Six die as protesters and police clash over renaming of province

Islamabad: Violent protests against renaming of Pakistan's northwestern province as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa left six people dead and 100 injured yesterday in the Hazara Division of the region, officials and media reports said.

Thousands of people took to the streets in the Hazara cities of Abbotabad, Haripur and Mansehra in defiance of a ban on gatherings imposed by the authorities in the area ahead of the planned rallies.

As riot police moved in to control the crowd, violent clashes broke out between the stone-pelting demonstrators and law enforcers in Abbotabad, the main Hazara town and site of the country's top military academy.

Some police vehicles including a truck were set ablaze by the mob that also attacked a police station in the hill resort town.

Police retaliated by firing tear gas, baton-charged the protesters and also opened fire to contain the unrest, according to media reports.

Domestic private television channels, which showed the mayhem, put the casualties between four to seven people dead and nearly 100 injured, while one police constable was seized and badly beaten by the protesters and several others were also injured.

Several arrested

The reports said an unspecified number of demonstrators were arrested by the police during the day-long clashes that marked a surge in the agitation in the Hazara division where people speak Hindo language.

Hazara people are angry over giving the region a name that they say reflects only the Pashto-speaking majority of the region, which till now has carried the name of North West Frontier Province given by British colonial rulers.

During the demonstrations people continuously chanted slogans for giving their area status of a separate province.