Govt accused of deceiving people of Seraiki region

MULTAN: Saraiki nationalists Wednesday accused the PTI-led government of deceiving the Saraiki people in the name of making a separate province.

Talking to this scribe on the conclusion of a five-day long Seraiki province awareness campaign in Multan, Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh districts, Saraikistan Qaumi Council chief Zahoor Ahmed Dhreeja said due to wrong economic policies of the incumbent government the people are suffering from price-hike and inflation.

He said the government had miserably betrayed Saraiki people in the name of Seraiki province and created a powerless Civil Secretariat. He said the PTI leaders had announced in election campaign that Saraiki province would be created in the first hundred days of taking over public offices. He said more than 1,000 days have lapsed but no province is created.

He said the people of Waseb did not ask for charity but are demanding their rights. Dhreeja said the base of all problems was imbalanced federation of the country. He said one province has 62 percent population and three provinces have 38 per cent population. He said it is a joke. He said the rulers of the past and the present made fake promises with the people of south Punjab. He said creation of Saraiki province would create a balance in the Federation. He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman also participated in the election in the name of Saraiki province in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, because 70 percent people speak Saraiki language in those areas.

He condemned mainstream political parties for naming Saraiki region as “South Punjab”. Dhreeja said the struggle would continue till the formation of the province. The role of the ruling parliamentary parties in the formation of the province was reprehensible.

Dhreeja said all Saraiki nationalist parties launched Saraiki province awareness drives in six districts and they reached at each door and mobilized masses to accelerate the struggle for the province. He said the campaign has been concluded and the Saraiki nationalists would soon announce their next strategy. Highlighting Saraiki province's awareness drive, he said an awareness drive was launched on November 4 and the caravan reached Shujabad and stayed in Bahawalpur on November 5. Then it reached in Rahimyar Khan on November 6 where district bar council held a ceremony in the honor of Saraiki nationalists.

Then the caravan moved to Ganga Nagar, Sardar Garh, Chachran Sharif, Kot Mithan, Kotla Naseer, Rajanpur, Fazilpur and Mehraywala. The caravan stayed night in Fazilpur then moved to nearby areas, villages in Rajanpur district on the next day on November 7.

The caravan left the district on November 8 and reached Dera Ghazi Khan and addressed meetings. The caravan moved to Muzaffargarh on November 9 and finally reached Multan at midnight.