More divisions arise: Bifurcation of Kohistan marred by disagreement over headquarters

Tribes of Palas and Pattan tehsils demand Lower Kohistan’s headquarters be located in their area.

KOHISTAN: As several tribes from Palas and Pattan tehsils of the newly-formed Lower Kohistan district remain divided over the headquarters of the new district, the bifurcation process of Kohistan has been delayed for the past one and a half month.

On February 15, the provincial government had issued a notification declaring Lower Kohistan the seventh district of Hazara Division comprising tehsils Palas and Pattan, and with Pattan as the headquarters of the district.

However, trouble arose when the residents of various union councils (UCs) of Palas opposed the government’s decision and demanded Palas be made the headquarters. They then began holding several protests and blocked the Karakoram Highway on multiple occasions.

According to Maulana Asmatullah, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) MPA from PK-62 Palas, the people of the tehsil oppose Pattan as the headquarters because Pattan has 94 villages, 10 UCs and a population of nearly 100,000, while Palas has 16 UCs, 500 villages and a population of over 175,000.

“Palas also houses a newly-constructed administrative block spread over 20 kanals and the government’s resources would be wasted on constructing a new one in Pattan,” contended Asmatullah. The MPA further alleged that despite people’s protests, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government did not want to change the headquarters of Lower Kohistan because its MPA from Pattan, Abdul Haq, is an adviser to the chief minister.

“In the near future, Kohistan will be generating billions of rupees in revenue from its water resources, and a lobby which does not want the district to develop is deliberately pitting the tribes of Palas and Pattan against each other,” he claimed, vowing to continue his struggle for the acceptance of his constituents’ demands.

Incidentally, Maulana Dildar, JUI-F’s former MPA from Pattan, accused Maulana Asmatullah and his tribe of creating obstacles in the way of Kohistan’s development.

“The sitting MPA is out to settle a score against the people of Pattan who had criticised him for misleading the inquiry commissions investigating the killing of five Kohistani women in the name of honour,” he said.

Malik Aurangzeb, an activist of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on the other hand, warned of severe consequences if Asmatuallah and his constituents did not back down from their demands. “The residents of Palas only have one land route to cross the Indus River – Palas Bridge – which falls in the jurisdiction of Pattan. If the MPA and his supporters do not budge from their illegal stance, the people of Pattan can stop them from using the route,” he warned.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2014.