Pro-Hazara province: Mass rally held in Abbottabad

Demands majority resolutions in provincial, national assemblies for province

ABBOTTABAD: Political parties advocating for a Hazara province on Wednesday gave the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government ten days to adopt a majority resolution for creating the new province. On failure to do so, they threatened to block the Karakoram Highway indefinitely.

They further demanded that criminal cases be registered against former chief minister of the province Amir Haider Hoti the then Hazara DIG, divisional commissioner and Abbottabad DPO for a fatal clash between protesters and police in Abbottabad on April 12, 2010, which left as many as seven protesters dead and 104 injured.



On that day, demonstrators had been protesting against a decision to change the name of the province from NWFP to K-P.

On Wednesday, Tehrik Suba Hazara Party (TSHP) marked the seventh anniversary of that clash in a public gathering on Jinnah Road. TSHP Chief Baba Haider Zaman reiterated his resolve to continue the struggle for a Hazara province.

Later the participants marched to Fawara Chowk where they staged a sit-in, blocking the KKH for over 15 minutes.

Apart from demanding cases against the former K-P chief minister, they demanded compensation worth Rs5 million for the heirs of each of the slain activists along with job guarantees and Rs500,000 as compensation for each of the 104 people injured. They also warned against an indefinite strike on the KKH unless a majority resolution for Hazara province in the national and provincial assemblies was not accepted within ten days.



Later, Police Elite Force Superintendent Ihjaz Goga held talks with leaders of TSHP and assured them that the matter would be taken up with the provincial government within the stipulated time.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2017.