MANSEHRA: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) on Tuesday announced that if the residents didn’t create hurdles to the development initiatives attached to the Dasu hydropower project, more educational scholarships would be offered to their children.

“These projects promise prosperity in Kohistan, so if work on them halts, we both [Kohistanis and Wapda] will suffer,” Dasu dam project director Mohammad Khalid told a jirga.

The participants included Upper Kohistan deputy commissioner Tariq Khan, district police officer Mukhtar Ahmad, local MNA Malik Mohammad Idrees and people affected by the Dasu dam.

Mr Khalid said all those schools that were located on the dam’s land would be relocated.

Says initiatives promise prosperity in region

“We don’t want any learning losses for students, so all those schools will be established at appropriate places,” he said.

MNA Mohammad Idrees said Wapda should honour its commitments to the people hit by the project.

“We are not opposed to the Dasu dam or related development projects on our soil. However, Wapda should fulfil its commitments regarding the construction of roads, healthcare and educational facilities,” he said.

The lawmaker also called for the immediate disbursement of payments under the Kitchen Package to those families in line with a bilateral agreement.

HAZARA PROVINCE: Tehreek-i-Sobah Hazara chairman and PML-N MNA Sardar Mohammad Yusuf on Tuesday demanded of the federal government to declare Hazara division a separate province before changing the nomenclature of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We have long been peacefully fighting for Hazara Province and even laid lives for it afterthe province’s name change from North-West Frontier Province to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2010, and will do all we can to further that cause,” he told reporters here.

Mr Yusuf, who is representing Mansehra in the National Assembly after winning the Feb 2024 general election, said ANP leader Aimal Wali Khan wanted to exploit the situation, developed over the proposed Constitutional Amendment Package, by advocating for the change of KP’s name.

“We will never allow that change until Hazara is declared a separate province,” he said.

Accompanied by other officer-bearers of the tehreek, the lawmaker said as such, the ANP had no representation in both provincial and national assemblies, so it couldn’t claim to betruly representing provincial sentiments.

“We demand the creation of Hazara province purely for administrative purposes. For this reason, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly adopted resolutionstwicefor it ,” he said.

Mr Yusuf saidthe bill for Hazara province was currently with the secretaries of the National Assembly and Senate.

“We are not opposed to the creation of more federating units in the country and want the government to increase the number of provinces to address socioeconomic challenges,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2024