Controversy over the creation of new provinces in the country overshadowed the debate on law and order in the Lower House of parliament on Thursday as parliamentarians from various parties presented their points of view on the pros and cons and complexities involved in the creation of new provinces.
Arguments raged on between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PML-Quaid (PML-Q) parliamentarians on carving out a Saraiki province in Punjab, and a Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) member objected to the Awami National Party (ANP)’s demand to merge the tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sardar Bahadur Khan Sehar of the PML-Q, taking part in the debate on law and order, focused more on advocating the creation of a Saraiki province, saying the sense of deprivation of the people of southern Punjab was increasing day by day. He was of the view that new provinces could be established on the basis of culture and civilization. “Sindh was separated from Bombay and NWFP was separated from Punjab on the basis of culture,” he added.
Coming back to the debate on deteriorating law and order in Karachi, Sehar said a visionary approach was needed to resolve the problems of Karachi and Quetta and the issue of new provinces. In his speech, PML-N lawmaker Birjees Tahir strongly rebutted Sehar’s arguments in favour of a new Saraiki province, saying such a move would cause division among the nation along linguistic and communal lines.
He said some parties, instead of focusing on the law and order situation in Karachi and Quetta, were creating controversial issues “to prolong the tenure of the present government.” He said no new province could be created until the constitution was amended. However, he supported the creation of new provinces on administrative bases.
Birjees also came down hard on the government for its “poor performance” during the three years it had been in power, and added that there was a need to strengthen national institutions for the development of the country. FATA parliamentarian Muneer Khan Aurakzai also jumped into the controversy when he strongly objected to the ANP’s demand to include FATA in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said, however, that FATA parliamentarians would lend their support to the creation of new provinces if FATA was made a separate province as well. Later, ANP members and a PPP parliamentarian staged a walkout from the House against the government for not taking the party into confidence over the restoration of the Local Government Ordinance 2001 in Sindh.
VERY INFORMATIVE ARTICLE
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