He didn’t realise he was poking a stick into a hornet’s nest. The Punjab premier’s off-the-cuff, rhetorical question about the creation of new provinces has touched such a raw nerve that it sparked one of the few instances of unity shown by the trio of Karachi. Just why is the mere mention of new provinces enough to brew up a storm regardless of the province?
It’s all about politics. The PPP is trying to make the League(s) feel uncomfortable by gently stoking the cinders of south Punjab, an area with ever lowering League support – despite, ironically, electing the chief minister. This stoking is gentle because its divisive potential could also eat up a bit of the PPP itself. The division of Sindh, on the other hand, doesn’t sit too well with the PPP and, with the attempted reformation of the MQM, it doesn’t sit well with London either. That the ANP won’t warm up to the idea is self-evident. But that isn’t the only new province that the ANP is against. It’s a mesh, really. But it makes mighty good politics.
Asking the various political forces not to make these issues electioneering slogans is unfair. This is just how the political cookie crumbles. Neighbouring India, which has had a greater experience of creating new provinces, has had the issues of newer demarcations brought up by regionalists successively in one election after the other before they were taken up. But the difference between the politicking on the issue there and here is the fact that no one here has the gumption to seriously follow it up. After all, the constitution has a clearly laid out methodology for creating new provinces, one that now involves the concerned provincial assembly as well. Why doesn’t somebody move a resolution somewhere and get the ball rolling?
Perhaps much would fizzle out if these schools of thought are followed up on. Are the people of south Punjab really as much in favour of a new province as the mass media projects them to be? And if so, is the region a monolithic entity, with Bahawalpur and Multan on the same page on all matters? Would the people of a mere three districts of the Hazara division be able to speak for the rest of the division? What are the new numbers on the Pushtun-Baloch proportions in Balochistan? Interesting questions, all of them. But don’t expect any answers any time soon. No one’s interested. Least of all, those who scream out the loudest.
It would be very interesting to locate census data that shows the current ratio of Saraiki versus other dialects of Punjabi in each district of this land of five tributaries of the Indus? Why are we assuming that south Punjab consists of Saraiki people only? Who is looking after the interests of settlers and immigrants of other Punjab dialects? Don’t we have enough divides already to deal with?
The Sutlej and the Ravi are, for all practical purposes, are dysfunctional rivers after the partitioning of our Indus Basin; has anybody suggested solution of keeping these rivers functional and dispute free as the most link canals from the functional rivers, the Chenab and the Jhelum, will remain part of central Punjab?
Would every province will be willing to re-open the Pandora Box of water sharing where it took almost one century to reach an accord of 1991? Can Pakistan afford such dividing issue to be brought back?
Are feudal and tribal leaders are again got together to ward-off an eminent threat of middle class to protect their vested interests and repeat what was dome in 1971 by pushing East Pakistanis to become Bangladeshis to save interests of feudal lords and elite on our side?
We have gained tremendous successes by dividing our Pakistani nation on ethnic, linguistic and sectarian basis. Division on dialect was left out, how can our political wizards leave this option to go waste?
In my opinion, no province can solve people's real issues unless power is devolved to lower level even more than what was done under Musharaf. Today, if MQM is willing to stay within Sindh, it can be partly attributed to the suspended local government system that serves their interests without having a separate province of Karachi. In case that system is rejected, I am not sure if situation will still remain the same.
For the decision makers of Punjab, it is high time to reconsider their dependence on CSP-tunnel vision. Punjab government must take positive and proactive initiatives to counter this suicidal attack on the unity of Punjab by Dr. Zadari and his clique of feudal and tribal leaders. Inaction in this regard is expected to spell out disaster for an already maimed Punjab.
Lahore’s importance is not because of being capital of Punjab only; it has a lot more assets to be proud of. Along with immediate enforcement of even more strengthened and improved devolution of powers to lower levels, capital should be shifted to less developed and less congested central cities of Punjab like Khanewal, Vehari, Lodharan or Muzafar Garh. To avoid a real threat of civil war and our unity, we need brave leadership to make such brave moves and make them now to blunt the onslaught of the haters of Punjab.
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