Disunity splinters the Hazara cause

Pro-Hazara province groups too busy claiming leadership of the cause to be concerned with actually following up on it.

ABBOTABAD: Internal strife, petty politics and bickering among various power groups have undermined the objectives of the movement for Hazara province that cost nearly a dozen men their lives during a year of violent protest.

The unity that was witnessed for a common cause among local pressure groups and political parties after the renaming of NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has splintered into several small sections making tall claims of their struggle for the cause of Hazara province.

Among the political parties, it was the PML-N which, despite having bagged most of the National and provincial assembly seats from Hazara in the last general elections, was at the losing end as its popularity dwindled in all parts of the region for not having a clear cut stand on the issue of renaming the province as K-P. Even the political heavyweight of Hazara and the PML-N stalwart Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi had to tender resignation to the party chief to save his skin.

Those were the days when none of the PML-N central leaders dared coming to Hazara while its local leaders had also gone underground to save themselves from the public wrath. It was the PML-Q that fully exploited this situation and its local leaders won the people’s sympathies by showing unflinching support for the cause of Hazara province.

Sardar Mohammad Yousaf ex-district Nazim of Mansehra, his son MNA Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf, ex-minister and leader of opposition in the former NWFP Assembly Shahzada Mohammad Gustasap Khan, ex-minister Wajeeuz Zaman Khan, ex-MPA Zar Gul Khan from Kala Dhaka which is now the 25th district of K-P and former federal minister Syed Qasim Shah from Mansehra district while  Sardar Haider Zaman ex-district Nazim of Abbottabad popularly known as “Baba Haider Zaman”, and ex-MPA Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani from Abbottabad district who could not perform well in the last general elections under the PML-Q flag fully exploited the renaming issue to win the support of people.

Another political bigwig of Hazara Gohar Ayub Khan from Haripur was also smart and wise enough to join hands with these PML-Q leaders to make the hay while sun shines. The less popular groups on the forefront were Hazara Qaumi Mahaz (HQM) and Hazara Qaumi Movement (HQM), based in Abbottabad. After last year incident, the TSH led by Baba Haider Zaman has been holding rallies and public meetings in various parts of Hazara region and in big cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi to muster support for the creation of Hazara province.

Two more groups, mostly comprising of the unemployed youth have come to surface. They have been highly critical of the politicians for not paying heed towards their plight. They are of the view that politicians in the past made hollow promises during elections and after getting elected did nothing for the unemployed educated youth. Now again they have resurfaced to exploit the situation on the renaming issue for their personal gains. The other financially strong group that surfaced after the April last violence is Hazara Awami Ittehad believed to be an offshoot of the late Omar Asghar Khan’s Sungi Foundation. Led by his brother Ali Asghar and another notable of Abbottabad, Wali Mohammad Khan, the Ittehad, according to sources, is funded by some donors.

The PML-N which had suffered a setback in Hazara on renaming issue started gradually recovering with the settling of dust after the last year violence. Some three months ago its local leaders started membership drive across Hazara division and held public meetings in all major cities and towns of Hazara. In these public meetings the PML-N leaders mostly targeted the PML-Q leadership and held them responsible for the death of innocent people on April 12 by exploiting the renaming issue.

Its leaders are still claiming that it is none else but the PML-N that will make the dream of Hazara province true. These efforts helped PML-N to some extent in saving its face among the people. But, PML-N is cashing in on two events occurred in the past few weeks to pay the PML-Q in the same coin. The first issue that caused resentment among the splinter groups was that the TSH announced to register itself as a political party. There are loud voices from every nook and corner of Hazara that TSH is being hijacked by PML-Q to use it for political gains.

The second issue that gave an edge to PML-N is that through the good offices of a PPP provincial minister, the newly elected cabinet of Mansehra Press Club invited provincial Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain for the oath taking ceremony. This gave rise to a bitter controversy as after the renaming of province as K-P the ANP leaders could pay very little or no visit to Hazara. Baba Haider Zaman announced to hold a press conference the same day in Mansehra Press Club. Mian Iftikhar had to cancel his scheduled visit and Baba arrived in MPC to address the press conference. The very next day the smaller groups and the PML-N leaders started rushing to MPC to express sympathy with its newly elected cabinet and termed the Baba’s visit as an attempt of attack by PML-Q on the press club. This issue is being exploited by the PML-N to gain the sympathies of journalists.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2011.