JHANG, March 29: National assembly constituencies of two of the PPP stalwarts from Jhang district, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat and Sahibzada Nazir Sultan, have been split into two, which, according to political analysts, is a severe blow to the election prospects of both the leaders.

Both the PPP leaders had been winning elections from NA-69 and NA-70 since 1977, losing only once in 1997.

Fresh demarcation has also affected provincial assembly constituencies as a new constituency has been formed taking segments from them.

The NA-70 consisted entirely of areas falling within the jurisdiction of Shorkot tehsil. Sahibzada Nazir Sultan won from this constituency in 1970, repeating the feat in 1988, 1990 and 1993. The constituency comprised two provincial assembly seats PP-69 and PP-70. The former comprised areas falling in the jurisdiction of Shorkot city and Shorkot Cantt police stations. The latter consisted of areas of Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur Sial police limits. Both these provincial assembly constituencies fall in the same tehsil and are a geographically compact unit.

According to the new delimitations announced by the Election Commission, this single constituency of Shorkot tehsil has been split into two, with a part of former PP-70 annexed by Athhara Hazari police area of Jhang tehsil. Similarly, the other segment of the constituency has been attached to the areas of Jhang Saddar tehsil, leaving Sahibzada Nazir Sultan in a quandary to decide from which constituency to contest elections.

The national assembly constituency NA-69 comprised Shah Jewna area of Qadirpur police station, Massan and Athhara Hazari which belong to Jhang tehsil. The constituency consisted of two provincial assembly seats PP-67 and PP-68. Faisal Saleh Hayat won from NA-69 in 1977. He did not contest the 1985 partyless polls, but recorded a hat-trick from 1988, 1990 and 1993.

The NA-69 constituency has also been split into two. The entire provincial assembly constituency of PP-68 of Athhara Hazari area, which formed a part of NA-69, has been attached to Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur Sial areas of Shorkot tehsil to form a new constituency. The north to south length of this new national assembly constituency is more than 120 kilometres. The PP-67 has been attached to the Lallian and Barana police station areas of Chiniot tehsil. The new demarcation has also made life difficult for Faisal Saleh Hayat. Ironically, minor changes have been made in the remaining four national assembly constituencies while the other two — NA-69 and NA-70 — have been altered beyond recognition.

INSPECTOR: The SHO of Jhang city police station had a narrow escape when a man opened fire on him with his pistol in his office on Thursday for allegedly entering his house and molesting the women folk.