ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: Hazara Province Tehrik leaders on Thursday threatened to launch a civil disobedience movement if the people of Hazara were hoodwinked on their demand for a separate province.

Addressing a big " Hazara sooba banao " protest rally outside the Parliament House here the movement chairman Sardar Mohammad Yousuf said the Hazara population would stop paying utility bills and its people would throng from Kohistan to Karachi in a march towards Islamabad.

MQM deputy parliamentary leader Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi MNA, former speaker National Assembly Gohar Ayub Khan, Naseer Khan Jadoon, Maulana Abdul Majeed Hazarvi, Qazi Azhar advocate, Wajihuz Zaman, Tariq Khan Swati and Prof Sajjad Qamar were also present and spoke on the occasion.

The rally started from China Chowk and the participants held placards inscribed with the demand for creation of Hazara province. They chanted slogans " aik he naara sooba Hazara ", " shuhada ke FIR darj karo " and " zid nahin majboori hay, sooba Hazara zaroori hai ".

Sardar Yousuf said the Hazara province movement has been continuing for the last two years and seven precious lives have been sacrificed for the movement. As many as ten million people were united on one point agenda of seeking a separate – their own – province.

He said Awami National Party's (ANP) leader Asfandyar Wali Khan supported Hazara province provided it was achieved through constitutional methods and adopting this method a constitutional amendment bill has been tabled in the National Assembly apart from a resolution having been submitted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly.

"What else is constitutional method which Wali Khan will accept as legal", he questioned. Paying thanks to the MQM for tabling constitutional amendment about Hazara province in the parliament, he demanded its approval by the house's standing committee.

He said thousands of people from Hazara would get together in the next rally of the movement scheduled for February 26 in Karachi and they will prove that their demand was genuine.

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