LAHORE
DOZENS of supporters of Tehrik-e-Hazara Sooba (Hazara Province Movement) staged a rally on Thursday, April 15, 2010 to reject renaming of NWFP as Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa and demanded separate province for Hazaraites.
The rally was staged outside Lahore Press Club. It was led by local leaders of the movement including Niaz Khan, Shabbir Khan, Niaz Tanoli, Fayyaz Khan and Abdul Manan Tanoli. Its participants were holding banners and placards chanting slogans against Awami National Party (ANP) government in NWFP for opening a new era of oppression and exploitation against the people of Hazara. They also said ‘Ek he Naara, Sooba Hazara’ “Pakhtoonkhawa Naamanzoor” etc and condemned violence against the Hazaraites on April 12 in Abbotabad by the ANP government.
Addressing the rally, Niaz Khan said the ground reality proved that a separate province for the Hindkoh speaking people, who possessed 42 per cent of the total NWFP area, was inevitable. He said the renaming of NWFP as Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa was a sheer violation of the rights of non-Pashto speaking people of the province and now the demand of the Hazara people should be respected.
O ther speakers on the occasion also condemned the use of force against the people of Hazara who were holding a peaceful protest for their demand of a separate province.
They alleged that Special Forces were sent from the districts of Peshawar, Charsadda and Mardan to Abbotabad who killed innocent protestors.
The supporters of the Hazara movement paid tremendous tribute to the people who lost their lives in the Abbotabad incident and hoped their sacrifice wouldn’t go waste.
The participants also expressed dissatisfaction over the compensation given to the families of the people who lost their lives as a result of violence in Abbotabad on April 12.
They demanded that the government should review its decision of awarding Rs 300,000 to every victim saying that Rs 1 million should be granted to the bereaved families. Later, the rally dispersed peacefully..