Pitting tribes: Tribal elders reject bifurcation of Kohistan

Palas Kolai committee to file review petition in Supreme Court

KOHISTAN: A dispute over the headquarters of the newly-created Lower Kohistan District is likely to delay the bifurcation as tribal elders from Palas Tehsil vowed to resist the move by filing suit over it in the apex court, Palas Kolai Action Committee General Secretary Mufti Obaidur Rehman claimed while talking to newsmen in Dasu here on Monday.

He said that although the apex court had upheld the decision of the K-P government regarding bifurcation of Kohistan into lower and upper Kohistan districts, the 82- member Palas Kolai Committee headed by MPA Molvi Asmatullah, has decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court within the next few days.

“There are only two solutions to the impasse, either Palas, which is a bigger tehsil than Pattan, should be declared district headquarters of lower Kohistan, or we should be left with upper Kohistan”, he said adding that their committee had met on Sunday evening and decided not to accept Pattan as the headquarters of the new district. He said that the committee has also decided to continue the social boycott of tribes of Pattan who banned residents of Palas from using the common road passing through Pattan.

He warned that if the residents of Palas were forced to become part of a new district without accepting their demands, responsibility for any law and order situation would be on the district administration.

He also met Kohistan Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Asif and apprised him the concerns of people of Palas.

Talking to media persons, PML-N provincial vice-president Malik Fazal-e-Haq, who is from Pattan Tehsil, said the tribes of Pattan have ended the social boycott of people of Palas following the SC decision and wanted to visit them on Monday to promote inter-tribe harmony, but the tribal elders of Palas sent them a message asking them to not to visit them.

The provincial government had issued a notification which mentioned that Lower Kohistan would include both tehsils of Palas and Pattan. According to the notification, Pattan was declared the headquarters of the seventh district of Hazara division on February 15, 2014, and a deputy commissioner and district police officer were posted as administrative officers.

However, people from different union councils of Palas opposed the government’s decision and demanded that Palas be made the headquarters of the new district. They also took to the streets and blocked Karakoram Highway more than twice and staged rallies outside the Abbottabad bench of the Peshawar High Court.

The PHC Abbottabad bench had earlier granted a stay against the bifurcation and dismissed the petition of tribal elders of Palas on June 24, 2014, maintaining the decision of the provincial government. The Palas Kolia Committee then moved the Supreme Court, which upheld the PHC’s decision.

Talking to The Express Tribune, JUI-F’s MPA from PK 62 Palas Asmatullah, while trying to justify his opposition to the bifurcation of Kohistan with Pattan as its headquarters, added that Palas includes 16 union councils and 500 villages with a population of over 175,000, whereas, he claimed, Pattan has 94 villages and 10 union councils and a population of around 100,000. He added that Palas already has a newly-constructed administration block which covers 20 kanals, while in Pattan, the government would need to spend money to build new offices. The MPA said that the PTI government was refusing to change the headquarters as  PTI MPA Abdul Haq, who serves as an adviser to the K-P CM, is from Pattan .

Kohistan district was created in 1976 during PPP’s government but despite being one of the rich districts having abundant of natural resources of forest, water and minerals it was neglected.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2017.