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Protest rallies in Hazara against renaming today

Posted on: Fri April 09, 2010

ABBOTTABAD: Leaders of the action committee demanding creation of Hazara province on Thursday announced to observe Black Day and stage protest rallies against the renaming of the NWFP today.

Addressing a press conference, the head of the action committee, Sardar Haider Zaman, said that creation of the Hazara province had become necessary after renaming the NWFP on linguistic and ethnic basis.

Other leaders of the action committee including former foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan, former federal minister Amnullah Khan Jadoon, former deputy speaker of National Assembly Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob, former Mansehra district Nazim Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, MPA Qalandar Lodhi, ex-ministers Shehzada Gustasap Khan and Tariq Khan Swati, ex-MPA and provincial general secretary of Pakistan Muslim League-Q Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Nisar Safdar, ex-Tehsil Nazim Junaid Qasim and Dr Azhar Jadoon also spoke on the occasion.

They said their movement for the establishment of Hazara province would be taken to its logical end at all costs. If there are 28 provinces in neighbouring Afghanistan, 27 in India and 32 in Iran then why not create more provinces in Pakistan, Gohar Ayub argued, adding that Hazara had an immense geo-political and historical importance that could not be ignored.

The leaders of the movement said it were the people of Hazara who had voted in favour of Pakistan during the referendum. They condemned the police excesses against the peaceful protesters and said they were holding a non-violent rally but, according to them, law-enforcers at the behest of the provincial government resorted to the use of brute force.

They urged the government to quash the FIRs and release the detainees or they would be compelled to go to the extreme. They said if the administration did not meet their demands, the responsibility of any unpleasant incident would rest with the authorities.

They said that would not allow officials to display number plates and signboards of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on their vehicles and buildings at any cost They alleged that the people of Hazara were deprived of their identity by renaming the province. They said they would not accept the new name as the people of Hazara had no representation in it. They said that resolutions had been submitted in the provincial and national assemblies, seeking creation of a new federating unit with the name Hazara.

Courtesy : The News