Daily Times

On May 13, 2019, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf presented a bill in the National Assembly seeking the creation of a province in south Punjab, consisting of Seraiki-speaking districts. Now, after one year, after several huddles on a sub-secretariat in south Punjab, the ruling party has again come up with the province card. Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said a bill will be tabled in the National Assembly for the creation of the South Punjab province. Addressing the media after a high-level meeting, Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken the decision to move forward with the process of creation of the South Punjab province.

It is not out of place to ask the ruling party about the fate of the bill last May on the creation of the province. The party had time and again said that a province would be created in Seraiki-speaking areas. Qureshi also himself repeated that the creation of the province was in line with PTI’s manifesto. Earlier, two similar bills hit the parliamentary corridors. In 2013, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) presented the bill in the Senate demanding the creation of a South Punjab province consisting of Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions besides Bhakkar and Mianwali districts of Sargodha division. In January 2019, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) presented a bill for the creation of two provinces in south Punjab – a Bahawalpur province whose boundaries will map those of the Bahawalpur state, and a south Punjab province with its capital in Multan. The party also got a resolution on the two provinces approved by the Punjab Assembly in 2012. PTI envisages a single province in the region consisting of Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan divisions. PPP has supported PTI while it sees PML-N’s move as a spoiler. PML-N is exploiting the situation because its support is vital to get the move through the Punjab Assembly.

Since assuming power, the PTI has shown very little interest in the creation of the south Punjab province. That is why it has been working aggressively on the establishment of a South Punjab Secretariat in Multan besides separate budgetary allocations for the Seraiki region. Only time will tell how serious was the latest move on the province. *