Qureshi in action for south Punjab province

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has initiated a move of holding consultative meetings with the lawmakers of south Punjab for the early creation of a new province and expressed his determination that PTI is very serious in this matter.

Talking to journalists via telephone from Islamabad here on Thursday, he said he had held a meeting with the parliamentarians of south Punjab in Islamabad to discuss the establishment of south Punjab province. Qureshi said that the creation of south Punjab province would assure decentralisation of powers at the grass-root level. He said the south Punjab civil secretariat would be established in July. The region is emerging as a hub of business activities. The city has become another big centre of media after Lahore, he added. Qureshi said he presented the case of south Punjab province in the meetings of PTI with reference to regional statistics, population, good governance and devolution of powers. The Indian Punjab is smaller than Pakistan’s and they created three provinces from it. The establishment of south Punjab province will further strengthen the federation, he said. He said that the PM was fully committed to the creation of south Punjab province and he would honour his promise in this connection.

He said the party had started practical struggle in this regard. Qureshi said that the prime objective of creating the south Punjab civil secretariat was to decentralise the powers at the grass-root level. The establishment of the civil secretariat is a one-step forward and it will expedite the process of establishing a new province by exercising the executive powers. The establishment of sub-civil secretariat and allocation of separate budget for south Punjab would help resolve the region’s problems and end deprivations.