Three more ruling party MPAs join JPSM

MULTAN: Three more MPAs from the PML-N on Wednesday resigned from the party and joined the Janoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz (JPSM) which offered the mainstream political parties a dialogue on formula for the creation of the south Punjab province.

The development came on the first day of the JPSM leadership’s four-day tour of the region. Starting from Khanewal district, the JPSM leaders visited Multan on Wednesday evening where they held a press conference.

On the occasion, PML-N MPAs Qaiser Abbas Magsi from PP-264 (Layyah-III), Chaudhry Karam Dad Wahla from PP-219 (Khanewal-VIII) and ZeeshanGurmani from PP-252 (Muzaffargarh-II) announced their decision to resign from the ruling party. The Bahawalpur Market Committee chairman also resigned from his office and joined the JPSM.

Addressing the press conference, JPSM Secretary-General MNA Tahir Bashir Cheema said both the PML-N and PPP played a game with the people in the name of creating the south Punjab province. They developed a consensus on the 18th Amendment and settled disputed issues except establishment of the new province, he added.

Cheema said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had promised in the 2013 general elections creation of the province but didn’t fulfil the commitment. He said the PML-N was talking about “respect the vote” but it humiliated and insulted parliamentarians from south Punjab.

The south Punjab parliamentarians, he said, were treated like some unwanted thing, adding that the PML-N had developed a culture of monarchy in the party. Cheema said the JPSM did not have a political agenda except the creation of the south Punjab province.

He said they were not demanding the province on the grounds of ethnicity but purely on administrative basis. “The creation of province is a voice of the people of this region which has been kept backward in all respects,” said Cheema. He alleged that the government was claiming allocation of Rs 1,206 billion package which was existed only in papers as not a single penny could be released. On the other hand, Rs240 billion were spent on the Lahore Orange Line, he said.

He challenged the chief minister to hold a referendum on the issue which, he said, would make Shahbaz understand the need for a new province. Offering PML-N, PPP and PTI to hold dialogue on a concrete formula for creating the province, he said, “The JPSM has submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly for the creation of south Punjab province. If the government is sincere, then it would endorse the JPSM resolution at any cost.” JSPM leaders MNA Rana Qasim Noon and MNA Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry also spoke on the occasion and said the creation of the province was the basic right of the people.

They said their demand wasn’t new as the people of the region had been pressing for the new province since long due to their deprivations and problems. They said Lahore was the heart of Pakistan but it could not sustain the burden of entire Punjab, adding, “Division of Punjab is inevitable.”

Magsi said he was compelled by the JPSM leadership to join the group because not only the parliamentarians but also the people of the region were not treated equally. On the other hand, Gurmani announced the decision to resign from the PML-N when Cheema and others visited his residence. Earlier, the JPSM leaders visited Khanewal and Jahanian, during which Wahla said he had resigned from his MPA seat and joined the JPSM.