Bifurcating Kohistan: Elders demand referendum

Accuse provincial govt of favouring move to declare Pattan as district headquarters

ABBOTTABAD: Elders from Kohistan have demanded that the provincial government  resolve a dispute surrounding the bifurcation of Kohistan through a referendum, or by dividing the district into three parts.

This was suggested at a news conference in Abbottabad on Wednesday by former Dasu Tehsil Nazim Noor Wali Shah, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Prince Fazal Haq, former MPA Malik Sardar Ayub, and Pakistan Peoples Party’s local leader Malik Qasim.

They criticised an MPA from Pattan and the adviser to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Abdul Haq Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-N MPA Abdul Sattar Khan for trying to ‘mislead’ K-P CM Pervez Khatak during their meeting over bifurcating Kohistan district.

They said that Palas, a large Tehsil with 13 union councils, had the right to demand the status of district headquarters of lower Kohistan. However, they alleged, the provincial government was bent on pleasing Haq by declaring Pattan as the new headquarters of the district.

They demanded that the government should hold a referendum for deciding the matter once for all. They added that if this solution was not acceptable, the 13 union councils of Palas should be attached to Dasu since the residents of the two tehsils shared the same language and historical ties.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2017.