Elections 2013: Demand for Hazara province seeps into national politics
PPP, PML-N and JUI-F have all promised separate province if voted into power.
PPP, PML-N and JUI-F have all promised separate province if voted into power.
ABBOTABAD:
With general elections around the corner, mainstream political parties have incorporated the Hazara province demand in their electioneering, changing the dynamics of local politics.
Hazara is known for politics of janba (groups) and biradaries (clans) along with a post-1947 referendum Muslim League ideology. Leaders, whether they were military dictators or pro-establishment politicians, have always won the sympathies of Hazara electorates in the name of patriotism and development. However, little development has come.
Nasim Awan, a senior leader of the Hazara Qaumi Mahaz (HQM) said leaders who made it through the three levels of parliament from Hazara either sold them out to ruling parties or served their own interests, depriving voters of a region rich in natural resources.
Rabakh Khan Jadoon, a political activist of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also believes that the people of Hazara were punished for supporting the Muslim League during the 1947 referendum, claiming it earned them nothing but a rivalry with the Pashto speaking rulers sitting across Attock Bridge.
The movement for Hazara province, which was launched in 1987 by the late Asif Malik, turned into a resistance when the NWFP was renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). As the protests grew, parties that never supported the movement in the past succumbed to the locals’ demands.
Leaders of the PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and PML-N have openly supported the Hazara province cause with their candidates promising to translate the dream of a Hazara province into a reality if voted into power. The PML-N, whose leadership claims Hazara is a party stronghold, has gone the extra mile and incorporated the Hazara province in its manifesto.
“It is an election promise which they will not be fulfilling,” said Qazi Azhar, chief of HQM. He said if they were loyal to the people of Hazara, they would have rejected its renaming. “They kept silent because they did not want to harm any chances of a future alliance by offending the ANP.” Azhar added. “Nawaz Sharif was making false promises to regain the support of the Hazara people, which he lost in the past five years. “
Sardar Haider Zaman Baba, chief of Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara also appeared to be skeptical about Sharif’s sincerity. He maintained the locals would only vote in favour of loyal leaders who had fought for a separate Hazara identity. Baba agreed the sacrifices made by locals to attain a distinct identity had changed local politics. “This is what we have struggled for in the past. It is our achievement that those who termed our demand impractical have been forced to follow our track.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.
With general elections around the corner, mainstream political parties have incorporated the Hazara province demand in their electioneering, changing the dynamics of local politics.
Hazara is known for politics of janba (groups) and biradaries (clans) along with a post-1947 referendum Muslim League ideology. Leaders, whether they were military dictators or pro-establishment politicians, have always won the sympathies of Hazara electorates in the name of patriotism and development. However, little development has come.
Nasim Awan, a senior leader of the Hazara Qaumi Mahaz (HQM) said leaders who made it through the three levels of parliament from Hazara either sold them out to ruling parties or served their own interests, depriving voters of a region rich in natural resources.
Rabakh Khan Jadoon, a political activist of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also believes that the people of Hazara were punished for supporting the Muslim League during the 1947 referendum, claiming it earned them nothing but a rivalry with the Pashto speaking rulers sitting across Attock Bridge.
The movement for Hazara province, which was launched in 1987 by the late Asif Malik, turned into a resistance when the NWFP was renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). As the protests grew, parties that never supported the movement in the past succumbed to the locals’ demands.
Leaders of the PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and PML-N have openly supported the Hazara province cause with their candidates promising to translate the dream of a Hazara province into a reality if voted into power. The PML-N, whose leadership claims Hazara is a party stronghold, has gone the extra mile and incorporated the Hazara province in its manifesto.
“It is an election promise which they will not be fulfilling,” said Qazi Azhar, chief of HQM. He said if they were loyal to the people of Hazara, they would have rejected its renaming. “They kept silent because they did not want to harm any chances of a future alliance by offending the ANP.” Azhar added. “Nawaz Sharif was making false promises to regain the support of the Hazara people, which he lost in the past five years. “
Sardar Haider Zaman Baba, chief of Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara also appeared to be skeptical about Sharif’s sincerity. He maintained the locals would only vote in favour of loyal leaders who had fought for a separate Hazara identity. Baba agreed the sacrifices made by locals to attain a distinct identity had changed local politics. “This is what we have struggled for in the past. It is our achievement that those who termed our demand impractical have been forced to follow our track.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.