One more killed as protests continue in NW Pakistan
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One child died of injuries on Tuesday from protests against the renaming of the northwest province in Pakistan, taking the death toll to seven in the riots since last week.
The protests, triggered by a proposed new name of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for the North West Frontier Province, also injured more than 100 people as the angry mob turned violent on Monday in the northwestern city of Abbottabad. Police said they have taken the situation under control.
"Police fired only in retaliation," said NWFP provincial police chief Malik Naveed who has arrived in the city which is observing a three-day mourning while armed people have joined the stick and stone wielding protestors.
Some protestors also snatched rifles from two policemen and made policemen flee, as paramilitary troops Frontier Constabulary have been called in to protect government buildings and police stations.
Earlier during the day, protestors attacked the district administration office and set offices of some parliamentarians on fire, pulling down the politicians billboards and public signs.
A complete strike has paralyzed the life in Abbottabad and adjoining areas and educational institutions have been closed for three days. Protestors looted arms shops and hit everything in sight with whatever they could grab, an eyewitness told Xinhua.
The renaming was approved by the National Assembly of Pakistan last week, as a part of the 18th Constitutional Amendment package, which is under deliberations in the continuing session of the Senate, the upper house.
Protestors have burned tires and blocked all main avenues including the Silk route, the only artery that links China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Pakistan's northern areas with the rest of the country.
It seemed that the renaming issue has provided people an excuse to express their resentment over the sky-rocketing prices, unemployment and acute power crisis across the country, an analyst believed.
While the situation is going from bad to worst, politicians are trying to gain mileage out of the worsening situation in the Hindko language speaking areas of the restive northwest province including Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kohistan, Tarbela, Dera Ismial Khan and Haripur.
People in the northern district of Chitral also protested against "Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa" and demanded that the newly formed province of Gilgit-Baltistan be renamed as "Hindokush."
Expressing full solidarity with the demand of Hazara province, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Chief and former premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said the opposition party will support people in their demand.
Terming Monday incidents and killing as tragic, the NWFP ruling Awami National Party (ANP) spokesman Senator Zahid Khan determined that the culprits will be brought to books.
