Give Hazara status of unit before renaming KP: PMLN leader

MANSEHRA: Tehreek-i-Sooba Hazara chairman Sardar Mohammad Yousuf on Tuesday demanded the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led federal government to first give Hazara a status of province and then change the nomenclature of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We have peacefully been struggling to get the status of a province for Hazara division for the last many decades and waiting for the government to honour the commitments made with the people,” the MNA told reporters here.

Sardar Yousuf, who remained the federal minister of religious affairs in the PMLN government and represented Mansehra in the National Assembly after being elected MNA on its ticket on the February 8, 2024, general elections, made it clear to the government to first ensure the status of province for the Hazara and then change the nomenclature from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Pakhtunkhwa.

“ANP leader Aimal Wali Khan wants to exploit the situation developed following impasse on the 26th constitutional amendment, but we would never accept a change in KP name until our demand of Hazara province is accepted first,” Sardar Yousuf said.

Flanked by other officer-bearers of Tehreek-i-Sooba Hazara, he said that they had been demanding Hazara province purely on administration basis. The KP Assembly has adopted and passed its resolutions twice,” he added.

He said that Hazara province’s bill had already landed with secretaries of the National Assembly and senate.“We are not opposed to the creation of more federating units in the country and it is high time that the federal government should increase the number of provinces to address socio-economic issues,” he added.