SHEIKHUPURA, June 15: The Safdarabad police on Wednesday registered a case against hundreds of people for creating violence while marking their protest against the provincial government’s decision to abolish Safdarabad’s status as a tehsil and declaring Sangla Hill a fresh tehsil headquarters in the new Nankana Sahib district.

Safdarabad had been given the status of tehsil headquarters in Sheikhupura district in 1989 when Nawaz Sharif was the Punjab chief minister.

The present government has already declared Nankana Sahib a district with Shahkot as its tehsil headquarters. Later, residents of Sangla Hill city and adjacent localities protested against the decision. They set up hunger-strike camps and took out rallies and procession during which they damaged public properties.

After 13 days, the government declared Sangla Hill tehsil headquarters. This annoyed the people of Safdarabad, who took to streets and obstructed traffic at the railway station and bus and wagon stands.

Meanwhile, social and political circles in the district have deplored the provincial government’s decision to make Nankana Sahib a district. “If the government was so eager to please the Sikh Community it should have included in the district those areas falling in Nankana Sahib tehsil.”

They urged the government to withdraw all notifications about demarcation of the new district and first take elected representative into confidence.