Hazara Province Movement (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindko Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pun ...

: ) is a movement aimed at creating the Hazara Province in the

Hazara division Hazara Division is an administrative division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located along the Indus River and comprises eight districts: Abbottabad, Mansehra, Haripur, Battagram, Upper Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Lower ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

History of the movement

This movement began in 1957, when regional lawyers Mufti Idrees and Abdul Khaliq first raised the question of a separate province, Kohistan. In 1987, Hazara Qaumi Mahaz (HQM) was founded by Muhammad Asif Malik advocate , a prominent advocate who campaigned for the creation of a separate province.

2010 protests

The

Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan The Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Pakistan (Urdu: آئین پاکستان میں اٹھارہویں ترمیم) was passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan on April 8, 2010, removing the power of the President of Pakistan to ...

was passed on the 8th of April 2010, which among other changes, renamed the

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...

. The name change of the province was met with strong opposition from the people of Hazara and protests erupted in the region with wheel and shutter jam strikes.

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourth ...

became the nerve center of the movement. On the 10th of April, the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police (), formerly known as the Frontier Police, is the provincial law enforcement agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. History British colonial era In 1849, the land corresponding to modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkh ...

fired at unarmed protesters, leaving 7 dead and dozens injured. Allegedly, the firing was ordered by the coalition government of

, led by the

Awami National Party The Awami National Party (ANP; ur, , ps, اولسي ملي ګوند; lit. ''People's National Party'') is a Pashtun nationalist, secular and leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its curr ...

. This is one of the earliest incidents of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

in Pakistan in recent years, occurring before the Model Town Lahore incident, whose FIR has not been registered still today.

Later developments

In 2014, the resolution for the creation of the Hazara Province was adopted by the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is located in Peshawar, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of t ...

. The movement slowed down and shrunk to only observing the 12th of April martyrs anniversary, the death of the movement's pioneer,

Baba Haider Zaman Baba Haider Zaman (1934 – 24 October 2018) was a political personality of Hazara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He was known for Hazara Province Movement, a protest campaign against changing the name of Sarhad Province. Baba joined Hazara Q ...

, in 2018. In 2020, the movement started again when the government began work for the creation of the South Punjab province. Hazara's leaders sought to include the creation of the Hazara Province along with it. A bill for the creation of the Hazara province has also been tabled in the

Parliament of Pakistan The Parliament of Pakistan ( ur, , , "Pakistan Advisory Council" or "Pakistan Consultative Assembly") is the federal and supreme legislative body of Pakistan. It is a bicameralism, bicameral federation, federal legislature that consists of ...

Notable leaders

Malik Muhammad Asif Malik, Mallik, Melik, Malka, Malek, Maleek, Malick, Mallick, or Melekh ( phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤊; ar, ملك; he, מֶלֶךְ) is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic dur ...

Gohar Ayub Khan Gohar Ayub Khan ( ur, گوہر ایوب خان; born 15 January 1937) is a Pakistani politician, business oligarch, retired army officer, and conservative figure of the Pakistan Muslim League, who held ministerial positions during the administ ...

References

{{coord missing, Pakistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Proposed provinces and territories of Pakistan

History of the movement

2010 protests

Later developments

Notable leaders

See also

References