Violent protests continue over renaming province of Pakistan as seven killed
By Farzana Shah-Asian Tribune Correspondent in Pakistan
Abbottabad/ Manshera (Pakistan), 14 April, (Asiantribune.com):
The ongoing protest in Hazara division against renaming Pakistan's North West Frontier Province intensified on Tuesday as thousands of protesters were joined by lawyers and workers from political parties who clashed with police and burnt public property.
So far at least seven people have been killed and more than 200 injured in clashes between protesters and police as the later opened fire on the demonstrators on Monday.
On Tuesday complete shutter down strike was observed across Hazara as thousands of protesters marched in the streets blocking all entry and exit points for vehicular traffic cutting the entire division literally from the rest of the country.
The city management announced to close all educational institutions for three days and Hazara University and all its campuses will remain closed for indefinite period.
Rallies and protest demonstrations were held in Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Oghi, Balakot, and Garihabibullah.
The cause of the violent protests is the clause in the recently voted constitutional reforms bill, aimed at renaming North West Frontier Province to Khyber Pukhtunkhwa.
The constitutional reforms bill the 18th amendment to strengthen parliamentary democracy and devolve greater power to the provinces was voted through the lower house of parliament in a unanimous vote last week.
The bill has to be passed into a law by the upper house of the parliament.
Hazara division of Pakistan is considered stronghold of opposition leader Nawaz Sharifs political party PML-N, however his partys support for the stated bill has shocked and angered the area people.
On Tuesday the protesters expressing their anger over Nawaz Sharifs stance, pelted official buildings and the PML-N secretariat in Abbottabad and Mansehra. They also set ablaze tyres on the streets in some of the areas.
The people of the area want a neutral name for the province accommodating their ethnic representation as well along with the majority Pashtun population of the province.
Speaking at the rallies, speakers reiterated their demand for either giving a neutral name to the province acceptable to all ethnic groups or give status of a separate province to Hazara.
The legal fraternity has also joined the protest as on the call of high court bar association Hazara Division, the lawyers boycotted the court proceedings. The lawyers also took out a protest rally, and marched through various roads and culminated at the Zafar Ground.
They adopted a unanimous resolution demanding the government to declare Hazara a separate province and arrest DIG and Commissioner Hazara who ordered the firing, which left seven protestors dead on Monday.
The demonstrators included supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q faction.
The party has said it would oppose constitutional reform package, which accepts ethnic majority Pashtun community's longstanding demand to rename the province, in the senate or upper house.
So far angry protestors burnt police mobiles, one Edhi ambulance and also set on fire the Cantt Police Station. The protestors also damaged a number of billboards on the main Karakuram Highway.
Police fired tear gas shells and opened fire to disperse the crowd as the authorities had banned public gatherings in the city, said a senior police official.
The spokesman of the Anti Pukhtoonkhawa movement Naseer Khan Jadoon said that they were carrying out peaceful protest when the police started shelling and opened indiscriminate fire.
However District police chief Iqbal Khan told journalists that police opened fire in self-defence after a mob had besieged the Mirpur police station.
The district administration had imposed Section 144 in the city, banning rallies and public gatherings.
Meanwhile the main districts of Hazara including Abbottabad and Mansehra are observing mourning for those seven people killed so far in the protests.
Funeral prayers in absentia were offered in Havailian and Galiat for those killed in yesterdays riots and their funeral prayers offered in Mansehra, Garhi Habibullah and Tehsil Balakot.
- Asian Tribune -
Violent protests continue over renaming province of Pakistan as seven killed | Asian Tribune