The tug of war over the issue of a new Saraiki province between political archrivals PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) continues, with the former vigorously supporting it and the latter calling it “a move to hide the government’s corruption”. PPP has announced it would launch the movement for the Saraiki province after Eid.
PPP’s Raja Riaz told reporters outside the Punjab Assembly on Thursday that his party would start a long march from Rahim Yar Khan to Lahore for the cause of the new province. He said the PPP workers had already been asked to make the arrangements for the campaign. He said that no one could prevent the creation of the Saraiki province after the people of Punjab had become “disgruntled with the attitude of the provincial government”.
The PPP leader said his party would not hesitate to offer any sacrifice for the creation of the new province. He said even the residents of Faisalabad wanted to get rid of the PML-N government. He said the creation of a new province was essential and nobody could suppress the demand of the people of southern Punjab. “Takht-e-Lahore (the throne of Lahore) is about to be toppled and the era of the likes of Mughal emperors is coming to an end,” he added.
He rubbished PML-N’s call for a commission on the formation of new provinces. Later, responding to Riaz’s comments, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the creation of new provinces required constitutional amendments and some other formalities.
