ABBOTTABAD, May 13: Tehrik-i-Sooba Hazara (TSH) candidate Baba Haider Zaman, who got nationwide popularity after he launched a movement for separate province in 2010, failed to muster support of voters during the May 11 general elections.

He lost the NA-18, Abbottabad-II, seat to PML-N candidate Murtaza Javed Abbasi, who retained the seat, bagging 69,532 votes. Baba Haider Zaman received 36,286 votes and remained third. PTI candidate Sardar Mohammad Yaqoub was the runner-up with 41,061 votes.

The voters’ response to Tehrik-i-Sooba Hazara, which is a registered political party, was also very disappointing on NA-17, Abbottabad-I, where the TSH candidate Fida Hussain could muster only 2,017 votes.

TSH contestants for the provincial assembly in Abbottabad and other districts of Hazara Division also tasted crushing defeats during the elections.

The Sooba Hazara slogan was also used by the candidates of major political parties, including PTI and PML-N, to garner support of the voters.

Observers are of view that the defeat of the leaders of the TSH in the elections was because they didn’t earn the trust of the people regarding their ability to effectively handle the constitutionally complicated matter of carving out a province. According to them voters were more inclined towards the national parties seeing them as being capable of properly pursuing the issue of the separate province of Hazara.

On the other hand, supporters of Baba Haider Zaman argue that he had the potential to take the separate province issue to the logical conclusion as he had vowed on numerous occasions that he will fight for the cause of the people of Hazara come what may.

They think that had Baba Haider Zaman been elected from the NA-18, it would have given new life to the Hazara Sooba movement in the National Assembly.