MANSEHRA, Sept 22: Local leaders and workers of the Pakistan People’s Party have demanded that if the government wanted to rename the NWFP, it should declare the Hazara region a separate province.

“The government should not create a sense of deprivation and hurt the sentiments of the people of the Hazara region by renaming the NWFP. If it is necessary, the Hazara region should be declared a separate province,” they said.

Tehsil PPP president Sheikh Hanif, Safeer Khan, Mumtaz, Jawad Iqbal Bhutto and other party leaders claimed that naming the NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa was an attempt to deprive the people of Hazara of their identity.

The government, they said, should not take a step that could create a sense of deprivation and frustration among the people of the province and shatter their unity.

They called upon President Asif Ali Zardari to respect the mandate and opinion of the people of the Hazara region and not to rename the province.

They said the people of the region did not believe the PPP government would change the name of the province on the demand of the Awami Nation Party which, according to them, had never accepted the rights of non-Pakhtuns in the province.

They said they would not tolerate renaming of the province and take to the streets if the decision was taken.