Qaumi Watan Party ( ps, قومي وطن ګوند or ; ur, قومی وطن پارٹی), abbreviated as QWP and formerly called Pakistan Peoples Party–Sherpao (PPP–S), is one of the prominent
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, that split away from the
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...
just before the
2002 general election. PPP–S was named after its leader
Aftab Ahmad Sherpao
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (آفتاب احمد خان شېرپاؤ; born 20 August 1944) is a Pakistani politician who is the current chairman of the centre-left Pashtun nationalist Qaumi Watan Party, after previously being a member of the Paki ...
. Differences had cropped up between PPP Chairperson
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
and Senior Leader Aftab Ahmad Sherpao in 1999 and the latter was expelled from the PPP by the former, thus creating PPP–S. In October 2012, it was renamed to Qaumi Watan Party when it changed its political agenda and declared itself as a
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
neo-nationalist
Neo-nationalism, or new nationalism, is an ideology and political movement built on the basic characteristics of classical nationalism. It developed to its final form by applying elements with reactionary character generated as a reaction to ...
party.
Name change
The name and manifesto of the party were formally changed on October 17, 2012. It was renamed from "Pakistan Peoples Party–Sherpao" to "Qaumi Watan Party". The tri-color flag was also changed by replacing the green color with white. Aftab Ahmad Sherpao said Qaumi Watan Party will work for rights of the
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
of the entire region, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi,
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
and the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
, conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas
, nation = Pakistan
, subdivision = Autonomous territory
, image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg
, image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...
.
Overview
At the legislative
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
of 20 October 2002, Pakistan Peoples Party–Sherpao won 0.3% of the popular vote and 2 out of 272 elected members. In the
2008 general election, the party won only 1 seat in the National Assembly, in which the party leader Aftab Sherpao was successful. On the other hand, it won 6 provincial assembly seats, all in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
During the 2013 elections the party rebranded itself as the Qaumi Watan Party and Sherpao once again won the National seat, provincially the party secured 10 seats in total, of which 8 were directly elected. This made the Qaumi Watan Party the fourth largest party in the KPK Assembly and a ally of
PTI PTI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Pardon the Interruption'', an American television sports show
* PTI, a musical group on the WTII Records label
Organizations
* Pacific Torah Institute, a yeshiva high school in Vancouver, British Columb ...
-led government coalition.
Flag
The tricolor red-black-white flag of the party exactly resembles the
flag
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
of the
Kingdom of Afghanistan
The Kingdom of Afghanistan ( ps, , Dǝ Afġānistān wākmanān; prs, پادشاهی افغانستان, Pādešāhī-ye Afġānistān) was a constitutional monarchy in Central Asia established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Af ...
during the regime of
Emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...
Habibullah Kalakani Habibullah also spelled Habib Ullah, Habibollah, Habeeb-Allah etc. ( ar, حَبِيْبَُ ٱلله), is a male Muslim given name meaning in ''Beloved of God'', stemming from the male form of the name Habib. It may refer to:
People
*Raja Sir Ch ...
(January 1929 – October 1929). The same colors were also used by the
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
when occupying present-day Afghanistan in the 13th century.
QWP-PTI relationship
The QWP initially joined the coalition government in the KPK province as a junior party of Imran Khan's PTI. The PTI then parted ways on suspicions of corruption by QWP ministers. After Qaumi Wattan Party parted ways from the KPK provincial government by Tehreek-e-Insaf of Imran Khan over corruption allegations, Sikandar Sherpao of QWP presented a letter to the media which was received from PTI Chairman Imran Khan advising to appoint a person named Khushal Khan as CEO of KPOGCL. PTI criticized QWP for such an act as the letter contained errors and the signature of Imran Khan was seen to be different from the original one.
Shireen Mazari
Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari ( ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who served the Federal Minister for Human Rights, from 20 August 2018 to 10 April 2022. She is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commi ...
condemned the letter in a brief press release.
Relations began to improve between the two party and as of 2015, QWP rejoined the PTI provincial government and its ministers re-took the oath of office, this came amongst agreement between the parties to support non-corrupt government and resulted from QWP ministers not being charged of corruption by the Ehtesab Commission.
References
External links
Official siteOfficial TwitterOfficial Facebook
{{Pakistan topics
Social democratic parties in Pakistan
Pakistan People's Party breakaway groups
Pashtun nationalism