The expected formation of new Saraiki province in Punjab can reinvigorate the otherwise dormant Hazara Province Movement. Most of the people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who are against the movement, say it could provoke Pakhtuns.
Some political analysts say the eagerness of some parties such as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) to form new provinces aims at political gains.
They say these parties want the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to politically suffer in Hazara division and southern Punjab while they gain political support there. They say these parties want to exploit the anti-Punjab sentiments of people in Multan and Bahawalpur.
The Hazara Province Movement emerged after the government renamed North-West Frontier Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on popular demand of the people of the province. The renaming was followed by street agitations held by the people of two districts Abbotabad and Haripur in Hazara division. The PML-Q extended their support to the calls for Hazara province.
People in KP say these parties have no regard for their concerns on the anti-Pakhtun sentiments being expressed by Hindko-speaking people. The ground realities are that out of the six districts of present Hazara division, four are totally Pakhtun-dominated. They are Battagram, Toor Ghar, Kohistan and the Hindko speaking people are dominant in the upper Mansehra, Abbotabad and Haripur. Hence the Pakhtuns are more than half of the population in Hazara division.
Analysts warn that if the Pakhtuns were not taken into confidence, their negation would create chaos in the division. They say it would be discriminatory on the part of the government to ignore a big part of the population in the division.
Thy say there are 12 districts in Balochistan where the Pakhtuns are a majority and they are 30 percent of the province’s total population. If the Hazara province becomes a reality, there will be calls for yet another province in Balochistan for the Pakhtuns, they assert, adding that it won’t stop here as there are certain Pakhtun-dominated areas in Karachi and as a solution to Karachi’s ethnic strife they can demand a separate geographical entity for themselves there too. They say it is the responsibility of the Awami National Party, the Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam to safeguard the Pakhtuns’ rights.