MANSEHRA: Participants of a meeting here demanded of the government to declare Tanawal region a district.

The meeting was called by Tehreek-i-Tanawal District president and attended by people from Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur districts in Lassan Nawab area.

The participants insisted that Tanawal region was spread along the Indus River in Hazara division’s three districts, including Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur,and had a sizable population, so it should be notified by the government as a separate district.

“The Tanawal Strip should be made a district to address the sense of deprivation among us [residents]. We will never accept our [Tanawal’s] annexation with any newly-notified district,” Mr Khursheed told reporters after the meeting.

He claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Senator Azam Khan Swati had promised during the last local body elections on behalf of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan that their region would shortly be notified as the district, but that didn’t happen.

Mr Khursheed said that the proposed Tanawal district should comprise Darband, Shergar, Pulrah and Lassan Nawab areas of Mansehra district, Beer and Ghandaf of Haripur district and Sherwan and Chamahti of Abbottabad district.

He said the participants vowed to resist the merger of their region with any new district.

“The district’s status promises prosperity to the underdeveloped Tanawal,” he said.

ENCROACHMENTS: The tehsil municipal administration on Monday started an anti-encroachment campaign in Mansehra city and its suburbs and removed illegal makeshift structures and handcarts.

“Our crackdown on encroachments is for the smooth flow of vehicular traffic,” tehsil municipal officer Basharat Hussain Shah told reporters here.

Mr Shah, who led the anti-encroachment team, said temporary illegal structures were eliminated from Abbottabad Road, Shinkiari Road and Kashmir Road and shifted to the TMA’s warehouse.

“We [TMA] repeatedly warned traders and handcart owners against creating hurdles to traffic, so those, who didn’t listen to us, have now been subjected to a clampdown,” he said.

The TMO said that the traders should cooperate with the municipal administration to ensure smooth flow of traffic and free movement of pedestrians by not placing goods outside their shops and on footpaths.

He said that the TMA had the police’s support for the anti-encroachment operation.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2022