Qureshi rules out two provinces proposal

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Tuesday said that the proposal of two provinces was not viable economically rather one province is only feasible comprising of south Punjab districts for good governance and devolution of powers.

Addressing a reception organised by Khawaja M Suleman here on Tuesday, he said that he had presented the case of good governance and devolution in his party for the creation of a new unit on administrative grounds.

He said India had divided the Indian Punjab into three parts keeping in view of the population influx and administrative necessity. Currently, Punjab with a population of 120 million is administratively unviable to manage it from Attock to Rajanpur. He said majority of 28 European countries are small in size than Punjab but they are running their affairs as separate countries and serving the people with good governance.

Qureshi quoted Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Mir Ghous Bux Bazinjo, Attaullah Mengal and Akbar Bugti who struggled hard for balancing the federation throughout their political career.

He said the economic viability lies in one province instead of two because the demand for the creation of two provinces had no geographical relevance, population size and it was also against the concept of devolution. He said he strongly believes in only one province of south Punjab.

He appealed to the journalists, writers and intellectuals to discourage those who are demanding two provinces.

Appreciating the role of universities in giving the intellectual feedback, he said he was expecting intellectual feedback from the Bahauddin Zakariya University. He said the Punjab government had appointed Prof Dr Tariq Mehmood Ansari as the vice-chancellor of the BZU. He said that he had been honoured to be a member of the BZU Senate, Syndicate and Selection Board in the past. “I have a personal association with the varsity because the university was established in the name of great saint Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, who had presented the concept of the resident madrassa.”

The foreign minister said that he had included ex-secretaries in the advisory council due to their experience in the specialised field of foreign affairs. They have served with the PML-N, PPP, PML-Q and Musharraf governments in the past. “I have selected all of them purely on their intellect despite serving to other governments in the past,” he added.

Qureshi said that Pakistan needs long-term foreign policies and the advisory council was largely helping in this connection. He said the advisory council was preparing a long-term roadmap for the country. The foreign ministry is seeking a solution to Pakistan’s core issues and preparing a roadmap for the next 25-50 years to decide future directions of the country. He said he was expecting the same feedback on the same patron of the foreign ministry’s advisory council and creative ideas from the BZU academicians. The input of BZU would be important for the foreign ministry.