Punjab

Restoring Bahawalpur province : "Current leadership proving to be biggest hurdle"

JI leader says citizens have become victims of federal, provincial govts

Our Correspondent April 23, 2018

Former Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Usman Dawood Abbasi said that no political party possesses the courage to divide Punjab to make new administrative provinces PHOTO: EXPRESS

BAHAWALPUR: The biggest hurdle in the restoration of the Bahawalpur province is our current leadership, which does not wish to divide Punjab, expressed Jamaat-e-Islami's (JI) Parliamentary Leader in the Punjab Assembly Syed Wasim Akhtar on Sunday.

Addressing the All Parties Conference, he maintained that in the past five years, a resolution for the province had been presented in the Punjab Assembly 16 times. “However, due to orders issued by Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, they were unable to present it on the assembly floor,” he added. In the upcoming Bahawalpur Division elections, all candidates must take an oath, pledging they will play their part in the restoration of the province once elected to the assemblies, he added.

Doing business reforms in Punjab

“The people of Bahawalpur have been protesting for a long time against the injustice they face and have raised their voice in a completely legal and constitutional way.” He added that without the restoration of its status, the province has fallen victim to several problems such as unemployment. “Farmers, businessmen, students and labourers alike have become victims of the federal and provincial governments. No one wants to listen to or resolve their problems,” the JI leader stressed.

Most of the people living in the area belong to the agriculture sector. However, an unjust division of water resources has inflicted irreparable damage to the trade. Cholistan’s land has either been usurped by land mafia or has been unjustly divided. Due to these issues, people are facing extreme economic difficulty, he revealed.

Women need a greater political role

Former Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Usman Dawood Abbasi said that no political party possesses the courage to divide Punjab to make new administrative provinces. Roads need to be blocked from Kot Sabzal to Mcleod Ganj, for which people need to wake up.

Only a presidential order can restore Bahawalpur province, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2018.