THE demand for a separate Hazara province along with the one for a south Punjab province has been an active topic of discussion in recent years. In 2010, the proponents of a Hazara province took to the streets to press for the acceptance of their demand after the passage of the 18th Amendment that gave the country’s north-western province its new name. So when the PTI government announced plans for the creation of a south Punjab province last week, it was natural for Hazara province advocates to use this opportunity to also renew their call for the division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A multiparty conference organised in Mansehra the other day has asked the government to make a resolution for a Hazara province a part of the one that it plans to move in parliament for the creation a south Punjab province. The move is backed by all the major opposition parties — the PML-N, PPP, PML-Q, JUI and JI.

Separately, the PTI’s Hazara division also chimed in, calling for the establishment of a sub-secretariat in the region — again on the model of south Punjab — as a prelude to the commencement of constitutional formalities needed for a new province. The party, which rules KP, has also urged the provincial assembly, which in 2014 had adopted a resolution calling for a separate province for the people of Hazara, to support the demand. With the government now actively pursuing its plans to carve out a new province comprising the southern districts of Punjab, it cannot reject similar calls, made on the basis of geography, language, culture, ethnicity, lack of development, etc, from other regions. Some feel that the division of the existing federating units into several smaller units is essential to improve the quality of governance, administration and service delivery. The genie is now out of the bottle. The only way to handle it is to initiate a wider public debate to develop a national consensus on the direction in which we want to move.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2020