The people of southern Punjab want a new province, not just an administrative unit, MNA Jamshed Dasti said on Saturday.
Addressing a public rally, Dasti announced the launch of a campaign to promote the cause of people living in southern Punjab.
“The Seraiki people want a province of their own. We will not allow the Punjab Assembly to pass a resolution against the Seraiki province,” he said.
He said that 2015 would prove to be an election year. “In the new Pakistan, there is no room for feudal lords and capitalists. They have destroyed our region in the last 67 years,” Dasti said.
He said that farmers, small traders and the youth had all been ruined. “By coming out today, the people of Dera Ghazi Khan have shown their commitment to demanding their rights from feudal lords,” he said.
Dasti said that he had confronted the ruling party over several issues. “Had I also accepted the status quo, I could have easily become a minister in the present government,” he said.
He said that millions of Seraiki people had been denied their rights. “Hundreds of thousands of young men in southern Punjab are jobless. The feudal lords of the area are together with the Islamabad and Lahore governments. They are both exploiting us,” Dasti said.
He said that he would hold public rallies in other cities of southern Punjab after Muharram.
He said people of south Punjab had been deprived of their basic rights.
During the rally, he presented a resolution, demanding the formation of province consisting of Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bhakkar, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ismail Khan districts. It was passed unanimously by the participants.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA Sardar Ahmad Ali Khan Dareshak and Amir Karamat, too, addressed the rally.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2014.
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