ISLAMABAD - The politics in Hazara region undergoes new twists and turns as the resurgence of Hazara Movement corners the breakaway factions and smaller groups that had parted ways with Tehreek Sooba Hazara, seemingly under the government’s patronage.
With the revival of debate on creation of new provinces, particularly those of Seraiki and Hazara, the political mercury in the otherwise calm city of Abbottabad, the headquarters of Hazara region, stays on high. The MQM’s initiative to submit 20th Amendment bill for establishing Hazara and Seraiki provinces in the National Assembly followed by the submission of a related resolution in Senate has boded notably well with the socio-political diaspora of Hazara region. Moreover, the telephonic conversation between MQM Chief Altaf Hussain and Tehreek Sooba Hazara (TSH) Chairman Baba Sardar Haider Zaman and the massive protests in Abbottabad against the leaders of ANP who oppose the creation of Hazara province have aggravated the political activity on Hazara province issue.
In the backdrop of prevailing situation, the powerful bigwigs of the ruling coalition who had parted ways with TSH, commonly known as Hazara Movement, and created a breakaway faction Tehreek-e-Hazara Sooba (THS) are in fix whether to join hands with the Hazara Movement or continue “struggle” under the government’s umbrella.
 Hazara Qaumi Jirga is another split faction that was formed with the reported patronage of the Sindh government in Karachi.
“We appreciate MQM’s initiative to support us. Not only the MQM but every mainstream party, with exception to a few vested interests, duly recognise TSH as the only and true representative of the people of Hazara,” Baba Haider Zaman told The Nation.
He said that some ruling elites offered him certain “perks and privileges” against backtracking from Hazara province issue. “These rulers are mistaken, sadly and seriously mistaken. Haider Zaman cannot be bought and everybody knows that. We misjudged some vested interests as our friends who were bought by the rulers and as result they split ways,” Zaman said about the breakaway factions.
To a query regarding Hazara province having landed on backburner in the Parliament, Haider Zaman said, “The issues of public interests always get this kind of treatment. They (government) are out to create Seraiki province because it suits them politically but they don’t want Hazara province to come into being despite that we’ve sacrificed lives, only because ANP doesn’t want this to happen. They have grabbed our resources and they think we’ll keep letting them deprive us our rights? Hazara Movement would continue till Hazara province is formed. It’s an unstoppable campaign.”
Following the registration of Tehreek Sooba Hazara as a political party in July last year, Baba Haider Zaman had asked those politicians who were affiliated with TSH but were members of other political parties to formally join Hazara Movement and quit memberships of other parties. Several politicians from the ruling PML-Q who had kept important government posts refused to join TSH. Subsequently, the PML-Q leader Sardar Yousuf, his son and incumbent State Minister Sardar Shahjehan Yousuf, Prime Minister’s Advisor Qasim Shah, Shehzada Gustasib and others formed Tehreek-e-Hazara Sooba. This breakaway faction claims having the consolidated support of different political parties for Hazara province cause. However, the Tehreek-e-Hazara Sooba leaders looked to have landed in an embarrassing position when MQM refused to recognise the split faction as real representative of Hazarawal community and preferred to join hands with Baba Haider Zaman and his men on Hazara province issue, accepting Zaman as an undisputed leader of Hazarawal community. While the ANP and PML-N term the MQM’s stance on Hazara province issue as a political manoeuvre to attract the vote bank of over 2.5 million Hazarawals in Karachi, public at large in all the six districts of Hazara welcomes this initiative. The existing scenario appears putting the leaders of Tehreek-e-Hazara Sooba in political isolation with several of them reportedly considering to review their political affiliations.