The leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has decided to bring a resolution to the National Assembly for the creation of a separate province in Punjab (a Saraiki province) apart from the establishment of a commission by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the issue, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday.
The decision was taken in a meeting between Prime Minister Gilani and PML-Q leaders from southern Punjab, including former minister of state for foreign affairs Khusroo Bakhtiar, former Lodhran district nazim Abdul Rehman Kanju, former Multan district nazim Faisal Mukhtar, former Khanewal district nazim and Special Assistant to the PM Ahmed Yar Hirraj, which took place a few days ago at PM’s House. A source in the government told Pakistan Today that the PML-Q leaders from southern Punjab told the premier that the time had come for the PPP and the PML-Q to take practical steps for the creation of a separate province in Punjab as the people were fed up with ‘hollow promises’ by the coalition government in this regard.
“They told the premier that they were losing ground in their respective constituencies as the people were sceptical about the government’s sincerity in its pledges of creating a separate Saraiki province in Punjab and were demanding practical steps instead of claims and promises,” the source said. The source also said the PML-Q leaders told the premier that if the coalition government delayed the process of taking practical steps, other political entities such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) could succeed in winning sympathies of the local population, grabbing vote banks of both the PPP and the PML-Q. “In response to the PML-Q leaders’ reservations and political concerns, the prime minister assured them that he would soon constitute a commission on provinces and the coalition government would bring a resolution in favour of a new province in Punjab in the National Assembly, which would be sent to the Punjab Assembly after passage,” the source added. Abdul Rehman Kanju told Pakistan Today the PML-Q leaders had called on the premier for the creation of a Saraiki province. “Prime Minister Gilani assured that all possible steps within in the ambit of law and constitution would be taken to create a new province in Punjab … He told us that he was in more of a hurry to create a Saraiki province than the PML-Q leaders,” Kanju added.
