Abolition of Hangu PA and NA seats protested

HANGU: The elders of Hangu district on Sunday staged a protest against the abolition of national and provincial assemblies’ seats following the new delimitation.

The leaders of almost all the political parties, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl, Awami National Party, Pakistan People’s Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, civil society members and local elders participated in the protest and later addressed a press conference.

Speaking at a press conference after the protest rally, the local leaders and elders, including Mufti Syed Janan, Yousaf Khan, Abidullah advocate, Gul Sahib Shah, Maulana Muhammad Umar, Syed Jamal Orakzai, Maulana Tehsinullah, Hafiz Abdul Hadi and others said that the government should restore the PA and NA seat before upcoming general elections else they would launch a protest movement for their rights.

They said that they would boycott elections and launch a protest drive if the government did not conduct a census and restore the PA and NA slots for the district.The speakers said that the Hangu district had now been annexed with the NA constituency in Orakzai district besides decreasing one PA seat which they termed an economic murder of people of Hangu.

Explaining the situation, they said that the previous census was conducted but it had many loopholes.The participants constituted a committee to launch a decisive movement for the rights of Hangu people.

They asked the caretaker prime minister and chief election commissioner to conduct a census to furnish the exact statistics about the population living in Hangu district or else they would launch a protest movement for their rights.