NEW Dera Ismail Khan Division

BEWARE THREE TEHSILS OF DI KHAN (OUT OF FIVE) ARE PASHTO SPEAKING WHILE TWO ARE SARAIKI SPEAKING.  

DI Khan Division

New Divisions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Impact on DI Khan Division)

Khyber Pakhtukhwa Government has reshuffled the existing districts in the province vide Notification dated 19 July 2018. Two significant events have occurred due to the said.

1.    Population of Malakand Division has exceeded 8.5 Million (Bajaur District has been added), therefore, creation of Abbasin Division has become necessity i.e. Combining of Battagram District, Torghar District, Shangla District, Kohistan Districts, Buner District and Baffa & Ogai Tehsils into a new division.

2.    The Pashto speaking population of DI Khan Division has far exceeded Saraiki population, since FR Tank, FR DI Khan, S. Waziristan District have been added in the DI Khan Division. It may be noted that out of five Tehsils of DI KHAN, three are Pashto Speaking (Darban, Paniala, Kolachi) while two are Saraiki Speaking (DI Khan & Paharpur).

Abbasin Division Before Hazara Province

Viability of Hazara Province. (Abbasin Division)

The total population of Hazara Division is 5.3 Million, which is behind Peshawar and Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, both having populations exceeding 7.2 Million. The Area, Population and level of natural resources are much lower than many other division of the Country, let alone provinces, therefore, creation of Soba Hazara, which is the demand of Hindko Speaking of the country, not viable. 

As per Census 2017, the total Hindko speaking people of Pakistan stands at 4.7 Million, which includes Hindko speakers not only from KP but also Kashmir, Punjab and the rest of the country, while the census data reveals that there are 3.5 Million Hindko speakers in KP. Therefore a reshuffle is suggested i.e. creation/reshuffling of  a divisions in the northern KP by reducing the size of Malakand and Hazara Divisions and creation of Abbasin Division

Area before Reshuffle		Area after Reshuffle
Hazara	17,194	Hazara	6,692
Malakand	29,872	Malakand	26,421
		Abbasin	13,953

Pakistan Districts by Predominant Language

Around 38 Pakistani districts have Pashto majority, followed by 21 Sindhi, 20 Punjabi, 19 Balochi,  13 Seraiki, 8 Urdu, 4 Potohari, 3 Brahvi and Hindko each, 2 Koistani and 1 Chitrali.

Impact of Merger and Census on Demography of Pakistan

The demographic information regarding provinces of Pakistan presented to general public is usually pretty off and in some cases do not even make any mathematical sense.  Subsequent to the merger of FATA with KP the demographic miscalculations in KP becomes more profound. For example some publications state that 18% of the population of KP is Hindko speaking, however, upon research not one recent empirical study was found where global Hindko speaking exceeds 3.7 million worldwide (rounded to 4 million) i.e. including Hindko speakers of Pakistani Kashmir, Punjab and other areas outside KP. If we impose that number on 30.5 million and 35.5 million we get 13% and 11%, respectively.  Even if we consider entire population of Hazara Division to be Hindko speaking then Hindko speakers would represent 15% of the merged province. It may, however, be noted that out of 7 districts of Hazara Division, only Abbottabad is overwhelmingly Hindko, while Ghazi Tehsil of Haripur District, and Ogai Tehsil of Mansehra District is Pashto speaking. Districts of Torghar and Battagram are also Pashto speaking, while Kohistan upper and lower have Kohistani as majority language.  

Keeping the above example in our analysis, it is ascertained that KP is the most homogenous province having 82% population being Pashto speaking, followed by Punjabi's in Punjab at 75%, 60-62% Sindhi's in Sindh and around 50% Balochi & Brahvi combined in Baluchistan. 

Finally, the interesting fact is that around 38 Pakistani districts have Pashto majority, followed by 21 Sindhi, 20 Punjabi, 19 Balochi,  13 Seraiki, 8 Urdu, 4 Potohari, 3 Brahvi and Hindko each, 2 Koistani and 1 Chitrali.