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018), as religious data was not collected in the latter region at the time. Note2: 1951, 1998, and 2017 populations for religious data combine the North-West Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, both administrative divisions which later merged to form Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.

Villages

• Kalāla

The

The executive branch of the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa is led by the Chief Minister elected by popular vote in the Provincial assembly^[169] while the Governor, a ceremonial figure representing the federal government in Islamabad, is appointed from the necessary advice of the Prime Minister of Pakistan by the President of Pakistan.^[170]

The provincial cabinet is then appointed by the Chief Minister who takes the

The

Peshawar is the capital and largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The city is the most populous and comprises more than one-eighth of the province's population.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the

Workshops throughout the province support the manufacture of small arms and weapons. The province accounts for at least 78% of the marble production in Pakistan.^[177]

The Sharmai Hydropower Project is a proposed power generation project located in the Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the Panjkora River with an installed capacity of 150MW.^[178]

The

In 2010 the announcement that the province would have a new name led to a wave of protests in the Hazara region.^[180] On 15 April 2010 Pakistan's senate officially named the province "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" with 80 senators in favour and 12 opposed.^[181] The MMA, who until the elections of 2008 had a majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, had proposed "Afghania" as a compromise name.^[182]

After the

The following is a list of some of the major NGOs working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:[186]^[187]

• Alkhidmat Foundation
• Aurat Foundation
• Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre
• Sarhad Rural Support Programme
• Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
• Frontier Education Foundation

Pashto folk music is popular in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and has a rich tradition going back hundreds of years. The main instruments are the

There's an important literature produced in the province, mainly in Pashto but also in Urdu and in Hindko, and in 2022 more than 25,000 books were published in these three languages.[189]

Sources:^{[190][191][192][193]}

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has traditionally had a very low literacy rate, although this is changing in recent times. As of the 2017 census, the literacy rate for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including FATA) is 51.66%. In rural areas, the literacy rate is 48.44% of the population while in urban areas it is 66.86%. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a huge gap in literacy rate between sexes – for men it is 66.67% while the female literacy rate is 34.58%, just over half the male literacy rate. This gap is particularly prominent in the overwhelmingly-Pashto rural areas, where traditional gender norms have generally limited education of women. As of 2021, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has the highest literacy growth rate in the whole country (Pakistan).^[192][193]

This is a chart of the education market of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa estimated^[194] by the government in 1998.^[195]

• CECOS University of Information Technology and Emerging Science, Peshawar
• National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad- College of Aeronautical Engineering
  , Risalpur Campus
• COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
  , Islamabad (Abbottabad Campus)
• City University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar
• Gandhara Institute of Science & Technology, PGS Engineering College (University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar)
• Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi-Swabi
• Iqra University Peshawar (Formerly Iqra University, Karachi (Peshawar Campus)
• National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad- Military College of Engineering
  , Risalpur Campus
• National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences
  , Islamabad (Peshawar Campus)
• University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar (Main Campus)
• University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar
  (Mardan Campus)
• University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar (Bannu Campus)
• University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar (Abbottabad Campus)
• University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar (Kohat Campus)
• Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar
• Abasyn University, Peshawar
• University of Science and Technology, Bannu
• IMSciences, Peshawar
• Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan

• Cadet College Razmak, North Waziristan District.
• Abbottabad Public School, Abbottabad
• Army Burn Hall College, Abbottabad
• University of Science and Technology Bannu
  , Bannu
• Cadet College Kohat, Kohat
• Edwardes College
  , Peshawar
• Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan
• Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan
• Islamia College University, Peshawar
• University of Agriculture
  , Peshawar
• University of Malakand, Chakdara
• University of Peshawar, Peshawar
• Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak
• IMSciences, Peshawar
• Forward Degree College, Peshawar
• Khyber Medical University, Peshawar
• Khyber Girls Medical College, Peshawar
• Khyber Medical College, Peshawar

This section is an excerpt from Tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[edit]

• Bannu Division (11XXX)
• Dera Ismail Khan Division (12XXX)
• Hazara Division (13XXX)
• Kohat Division (14XXX)
• Malakand Division (15XXX)
• Mardan Division (16XXX)
• Peshawar Division (17XXX)

• Northern Pakistan
• List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population
• List of cultural heritage sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• List of hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• List of populated places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa clothing
• Provincial Highways of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• North-West Frontier Province
• Federally Administered Tribal Areas