Bifurcation of Kohistan: JUI-F leader threatens protest over Pattan as headquarters

Says decision to ignore Palas is a bid to appease PTI MPA Abdul Haq

KOHISTAN:

A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) MPA threatened a jirga would march towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief’s residence in Bani Gala and stage a sit-in outside Governor House in Peshawar against the decision to make Pattan Lower Kohistan’s headquarters.

At a media briefing on Thursday, MPA Maulana Asmatullah said the provincial government’s decision is a bid to appease CM’s adviser and PTI MPA from Kohistan, Abdul Haq. Pattan is the hometown of the PTI MPA.

According to the JUI-F leader, Pattan is not part of old Kohistan as it was included in the district by the government much later. He said Palas, his hometown, has been on the map of Kohistan for centuries and ought to be declared the headquarters of Lower Kohistan.

Asmatullah used facts and figures to justify his stance. “Palas has 16 union councils and 500 villages with a population of over 175,000 people, whereas Pattan has only 10 union councils, 94 villages and a population of 100,000.”

A tribal jirga has embarked on a struggle to persuade the K-P government to declare Palas as the headquarters, said Asmatullah.

In February, the provincial government issued a statement declaring Lower Kohistan the seventh administrative unit in Hazara division, comprising two tehsils – Pattan and Palas. Pattan was declared the headquarters of the district.

One week later, tribes from Palas opposed the decision to declare Pattan as district headquarters. They launched a protest and challenged the decision in the Abbottabad bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

The high court stayed the bifurcation and asked the newly-posted deputy commissioner and DPO to stop working. However, on July 24, the bench—headed by Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth and Justice Irshad Qaiser—upheld the provincial government’s decision to establish the district headquarters in Pattan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2014.