Palas as district headquarters opposed

MANSEHRA: The people of Kolai on Monday took to the streets in Pattan and warned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government against notifying Palas as the district headquarters of newly notified Kolai-Palas district.

The chief minister had notified Kolai-Palas as district last year but decision on its headquarters was still pending.

The protesters belonging to Kolai assembled in Pattan the district headquarters of Lower Kohistan and blocked Karakoram Highway for two hours bringing motorists to halt.

The protesters also raised slogans in support of their demands and against PTI-led government.

“We would never accept decision of government if it notified Palas as headquarters of Kolai-Palas district at any cost,” Malik Ghulam Nabi, a local elder told the protesters.

He said the chief minister had summoned elders of both Kolai and Palas earlier this month but he didn’t hear their grievances and gave preference to former MPA Maulana Asmatullah of Palas.

Another speaker Maulana Abdul Rehman told the protesters that recently a commission constituted by the chief minister and led by commissioner of Hazara had visited newly notified district but went back without hearing them.

“We would come onto Karakoram highway and block it to all sorts of traffic for an indefinite period if Palas was notified as the district headquarters of Kolai-Palas district,” said Maulana Rehman.

The PTI-led provincial government had bifurcated Kohistan into three districts, Upper and Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas last year.