The Senate’s Standing Committee on Law and Justice on Wednesday approved with majority the parliamentary committee’s report pertaining to the formation of a new province, despite opposition from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
The members of the Senate standing committee met under the chairmanship of Mohammad Kazim Khan to review the report recently presented by the parliamentary committee regarding the creation of new provinces.
The committee consists of Law Minister Farooq Naik, Aitzaz Ahsan, Jehangir Badar, Farhatullah Babar, Raja Zafarul Haq and Zafar Ali Shah.
During the sitting, the Pakistan People’s Party-led members of the committee expressed their confidence and supported the report, whereas members from the PML-N expressed their concerns, urging the members to not grant approval to the report.
Rejecting the report, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq said it was incomplete, asking other members not to introduce a hasty decision and to review the report again prior to any final decision.
However, PPP Leader of the House in Senate Jehangir Badr stressed that report was detailed and covered almost all angles.
Zafarul Haq said his party was against the creation of the new provinces on ethnic basis and the report reflected that ethnic grounds were prominent in creation of the new provinces, which would cause a great damage to the nation.
Badr said if anything remained incomplete, it could be reviewed later in the Senate and the members could re-correct it with consultation, demanding the PML-N not to oppose the report.
Law Minister Farooq Naik said the formation of a new province would be done on administrative not ethnic basis, adding that the constitution did not prohibit the formation of new provinces but an amendment would be needed to Article 1.
Senior PPP leader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan said a new province could not be formed under the constitution and Article 239 needed to be amended first.
He added that if a bill for the formation of a new province was presented in the present scenario, it would be challenged in court.
