HARIPUR: Elders on Tuesday urged the government to immediately create a separate Tanawal district comprising areas inhabited by the Tanoli tribe across Haripur, Abbottabad, and Mansehra.
The demand was made through a unanimously adopted resolution during the oath-taking ceremony for the newly elected provincial and district office-bearers of the All Pakistan Tanoli Itehad in Khalabat Township here.
Former MNA and chief of the Tanoli tribe Nawab Salahuddin Saeed was the guest of honour and administered the oath to the newly elected office-bearers of the provincial body.Prominent among those who spoke to the participants were former provincial minister Ibrar Hussain Tanoli, central president Shoaib Khan Tanoli, Secretary Jamil Tanoli, chief patron Advocate Sabir Hussain Tanoli and Qazi Nisar Ahmed Khan Tanoli.
Speaking on the occasion, the former MNA and chief of the Tanoli tribe, Nawabzada Salahuddin, said that his tribe had rendered unmatched sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan and the Tarbela Dam.
“We abandoned our independent princely state of Amb in favour of Pakistan, accepting the separation of our families and thousands of acres of agricultural land for the gigantic Tarbela dam project,” he reminded. He said that in return, the Tanoli tribe was forced to scatter across four districts of KP, and their areas were denied fundamental development rights.
He lamented that the creation of Tanwal district, consisting of areas inhabited by their tribe, has remained their unfulfilled demand for decades despite repeated requests. The participants, through a unanimously adopted resolution, asked the provincial government to create Tanawal district without altering its boundaries.
