“No force or trick can avert the formation of a southern Punjab province,” former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani said on Wednesday. He said that Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) workers should prepare for the upcoming general elections and rest assured as free and fair polls were beneficial for PPP. He expressed these views while addressing a symposium on the topic ‘Demand for new provinces and the upcoming general elections’, organized by the Hameed Nizami memorial society.
On this occasion, Hameed Nizami Memorial Society’s chairman, Arif Nizami, also expressed his views and presented a souvenir to the former prime minister. Yousaf said that when PPP had proposed the formation of the southern Punjab province, the Punjab government tried to score points by demanding the restoration of the Bahawalpur province. He said that the Punjab government should take the lead and give people of the south their rights.
“I have upheld the constitution regarding the Swiss letter; the constitution provides immunity to the president. If the president’s immunity remains intact despite writing the letter, I won’t regret my sacrifice; in case the immunity drops, I will disagree and protect the constitution.,” he said.
Commenting on the electricity shortage, he said that the federal government’s initiated projects will be complete in a year and a half, while there was no objection to any province generating electricity. “Shahbaz Sharif has asked Nawaz Sharif to make him minister for water and power in the next cabinet,” said Yousaf, “he should come to us, we can make him an advisor on power generation if not give him the full ministry”.
Yousaf paid rich tribute to the late Hameed Nizami on his contribution to the field of journalism, and lauded Arif Nizami’s role in courageously facing military dictators.
Editor of Pakistan Today, Arif Nizami, appreciated Yousaf’s political standing and said that Gilani had sacrificed his seat but had not betrayed his party.
‘South Punjab will become a new province at all cost’
