South Punjab’s problems: Separate province only long-term solution, says MNA

Khusru Bakhtiar dismisses PPP’s Ahmed Mahmood’s allegations that state machinery was being used

RAHIM YAR KHAN:

Campaigns for local government elections are in full swing in Rahim Yar Khan.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Makhdoom Khusru Bakhtiar said his party was committed to addressing the grievances of southern Punjab districts.

He said he realised that the only long-term solution to the region’s problems lay in creation of a separate province.

Bakhtiar, a former state minister, said a constitutional amendment would soon be introduced to provide separate quotas in public sector jobs for urban and rural areas in southern Punjab.



He said he was concerned at the delay in completion of several development projects including the Benazir Bhutto Bridge on River Indus near Chachran Sharif; Cholistan Cadet College, Khanpur; and a sports gymnasium. He said he and another PML-N MNA, Sheikh Fayyazuddin, had submitted a call attention notice in the National  Assembly on the matter.

Bakhtiar said the completion of work on Khawaja Ghulam Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology was evidence of the federal and provincial governments’ commitment to development of the region.

Bakhtiar said he was confident that the PML-N would emerge as the majority party in the district council. He said the PPP would not win more than 30 seats in the 139 seat council.

He said the PML-N would sweep the elections in the municipal committees. “The PPP and The PTI cannot win more than a handful of seats in the municipal committee,” he said.

Bakhtiar dismissed allegations by Pakistan Peoples Party’s southern Punjab president Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood that PML-N MNAs and MPAs were using state machinery in the election campaign. He said no PML-N MNA or MPA had violated the code of conduct issued by the ECP.

He was accompanied by MNA Sheikh Fayyazuddin and MPAs Rais Mehboob Ahmed and Umar Jaffar.



On Wednesday, Ahmed Mehmood had held a press conference and said that he was confident that people of Rahim Yar Khan would elect PPP candidates to the district council. He said the PPP had fielded panels for chairman and vice chairman in 112 of the 139 union councils in the district council. He said five of the PPP panels had already been elected unopposed. “People of southern Punjab will reject the PML-N candidates. The provincial government has neglected the area. It continues to spend millions of rupees on metro buses in northern districts,” he said.

Mehmood claimed that Rs400 billion from the provincial budget had been spent on projects in Lahore alone during the two-and-a-half years. Only Rs20 million had been released for Rahim Yar Khan’s NA-195 during the period. Mehmood’s son Makhdoom Mustafa Mehmood is an MNA from the constituency.

Mehmood told the gathering that on winning the elections the first order of business for PPP candidates would be the restoration of Jinnah Hall which was burnt during riots that erupted following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Mehmood was accompanied by MNA Mustafa Mehmood, former MNA Javed Iqbal and former MPA Javed Akber Dhillon.

‘PML-N likely to be the largest party in district council’

Political commentators the Tribune talked to say that the PML-N is likely to emerge was the largest party in the district council.

They said the PPP was expected to trail behind independents.

Factional rivalry was stated to be the cause of low expectations from the PTI.

Alongside the 139 union councils in the district council, election will also be held in seven municipal committees. These are Sadiqabad (44 wards), Rahim Yar Khan (50 wards), Khanpur (39 wards), Liaqatpur (20 wards), Kot Samaba (12 wards), Zahir Peer (17 wards) and Taranda Saway Khan (12 wards).

Elected unopposed

In the district council, chairman and vice chairman panels have been elected unopposed in six UCs (five of whom are from the PPP) and general councillors in 79 wards. Two of these are UC 25 (Jamaldinwali) and UC 26 (Iqbal Nagar) where candidates supported by PPP’s Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood have won.

Makhdom Ahmed Mehmood’s son, Makhdoom Ali Mehmood (in Sadiqabad area) and former federal minister Raees Munir Ahmad’s son Nabeel Ahmad (Bhong area) have been elected unopposed on the chairmen’s seat on PPP tickets. In the municipal committees, general councillors have been elected unopposed in 12 wards.

Security plan

The 1,560 polling stations in the district have been divided into three categories for security purposes. Of these, 80 are extremely sensitive (Category A) and 308 sensitive (Category B).

Rahim Yar Khan DPO Zahid Nawaz Murawat said closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras would be used to monitor activities at the extremely sensitive polling stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2015.