ISLAMABAD: Former information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani on Friday advised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi to respect the decision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who had given Bahawalpur a provincial status.
Addressing the media, he said, “Qureshi should apologise on his remarks as the status of Bahawalpur was determined by none other than the founder of Pakistan himself under an understanding reached with the then chief of the people. It is a historic, a constitutional and an undeniable legal right of people of Bahawalpur to have their province restored according to the will and decision of Quaid.”
Durrani said that the people of Bahawalpur have rendered great sacrifices for the restoration of their province, including the sacrifices of martyrs who laid down their lives for this cause. The people of Bahawalpur kept on raising their demand and protest against the dictatorial decision of Yahya Khan, he added.
He said, “Shah Mahmood has become true subject of Yahya Khan by casting aspersions against the justified demand and lawful right of the poorest and badly persecuted area of Bahawalpur.”
“Qureshi, who is trying to cause mischief in Bahawalpur, appears to be under duress due to the internal situation he is facing inside PTI and shall soon become a symbol of sorry,” he warned.
The former federal minister said that all those who opposed the oppressed and deprived people of Bahawalpur from their right of the restoration of the province were thrown in the dustbin of history like Yahya Khan.