District status demanded for Tanawal.

MANSEHRA -- Participants of a meeting here demanded of the government to declare Tanawal region a district.

The meeting was called by Tehreek-i-Tanawal District president and attended by people from Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur districts in Lassan Nawab area.

The participants insisted that Tanawal region was spread along the Indus River in Hazara division's three districts, including Mansehra, Abbottabad and Haripur,and had a sizable population, so it should be notified by the government as a separate district.

'The Tanawal Strip should be made a district to address the sense of deprivation among us [residents]. We will never accept our [Tanawal's] annexation with any newly-notified district,' Mr Khursheed told reporters after the meeting.

He claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Senator Azam Khan Swati had promised during the last local body elections on behalf of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan that their region would shortly be notified as the district, but that didn't happen.

Mr Khursheed said that the proposed Tanawal district should comprise Darband, Shergar, Pulrah and Lassan Nawab areas of Mansehra district, Beer and Ghandaf of Haripur district and Sherwan and Chamahti of Abbottabad district.

He said the participants vowed to resist the merger of their region with any new district.

'The district's status promises prosperity to the underdeveloped Tanawal,' he said.

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