A single objective: Hazara leaders agree to roadmap for separate province

Meeting held where district, tehsil nazims were also present

ABBOTABAD:

Elected representatives from across the Hazara Division have agreed on a roadmap to pursue the objective of making the region a separate province.

The road map, which includes taking the leadership of mainstream political parties and parliamentarians on board, was discussed at a closed room meeting on Saturday at the Frontier House in Abbottabad.

Present in the meeting were elected MNAs, MPAs and senators from Hazara belonging to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Qaumi Watan Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, among other parties.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf chaired the meeting and participants reflected upon the longstanding demand of a Hazara province. Representatives of the local government were also present.



Decisions

Yousaf is an elected MNA from NA-20 (Mansehra) and head of Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara.

After the meeting, he briefed journalists and said participants pledged their resolve to continue their struggle for a separate province. He said seven people opposing the renaming of NWFP sacrificed their lives on April 12, 2010 and around 200 were injured when the anti-riot police fired on a procession.

Yousaf added the participants demanded an FIR be registered against those responsible for firing that day in light of the report by Riaz Fatyana, the then chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights.

Committees and plans

Yousaf said two committees were also formed at the meeting: one comprises MNAs and senators headed by Yousaf and the second comprises MPAs from Hazara and the district and tehsil nazims. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Food Qalandar Khan Lodhi would head the provincial coordination committee.

He would meet the governor, chief minister and provincial leaders of political parties to persuade them to support the idea of a separate Hazara province in parliament. On the other hand, the central coordination committee would lobby in the National Assembly and Senate and hold meetings with the central leadership of mainstream political parties and parliamentary leaders, including those in the Fata Reforms Committee.

High hopes

Yousaf said all the district and tehsil councillors would adopt resolutions in their respective houses, recommending the provincial assembly to create a Hazara province. Besides the councillors, social activists and traders’ organisations would also adopt resolutions for the cause, added Yousaf, and forward them to the provincial government.

The federal minister told journalists the committees formed at the meeting would also play their role in resolving the boundary matter between Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan.

To a question, he said all political parties agreed on the formation of a Hazara province and had no differences over the matter. “Even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised to accept the demand of the province.” However, Yousaf said the prime minister wanted to resolve other issues like those related to peace in the country and address the energy crisis before looking into the matter of a separate province.

Neverthless, Yousaf was hopeful that the demand of a separate province would be addressed before the tenure of the PML-N government came to an end.

Also present on the occasion were NA Deputy Speaker Mutaza Javed Abbasi, MNAs Babar Nawaz and Sarazamin Khan and former MPA Yusuf Ayub among others.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2016.