TEHRAN Minister of the Interior Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said here on Sunday that the cabinet has approved a plan to divide the northeastern Province of Khorasan into two parts.

He told reporters that the government would put forward a bill to the Majlis proposing the division of Khorasan Province into central Khorasan Province and the southern Khorasan Province.

Mousavi Lari said that the Interior Ministry had asked the cabinet ministers to divide the province into three parts, but, the government did not accept the proposal on financial grounds and agreed to divide the province into two parts.

Asked about the concerns expressed by MPs from Khorasan Province about dividing the province which, according to the MPs, may trigger security problems, Mousavi Lari said there is nothing to be concerned about and the Interior Ministry is seeking division of the province because the province is too vast to be administered by one governor general.

The MPs had already challenged the Interior Ministry's plan to divide the province and said that the province with 600km border with Afghanistan is exposed to sabotage of the armed bandits involved in drug trafficking along the border between Iran and Afghanistan.

They called for coordinated military presence on Khorasan Province's border with Afghanistan rather than dividing the province.

Khorasan Province, which constitutes one-fifth of the total area of the country, has a population of 6.5 million and 24 cities. The province is represented in the legislature by 26 MPs.

* PEOPLE OF QAEN HOLD PROTEST GATHERING

Meanwhile, following the approval of plan by the cabinet, a group of people from Qaen, Khorasan Province, held protest rallies criticizing the plan. The ceremonies to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Ali (AS) in the city turned to rallies in which the Friday prayer and some members of Qaen City Council attended.

The demonstrators said they would hold another rally with the official permission of the Governor General's Office.

(IRNA)