6 killed in riots over renaming of Pakistan's northwest province

Persistent protests of minority groups staged across Pakistan against the renaming of its restive northwest province went violent Monday as people began to get killed, complicating the renaming process as a constitutional reform package has been sent to the senate for deliberation.

Since last week, protestors belonging to Hazara division gathered against the renaming the North West Frontier Province ( NWFP) as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in major cities including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Abbottabad and Tarbela.

Irate protestors attacked and torched police station and vehicles before exchanging gunfire and fighting pitch battles with police following an early baton charge and tear gas shelling by the law enforcers, leaving six persons dead and dozens injured on Monday morning in Abbottabad in the northwest.

"Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will never be acceptable, and Hazara will be made a new province," said Sardar Haider Zaman, a former legislator.

Transport remained thin and shops closed during most of the day, as a partial strike was being observed in Abbottabad and other main towns. Small rallies shouted in protest demanding a separate province. Some pockets with Hazara inhabitants in the garrison city of Rawalpindi also observed a partial strike.

The Abbottabad district administration has imposed Section-144 in the city prohibiting rallies, processions, exhibition of arms and sealed all entry points leading into the city, as the ongoing protest entered its 12th day.

However, ethnic Hazaras started gathering at the main Fawara Chowk, or fountain roundabout, of the city in the morning in defiance of orders, local sources said.

"People are injured by gunshots, tear gas shells and hit by police batons," Muhammad Amjad, a businessman told Xinhua by telephone from Abbottabad.

Additional police force has been called in from adjoining districts as the protests ruled by violence and rage seemed to intensify, said a spokesman of local administration.

Amid protests in the Hindko language speaking belt of the province, the renaming was approved by the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan last week, as a part of the landmark 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill that has now been tabled in the upper house of the parliament, the Senate on Monday for formal approval.


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