GUJAR KHAN, June 5: The movement for award of district status to Gujar Khan is gaining momentum with a group of young activists and intellectuals steadfastly pursuing a signature collection campaign to prove the genuineness of this public demand.

Launching their drive about three months back, the group is travelling from village to village asking the locals to sign huge size white-coloured banners.

The campaigners have set a target of collecting around 100,000 signatures.

The group leader, Syed Nadeem Abbas Bokhari, told this reporter that so far they had covered a large number of remote areas of Gujar Khan, including Bewal, Jabbar, Qazian, Missa Kaswal and Daultala. According to him, the group has received a befitting response to the idea of seeking district status for Gujar Khan.

Explaining the rationale behind the demand, Mr Bokhari said nowadays people living in Gujar Khan Town had to travel great distances to reach the district headquarters in Rawalpindi city for routine matters and petty litigation.

He said Gujar Khan was one of the largest and oldest tehsils of the Punjab province, adding that similar proposals had been considered several times in the past, but the plans were shelved due to lack of political push.

He said a couple of years back Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi also hinted at granting district status to Gujar Khan but the issue became politicised and was later abandoned.

Gujar Khan Town is comprised of 33 union councils and its two towns — Daultala and Bewal — can easily be declared as tehsils.

According to him, Sohawa tehsil, a unit of Jhelum district, can also be made part of the proposed Gujar Khan district, as it was located at considerable distance from Jhelum district headquarters.

Mr Bokhari said the locals believed that the award of district status to Gujar Khan would bring sufficient development funds to upgrade the strained infrastructure in the area.

They urge upon President Pervez Musharraf to visit Gujar Khan and make an announcement in their favour to alleviate the sufferings of the residents.