Tribune Take: Creation of new provinces could set a dangerous precedent

Express Tribune News Editor, Gibran Peshimam says creation of new province in Punjab would be a defining precedent.


Gibran Ashraf January 05, 2012

In today’s episode of the Tribune Take, we take a look at the conflict between various parties even as they all call for the creation of new province(s) in south Punjab.

Gibran Peshimam, News Editor of The Express Tribune in Karachi, says that one of the reasons why the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are at a logger heads despite all wanting the creation of new province(s) in south Punjab was the fact that the MQM had by-passed the provincial assemblies and tabled a resolution in the national assembly.

He says that while both ANP and MQM do not have any support in south Punjab, but the creation of any new province in south Punjab would set a precedent for the creation of other provinces, such as the ethnic Hazara province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the alleged Jinnahpur state, believed to have been thought up by the MQM.

Read Gibran Peshimam’s articles here.

Follow Gibran Peshimam on Twitter.

The Tribune Take daily news web show will appear on the tribune.com.pk home page.

The Take will feature in-depth interviews and analysis with editors and reporters who are covering the major stories, exploring front page events and major ledes. The news analysis covers the way The Express Tribune examines a story, how we cover it and why.

COMMENTS (10)

Hameedullah | 12 years ago | Reply Saraiki is a language of great antiquity in Pakistan. It served as "Lingua Franca" among the people living around i.e. the Bloch and Sindhis, the Pashtoons and Punjabis etc. for centuries. It also remained the language of commerce and trade until recent times. Today over forty million people of South Punjab and Dera Ismail Khan region of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province speak Saraiki as their first language. It is widely spoken and understood as a second language in other areas of Punjab, Northern and Western Sindh down to the suburbs of Karachi, and in Kachhi plain of Baluchistan. "The vernacular dialects on which Saraiki is based are native to what is now the southwestern half of Punjab Province in Pakistan, south of the Salt Range of mountains."
Hameedullah | 12 years ago | Reply @kala_bacha: First please will you elaborate on the roots of Muhajirs? I am not a historian but what I have said is true. Can you say the same what you say of Siraikis for Muhajirs? Certainly not.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ