Hazara outreach: PPP, Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara agree on seat adjustment

The irrigation minister said Jhangra dam will irrigate 1800 acres of land.

HARIPUR: The Pakistan Peoples Party will make a seat adjustment with the Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara (TSH) and carve out a separate Hazara province from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, said the provincial minister for irrigation, Syed Ahmed Hussain Shah.

Shah was speaking to participants at the stone laying ceremony of the Jhangra dam on Monday. He claimed that the PPP will be voted again into power and win a landslide victory at the polls after adjusting seats with TSH. We will make the dream of Hazara province a reality, he said.

Listing the salient features of Jhangra dam, Shah said the project was scheduled to be completed in the next two years with a cost of Rs500 million. It will irrigate 1,800 acres of land, he added.

Development projects worth Rs2 billion were launched in the Hazara region during the PPP tenure and this serves as evidence of the PPP’s efforts to improve people’s standard of living, Shah said.



He said that seven dams were being built in the Hazara region, in addition to the improvement of irrigation systems.

Another ANP leader quits party to join PPP

The Awami National Party (ANP) suffered another blow on Monday with the departure of Engineer Hizbullah Gandapur, who has decided to join the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Gandapur, who was reportedly offered a ticket by the ANP to contest the upcoming elections from PK-67 in Kulachi tehsil of DI Khan, announced his decision during a programme held at Gandapur House. National Assembly Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi, former provincial MPA Hafizullah Khan Alizai and other local leaders were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the gathering, Gandapur said the ANP had neglected the southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), adding that all developmental projects were initiated in Swabi, Mardan and Peshawar. He claimed the PPP is working for the welfare of the people.

Gandapur said the ANP gave him a ticket to contest the upcoming elections from PK-67, but he did not accept the offer because the party has done nothing for his area.

Kundi welcomed Gandapur to the PPP and said his joining will strengthen the party. He added the party’s central leaders will soon visit Kulachi and hold a public gathering.

Kundi said PPP’s candidate for PK-67 will be nominated through a consensus, adding that Gandapur was a suitable candidate and likely to contest from the constituency.

Kundi termed Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Islam Zindabad Conference in DI Khan a “failed attempt.” He said JUI-F claims to eliminate feudal culture, but ironically all those attending the conference were feudals.

Gandapur himself is a landlord in Kulachi. He was earlier the deputy president of Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (PML-N) and was about to contest the 2008 elections. However, PML-N asked him not to contest at the last moment as a favour to the JUI-F. Following this, Gandapur quit PML-N and joined ANP.

With additional reporting from our correspondent in DI Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2013.