Baba Haider Zaman does not want a province based on language or ethnicity. In his eyes, that defeats the very essence of what it means to be a Hazarawal. Quintessentially Pakistani, this Hindko-speaking belt distances itself from “the ethno-nationalisms of the Awami National Party (ANP)”, says Mr Zaman.

While the ANP supported the Congress Party, this region was a Muslim League heartland. So, when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the contemporary inheritors of the country’s founding party, supported a move to re-name the North Western Frontier Province to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it was as if it betrayed the very essence of Hazarawal, and of Pakistan.

“That is why we shut down this region in the days following the decision. And that is why we will do everything we can to make sure that the lying, corrupt politicians that have ruled this region for far too long are stopped from coming into office,” says Mr Zaman to Dawn, referring to the April 2010 protests where seven Hazara workers were killed in clashes between protesters and the police.

The widespread frustration at the PML-N could end up upsetting its dominance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hazara belt. The PML-N has won two-thirds of the seats up for grabs since 1988. In hard numbers, that means they have won 20 of the 30 races that have taken place in the Hazara belt. Nawaz Sharif has won from this rural Abottabad’s NA-18 twice, and one of the party’s most senior members, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, has been considered irremovable from Abottabad’s NA-17 seat.

This time around, however, Baba Haider Zaman’s newly registered political party, Tehreek-i-Sooba Hazara (TSH), could end up taking votes from the PML-N and weakening its position in a handful of national and provincial assembly seats that are up for grabs come May 11. Though few predict that the TSH will be able to secure a seat in the national assembly (while there might be some chance in the provincial assembly), their ability to cut into the PML-N vote bank could expose them to tight competitions with another new entrant on the Hazara political scene: the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI).

“I am aware that both Baba Haider Zaman, and many others in this region, are frustrated with the name change. But I have said time and again that the PML-N is committed to working for an autonomous administrative unit in the Hazara belt,” says Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, when Dawn met him for an interview in his sprawling residence in the Abbottabad hills.

Mr Khan has been accused of sitting on the committee that passed the 18th amendment without bringing up the concerns of his home constituency, and its surrounding Hindko-speaking belt. “I am aware of the anger that was directed at me because I sat at the committee. But when you are a member of the national assembly, you have to negotiate various terms. This was a huge and incredibly important package, aimed at decentralising power from the centre to the provinces. I felt that it would be wrong to hold it up because of a name change,” said Mr Khan.

Mr Khan’s TSH contender for the NA-17 seat, Sardar Fida Hussain, does not believe him. “Sardar Mehtab has been ruling this constituency for 27 years, and has done nothing to address the demands of his people. That is because no one has really challenged him — it is about time someone did,” says Mr Hussain. Though the TSH candidate is considered a lightweight for the NA-17 seat, his argument has some resonance among voters.

“I think the PML-N made a huge mistake, and the PTI is committed to rectifying it were I elected into power,” says Dr Azhar Khan Jadoon to Dawn. PTI candidates have repeated the claim that they will address the demands of a separate Hazara province, and during a tour of the Hazara belt its chairman, Imran Khan, has even said that he will bring it up in the national assembly.

“The only reason Imran Khan says he is going to help bring about an autonomous Hazara province, is because the crowd starts shouting Ek hi sooba! Hazara! Hazara!” says Mr Zaman, when asked whether the PTI’s bid to help bring about the province has any credence to it. “Have you ever seen Imran Khan bring up the question of an autonomous province on TV? No. Just like all the other mainstream establishment parties in this part of Pakistan, he does it to score votes. He has no interest in our demands, or in the people of this region,” says Mr Zaman.

His TSH was originally a movement that local and national politicians in the Hazara belt took part in following the decision to re-name the province. “The issue is incredibly popular among people in this region, and these politicians were trying to cash in on it for their own political benefit. That is why we decided to register TSH as a political party. We wanted to tell the establishment politicians that they had a choice. If they were serious about the issue of a Hazara province, they would also contest from the TSH ticket,” says Mr Hussain.

Yousaf Ayub Khan, a PTI candidate for Haripur’s PK-50 seat, said that he disagreed with the TSH decision. “We told Baba Zaman that we were members of different parties, and that the movement’s purpose should be to ensure that all parties take on the matter of the Hazara province in their manifestos. So, I had to resign, but I continue to fight for it within the PTI,” says Mr Yousaf.

According to local analyst, Kamran Advocate, the issue of Hazara province might not result in seats for the TSH or Baba Zaman, but it will put a real dent on PML-N dominance. “Baba Zaman is running from NA-18, a rural Abbottabad seat. His presence cuts into the PML-N vote bank, and could end up hurting the incumbent PML-N candidate, Murtaza Javed Abbasi,” says Kamran. “Of course, PML-N dominance in this part of the country could mean that they could still scrape by. Let us see how much this issue really matters on May 11.”