Hazara MPs to table resolution in NA for separate province

The News International Hazara MPs to table resolution in NA for separate province

Protest continues against renaming of NWFP Sunday, April 04, 2010 Our correspondent ABBOTTABAD: Members of the National Assembly belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and JUI-F on Saturday said the lawmakers from Hazara division would table a resolution in the National Assembly to demand the status of province for Hazara. Addressing a press conference, PML-N’s Murtaza Javed Abbasi said the assembly members from Hazara would not hesitate to introduce another amendment in the Constitution for the creation of Hazara province. “We have decided to table a resolution in the National Assembly,” he added. Abbasi is one of the two National Assembly members from Abbottabad district. The other is Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan, also from PML-N that agreed to rename NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. JUI-F’s newly-elected MNA from Mansehra, Laiq Mohammad Khan said he would attend the National Assembly session wearing a black arm-band, staged a walkout over ending the identity of Hazara and demand provincial status for Hazara. He also announced support for the movement against the renaming of NWFP as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Regarding renaming of the province, Abbasi said that it had become difficult for the PML-N to go against other political parties. “Despite opposition from all sides, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif took stand on the issue for over 10 days, which helped in adding the prefix Khyber to Pakhtunkhwa,” he argued. Abbasi observed that it was the Pakistan People’s Party, which fully backed the Awami National Party in the renaming of NWFP. Meanwhile, people in Abbottabad staged protests Saturday against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for the third consecutive day. The protesters blocked the Karakoram Highway for 30 minutes for all kinds of traffic at the Fawara Chowk by burning tyres on the main road. Earlier, the protesters took out a procession against the renaming of the province and marched through various bazaars and staged a sit-in at the Fawara Chowk. The protestors were led by former Abbottabad district Nazim and the Hazara Suba Action Committee head Sardar Haider Zaman, PML-Q leader Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, PTI’s Asif Zubair Sheikh. They condemned the renaming of the province as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as it wiped out the identity of the people of Hazara and demanded of the government to declare Hazara as a province. Speaking at the protest meeting, Gohar Ayub Khan alleged that Peshawar valley had exploited Hazara due to lack of unity among the assembly members from Hazara. He said the Rs22 billion net hydel profits from Tarbela Dam were the right of Hazara and should be spent in the area for uplift works. Former ministers Sardar Idrees and Yousaf Ayub Khan, former lawmaker Mazhar Qasim Shah, former National Assembly deputy speaker Sardar Yaqoob, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Pir Khan Tanoli, ex-assembly candidate Dr Mohammad Azhar, traders’ representatives Naseer Khan Jadoon and Mumtaz Khan, Hazara Qaumi Mahaz’s Naseem Awan, etc also attended the meeting. It was decided to observe shutters-down and wheel-jam strike in Hazara on the occasion of President Zardari’s speech to the joint session of parliament on Monday.

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