MULTAN: Former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Friday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has not taken political parties into confidence before announcing to establish an administrative secretariat for the people of south Punjab.
Talking to reporters here at an inauguration of a furniture exhibition, Gilani said the PTI was performing ridiculously to sabotage one of the serious demands of the people. He said the PTI was allegedly not serious even to establish an administrative secretariat, which is not a solution to the miseries of people of this region.
He said the PTI was committed to the creation of a separate province and in this regard it had inked an agreement with Janoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz. Gilani said the PPP leadership had handled the matter seriously and constituted a constitutional commission for a separate province and PPP leader Senator Farhatullah Babar made serious efforts in this regard and interviewed journalists, political workers, lawyers, Saraiki nationalists particularly Taj Langah and large numbers of stakeholders.
The former PM said the commission produced a province report and addressed basic needs of the region, including jobs quotas in civil services, particularly DMG Group, development issues and numbers of other issues. The province commission report established logical grounds for the creation of a separate province, the former PM said. The province commission had proposed the name for the fifth province as "Bahawalpur, south Punjab province" and settled affairs among Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur, he maintained. The PTI proposal of two south Punjab secretariats is ridiculous and it is the part making a serious issue as non serious one, he said. Gilani said the PPP government first of all tabled a resolution in Punjab Assembly according to the constitution. The constitution binds resolution approval from the provincial assembly, which requires division in provincial boundaries.
He said the PPP got approved resolutions from Senate and National Assembly with serious efforts and the party had taken all political parties into confidence compared to PTI dividing the political parties. To a query about the establishment of two provinces, he said the proposal is not workable because creation of the province would allocate seats for the Senate and in the present situation it was not feasible.
Gilani said the PPP did not demand an administrative secretariat but the party had demanded only creation of a fifth province. The people of Saraiki region demanded an autonomous province, which should have a separate provincial assembly, high court and representation in the Senate.
The appointment of an Additional Chief Secretary and IGP is not the solution of present grave deprivations. The administrative secretariat would further increase the gravity of problems, he said.
Gilani said the PTI is not serious to create a separate province, it was far better taking political parties into confidence than approaching them after finalizing infeasible things at their party level. He said the PTI announcement has divided people, saying the solution to backwardness of the Saraiki region only lies in creation of a separate province instead setting up a mini secretariat.
The Janoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz is facing grave embarrassment because they had merged the Mahaz for the creation of a separate province instead of setting up an administrative secretariat. Gillani said only creation of a separate province can solve miseries of the region.