A leader of Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara Party speaks during a demonstration at Fawara Chowk in Abbottabad. PHOTO: ONLINE
KARACHI: While the federal government appears all set to carve out a Bahawalpur South Punjab province, leaders of the Tehreek-e-Sooba Hazara, Muttahida Hazara Ulema Council and other groups have renewed their demands for a separate Hazara province.
These groups have reportedly organised a series of protests and demonstrations in the city. Even the walls in areas, such as Baldia Town, Landhi, Ittehad Town, Musharraf Colony, Zia Colony, Sultanabad, Hijrat Colony, Hazara Colony and Mansehra Colony are full of graffiti in support of a Hazara province.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Sardar Shamoon of Tehreek-e-Sooba Hazara questioned why the government could form new provinces in the Punjab on administrative grounds, but not do the same for Hazara, when “its people have been deprived of their own resources”. The parliamentary commission on new provinces, which was set up last year, had recently approved formation of a Bahawalpur South Province.
Shamoon added that it was their constitutional right to demand a separate province, and that they would continue their struggle till they succeeded.
Nazir Khan Sawati, senior vice-chairperson of the Hazara Youth Wing, claimed that a majority of Pashtuns living in Karachi hailed from Hazara, and that their group aimed to unite all of them over the issue.
Despite their common demands, however, these splinter groups have had a tough time uniting on a common platform in the past. Meanwhile, a few of these groups have been accused of being used by politicians hailing from Hazara for their own purposes.
However, with the federal government’s apparent enthusiasm to see the Bahawalpur South Province appear on the country’s map, these groups appear to have united in their calls for their separate province. Sawati said that his group wanted all these groups to unite and make use of their combined strength. “When Baba Haider Zaman started voicing for a separate province we supported him.” Zaman leads one of the most widely known of these groups, the Tehrik Sooba Hazara Party.
Mufti Ziaul Islam Takarwi, chairperson of the Muttahida Hazara Ulema Council, justified the calls for the Hazara province by saying that Hazara division was stretched over a large swath of land between Hasan Abdal and Kohistan. It has Pakistan’s largest water dam, and is also bestowed with other natural resources, he said. However, its people were not reaping any benefits despite the presence of these resources.
Takarwi accused mainstream political parties of using the Hazara province movement to further their own political ambitions. However, the people of Hazara would not let any of these leaders “use” them for their own benefit, he added.
When asked about the impression that the Hazara province movement was launched in Karachi, Takarwi explained that the port city housed more people from Hazara than any other city in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2013.
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I am presently a US citizen, but originally from Hazara Pakistan. Here, in the USA, there are the majority of Hazara residents and they are very active and interested to be Hazara as a province. I am interested in joining the Hazara movement as Hazara as a province. Before I join, I request to the all groups to form one collective group to achieve Hazara as a province. Thanks
It is the right time for the politicians of all political parties to unite for the cause of the separate Hazara Province and expedite their efforts. Only that political party will get votes in the coming elections which will come up with clear and unambiguous policy for a separate Hazara province before the people of Hazara and before the election.