Daily Times

Sir: Whenever someone talks in favour of the underdeveloped and ignored areas of southern Punjab such as District Dera Ghazi Khan, one’s feelings of deprivation are further aroused. The tragedy is that not many people, other than those living there, talk about it. Now that census has been held at the cost of more than Rupees 30 billion to the national exchequer, its benefits must travel down to backward districts like Dera Ghazi Khan.

For example, the existing constituency limits of NA-171 in the district are scattered in such ways that some of its population blocks do not connect with others. These population centres are landlocked from each other. Taunsa Tehsil is part of this constituency but its surrounding populations form part of another constituency also. During the last delimitation process, this arrangement was made with a malicious intent to support a favourite candidate against the other. Since the new delimitation of the constituencies is likely to take place before the elections in 2018, as a resident of the area, I request that constituency limits be redefined, making them contiguous and in line with the aspirations of the local people.

The people from backward areas already feel as if they are left to live under subhuman conditions only to subsist, compared with their fellow citizens living in big cities.

JAVED NUTKANI

D G Khan

Published in Daily Times, September 24^th 2017.