Clashes: Fury in Hunza over district headquarters

GILGIT: The government’s move to set Nagar as district headquarters of Hunza-Nagar district has evoked some extreme reaction in the Hunza Valley, with some going as far as saying that it would provoke people up in arms. Hunza which makes up the seventh district of G-B along with Nagar, has been thrown into commotion after the decision. With various stakeholders claiming rights to the location of the district headquarters, clashes in the region appear imminent. “We will never accept the unilateral decision to make Nagar the district headquarters. We are ready to launch an armed struggle against the decision,” Wazir Mujahidullah, the president of the Hunza Qaumi Markah[HQM] or the Hunza National Alliance, told a public meeting in Hunza. He said that the government would not be able to control the masses if they stood up against it in response to its ‘insane’ decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st,  2011.