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Thursday March 28, 2024

Shahbaz voices support for south Punjab province

By Muhammad Anis
December 21, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Differences emerged within the ranks of the treasury benches on a formula for bifurcation of Punjab as the parliamentarians from the PTI and the PML-Q demanded restoration of Bahawalpur as separate province along with the creation of South Punjab.

The opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif kicked off a debate on the bifurcation of Punjab when he asked the government to fulfil its commitment for the creation of South Punjab while demanding restoration of Bahawalpur as a separate province. “We will not allow thePTI government to escape from its commitment of giving people of South Punjab a separate province,” he said, adding they also wanted restoration of Bahawalpur as separate province.

Shahbaz said his party was considering tabling a private bill for this purpose. He said the PTI had promised to create South Punjab province and now it should take steps for this purpose. He said his government in the past had passed resolutions in the Punjab Assembly for the creation of South Punjab province and the restoration of Bahawalpur province. He said PML-N is sincere to this cause and the treasury benches should also move forward with the same spirit.

Shahbaz also raised concern over increasing prices of gas, electricity and daily use items which has made the lives of the common people miserable, saying the House should take up this matter on priority basis. The move initiated by Shahbaz regarding the restoration of Bahawalpur province was supported by the PTI parliamentarians Sardar Nasrullah Dareshak, Malik Farooq Azam and PML-Q member Tariq Bashir Cheema. Nasarullah Dareshak, however, pointed out that it should also be seen whether the intentions of Shahbaz Sharif were good or he was playing as a losing gambler. All the three members from the treasury benches said Bahawalpur is a separate entity and it has nothing to do with South Punjab province. “We want the restoration of Bahawalpur province instead of becoming part of South Punjab,” Tariq Bashir Cheema said. Cheema also questioned whether it was not a fact that the Punjab Assembly passed resolutions in support of the Bahawalpur province when the PML-N and PML-Q were in power.

Malik Farooq Azam said Bahawalpur always remained a separate entity but it was made part of Punjab by a dictator. He complained that the people of Bahawalpur are facing injustice in the shape of provision of more resources to Multan. “We do not want to remain with Multan in one province,” he said. Aamir Dogar of the PTI said the PML-N is twisting the issue by demanding the restoration of Bahawalpur province. He said Bahawalpur province is not viable as how can three districts could be declared a separate province. He said a parliamentary committee of the House should be constituted to look into the matter. Aamir Dogar, who is also chief whip of PTI, said as a first step towards fulfilling its commitment, the PTI has decided to establish a secretariat in South Punjab so the people of the area do not have to come to Lahore to seek solution to their problems. He said South Punjab would get separate share from annual development plan in the next fiscal year.

The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Syed Khursheed Shah and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also spoke in support of South Punjab. “The PPP feels pride that for the first time it brought the issue of South Punjab to the mainstream,” Bilawal said. He said the PPP also got a resolution passed in the Punjab Assembly in this connection. He maintained that the PPP always supported decisions which are taken in the interest of strengthening the Federation. “We are hopeful that the PTI government is sincere in fulfilling its commitment,” he said, adding the people of South Punjab deserve their separate province.

Bilawal also thanked the National Assembly speaker for issuing production orders of the PML-N parliamentarian Khawaja Saad Rafique. The PML-N member, whose production orders were issued on Thursday, is likely to attend the National Assembly proceedings today (Friday). The PPP chairman regretted that the parliamentarians are being harassed with the use of the Exit Control List (ECL). He said the government has taken a good U-turn by removing two names from the ECL. Talking about the issue of inflation, he said the masses had drowned in the tsunami of price hike. The Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry rejected the impression of harassment of parliamentarians with the ECL.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said all the political parties had promised the creation of South Punjab province and no point-scoring should be done in this regard. The Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called for a political consensus over the issue of creating South Punjab province. He suggested that a parliamentary committee consisting senior leadership of all the parties should be constituted to look into the pros and cons of bifurcating Punjab. He said political point-scoring should be avoided over this matter.

Shah Mehmood also invited all the political parties to support the government at provincial assembly, the National Assembly and Senate to create South Punjab province. He said the creation of South Punjab would help address issues pertaining to administration and backwardness. However, he observed that achievement of the objective needed political consensus as it was not an executive matter.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal came up with a different point of view, saying that Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur are very much part of Balochistan but they were given to Punjab, while some areas of the Balochistan province were gifted to Iran. Maulana Abdul Wasay said every move to create new provinces should be taken with great care as it can lead to more demands of creating provinces in other federating units as well. Murtaza Javed Abbasi reminded the PTI government of a resolution which they moved in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for a separate Hazara province.

Sanaullah Mastikhel staged walkout from the proceeding when in his first attempt he was not given the floor. However, he was brought back to the House by his party’s chief whip Aamir Dogar. Taking the floor, Sanaullah Mastikhel said there could be no compromise on South Punjab province.