Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani threw an Iftar dinner for the parliamentarians from the Saraiki belt and took them into confidence over the government’s efforts to create a new province for the people of South Punjab.
A source said the prime minister briefed the MPs on the legal and technical hitches in creation of a Saraiki province but stopped short of giving a clear-cut plan about a “good news” as claimed by Dr Babar Awan the other day. Mysteriously neither the officials nor those attended the dinner shared further details of discussions and kept mum which looked somewhat odd. The coalition government’s parliamentarians hailing from the Multan, Bahawalpur and DG Khan divisions were invited to the dinner as a first meeting of a series of divisional meetings to discuss the development projects at the divisional and district levels.
Punjab Governor Latif Khosa, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister for Textile Makhdoom Shahabuddin and Minister for Professional and Technical Training Riaz Hussain Pirzada were also present to apprise the prime minister about the progress in the rehabilitation work in last years’ flood-hit areas.