South Punjab province

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has renewed debate on the creation of a South Punjab province after the ruling PTI announced it would soon table a related bill in the National Assembly. “This is in line with the PTI’s manifesto,” said Qureshi, whose constituency covers part of the southern Punjab city of Multan, which would likely be the political and economic powerhouse of any such province. The decision apparently came during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday. A South Punjab province was among the PTI’s election promises, and it appears the party is now going to try to cobble together a two-thirds majority in both houses to ensure its passage. Qureshi claimed that the lack of clear majority in parliament by most governments had been the biggest obstacle in the creation of a South Punjab province. “Only PML-N had it at one time, but it didn’t do it,” said the minister. He hoped that the PPP would back the bill, considering it had also previously suggested the need for the new province. He even hoped for PML-N support, noting, “PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has spoken about giving rights to South Punjab in the past.”

While some critics believe this is just a political stunt, given that the person who made the announcement would be among the major beneficiaries of such a move, this seems unlikely. But getting this bill through parliament will not be easy. Punjab is by far the most populous and economically influential province of the country. Although removing southern parts would still leave the remaining province in an advantageous position in terms of population and economic clout, the shifting of power bases would mean that central and northern Punjabi politicians would still lose a lot of their influence. More likely, negotiations would be tense, and depending on who is running the negotiations behind the scenes, the government may end up having to give up much more than it wants to get the bill passed. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2020.

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