PESHAWAR: Amid division among the ruling alliance and combined opposition parties, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed two resolutions asking the federal government to create Hazara province and changing the name of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as Hazara Pakhtunkhwa.

The entire house apparently stood divided along linguistic lines.

Members from Hazara division irrespective of their political affiliation supported the resolution for the creation of Hazara province, while MPAs belonging to Pakhtun majority areas either opposed the resolution or abstained from voting.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and several ministers went to the lobby when resolution for creation of Hazara province was put for voice vote which was passed with majority.In the 123-member House, less than 40 MPAs were present during the voting.

Interestingly, opposition leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, parliamentary leaders of Qaumi Watan Party Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, Pakistan People`s Party Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Maulana Lutfur Rehman were absent from the crucial session, which was presided over by Speaker Asad Qaisar.

Awami National Party and MPA Arbab Akbar Hayat Khan of PML-N from Peshawar opposed the resolution, whereas PPP members abstained.

Sardar Hussain Babak of ANP, Bakht Baidar Khan of QWP, Nighat Orakzai of PPP and Arbab Akbar Hayat of PML-N in their speeches opposed the resolution. They said the country faced different crises, so creation of another province along linguistic basis would complicate things.

MPAs from Hazara having affiliation with PTI, PML-N and JUI-F supported Hazara province resolution.

Maulana Asmatullah of JUI-F from Kohistan said his party was support-ing Hazara province.

According to them, the province`s creation is an administrative requirement and it is need of the hour to create more administrative units in the country.

Shortly after the passage of the first resolution, minister for finance Sirajul Haq from Jamaat-i-Islami and health minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai from PTI moved another resolution asking the federal government to change the province`s name from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Hazara Pakhtunkhwa.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak came back to the hall when the second resolution was tabled.

While the house lacked quorum, that resolution was passed.

Only 28 lawmakers were present when the resolution was tabled.

ANP, JUI-F, PPP, QWP and others opposed the second resolution.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan had supported demand for the creation of Hazara province before and during election campaign. However, his party remained divided on the issue and MPAs from Peshawar valley and Malakand division were not in fa-vour of Hazara province.

An MPA of the PTI from Peshawar told Dawn that there was a split in the party over the resolution with majority opposing Hazara province.

`If PTI supports Hazara province, then MPAs from Malakand or southern districts will also make the same demand,` he said.

Mover of the resolution Sardar Mohammad Idrees of PTI, who is from Äbbottabad, said Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, senior minister Sirajul Haq and agriculture minister Shahram Tarki were not in favour of the Hazara province resolution.

`They have proposed to replace the word Khyber with Hazara that will address sense of deprivation among the people of Hazara,` he said, adding that MPAs from Hazara had tabled the resolution in their individual capacity.

He said his party was not in favour of Hazara province. Earlier, the assembly passed the Hotels Restriction (Security) Bill, Finance (Amendment) Bill, River Protection (Amendment) Bill, Surrender Illicit Arms Bill and Local Government (Amendment) Bill.