PML(N) in wonderland
The PML(N) had burnt its fingers by agreeing to KP as the new nomenclature for NWFP and consequently losing support in the Hazara Division. The party initially reacted strongly against the idea of a Seraiki province. It accused the PPP of using the issue as a ploy to destabilise its government and to weaken the party in the next elections. The PML(N) which had turned Punjab into its stronghold since the 80’s found the idea of bifurcating the province disagreeable despite the fact that it was increasingly losing support in South Punjab. Shahbaz Sharif’s foot-in-mouth remark that his party might consider supporting provincial status for Karachi turned the whole lot of Sindhi nationalists that Nawaz was relying on for support against the PML(N). This forced prominent party leaders to rush to Sindh to explain that the Punjab CM had been misquoted and the division of Sindh was never on the Party’s agenda. As the demand for a Seraiki province gained momentum and the issue began to be agitated by a number of legislators across the political divide, the PML(N) became double-minded. With the PPP and PML(Q) finally lending official support to the Seraiki province, and the latter submitting a resolution for the creation of a new province in Punjab Assembly, the PML(N) has been forced to take a decision.
Mian Nawaz Sharif set up a party committee to resolve the issue towards the end of last month. The panel has already held three meetings without producing a consensus for the simple reason that PML(N) leaders happen to be poles apart on the issue. While some have yet to come out of the shock caused by the idea of the division of Punjab, others want it to be divided in as many as four provinces. A consensus however is reported to be emerging that if the division is unavoidable, it has to be carried out on the basis of administrative grounds rather than ethnicity. It remains to be seen if the meeting of the panel scheduled for Monday would lead the party out of the rabbit hole.
Hopefully, the recommendations the party committee makes would be confined to the Seraiki issue alone. More tricky questions concerning the division of other provinces might better be left to some sort of a permanent body that needs to be set up by parliament for the purpose.