Baba Haider Zaman (1934 – 24 October 2018) was a political personality of Hazara,

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He was known for

Hazara Province Movement Hazara Province Movement (Urdu/Hindko: ) is a movement aimed at gaining a separate provincial status for the Hazara Division, Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Background The movement began in 1957, when regional lawyers Mufti Idrees and A ...

, a protest campaign against changing the name of Sarhad Province. Baba joined Hazara Qumai mahaz on 17 January 2009 for supporting late Asif Malik cause of Hazara province. In 2010, the whole political leadership of

Hazara Division Hazara Division is an administrative Divisions of Pakistan, division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located along the Indus River and comprises eight districts: Abbottabad District, Abbottabad, Mansehra District, Mansehr ...

was united under his guidance and a demand of separate Hazara Province was strengthened by a division-wide protest. He was previously a Provincial Minister and District Nazim of Abbottabad.

Biography

Haider Zaman Khan was born in the Dewal Manal village of

Abbottabad District Abbottabad District (Hindko, ) is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is part of the Hazara Division and covers an area of 1,969 km2, with the city of Abbottabad being the principal town. Neighbouring districts incl ...

in 1934 to the

Karlal The Karlal (Urdu: کڑلال), also known as ''Karral'', ''Kiraal'', and ''Sardar'' are a Hindko- and/or Pahari-speaking tribe, dwelling mostly in the Abbottabad District of the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Etymology and or ...

tribe. He completed his FA in the 1950s and joined the Pakistan Air Force. After retirement, he entered politics in 1962 but failed to win a provincial seat. His first political win was when he got elected to the NWFP assembly from Abbottabad in 1985. The then chief minister Arbab Jehangir Khan appointed Zaman as the labour and human resource minister in his cabinet. During his tenure as nazim he shot to prominence for opposing the renaming of the NWFP to

Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a province of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Paki ...

. He criticised the President of Pakistan,

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 2024, having held the same office from 2008 to 2013. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the ...

, for referring to the province as Pakhtunkhwa - saying this was unconstitutional and done to please coalition partners. Zaman said he was in contact with the nazims of the southern districts and all five nazims of the erstwhile Hazara Division opposed the name change. If the district was renamed in line with the proposal from the

Awami National Party The Awami National Party (ANP; , ; lit. ''People's National Party'') is a Pashtun nationalist, secular and leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its current president is Aimal Wali Khan, g ...

then, according to Zaman, a creation of a Hazara Province would be justified. He was also involved in a petition against the provincial government of the NWFP claiming that they were curtailing the powers of district government. In March 2006, five months after a devastating earthquake struck the region, Zaman said repatriation of people from tent villages (set up in the aftermath of the earthquake) might be held up due to lack of resources possessed by the district governments. That year he also supported an initiative to raise awareness of the effects of the earthquake. In 2007 he criticised Pakistani tour operators for the way they organised the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

and

Umrah The Umrah () is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, located in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. It can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the '' Ḥajj'' (; "pilgrimage"), which has specific d ...

arrangements for pilgrims in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, he also claimed that the tour operators were fleecing pilgrims and pilgrims were unable to get rid of greedy tour managers. In 2010 following the renaming of the North-West Frontier Province, Khan has again been prominent by his opposition to the new name, he became the head of the Action Committee for Hazara province - he stated that the new name of the province is on an ethnic basis and so deprived the people of Hazara of their identity. In August 2010 Khan stated that the people of Hazara would stop payments of utility bills until their demands were met. He died on 24 October 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaman Khan, Haider 1936 births 2018 deaths Mayors of places in Pakistan People from Abbottabad Hindkowan people Pakistan Muslim League (J) politicians

Biography

See also

References