Huge rally: Nawab of Bahawalpur warns of anarchy

Sets September deadline for restoration of provincial status of former princely state.


Kashif Zafar June 15, 2011

BAHAWALPUR:


Chief of Bahawalpur National Awami Party (BNAP) Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi has called upon the government to restore the provincial status of Bahawalpur by September 2011 if it wanted to avoid an anarchy-like situation. He was addressing a huge crowd in Feroza near Liaqatpur, 100 kilometres from Bahawalpur.


Abbassi, who is also the Ameer of Bahawalpur, said Bahawalpur belonged to its residents and nobody could occupy its land. “I know those who have designs on 66 lakh acres of virgin land in Cholistan. I warn them that till my last breath they can’t even get an inch of my lands.” Nawab Sadiq Muhammed Khan Abbasi had formed a network of canals to cultivate these lands which was severed to deprive the people of Cholistan and desertify the area. He said people from all ethnicities had aligned with the BNAP to promote its one-point agenda. Those who oppose the demand will certify their political demise. He said the presence of millions of people in the gathering was a referendum for the Bahawalpur province as well as a resolve to support the movement till this materialises.

He said the provincial government has not allocated a single penny in the current budget for Bahawalpur like last year. “I know the truth behind the hollow slogans for a Saraiki province. We fought the Britons and the Hindus. Now we will defeat slaves of the British Raj and General Yahya Khan’s followers,” he added.

President BNAP Farooq Azam Malik said the government earns Rs120 billion from Bahawalpur but the people only get unemployment and illiteracy in return. Senator Durrani said that successive governments since 1970 were unconstitutional as they had denied provincial status to Bahawalpur in violation of the accord with Quaid-e-Azam. He said the federation and Quaid-e-Azam had given protection to the provincial status of Bahawalpur which was endorsed by the 1954 constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2011.

COMMENTS (3)

Sa'ad Abbasi | 12 years ago | Reply @Amna: Yes Amna she is the same Aysha Siddiqa and she is also from Bahawalpur, so I will accept her evaluation of at-least the Nawab!
Amna | 12 years ago | Reply @Ms. Siddiqa: Are you serious? Do you even know of the history between the royal family of Bahawalpur and the State (i.e: the military)? I sure hope you are not the same Ayesha Siddiqa who penned Military Inc.
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