Seraiki Province: ‘PML-N decision to prove costly’

Awan said people would reject PML-N in next election, if it did not accept their demand for a Seraiki province.

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Saturday said that people would reject the PML-N in the next general election, if it did not accept their demand for a Seraiki province.

Responding to the mediamen queries at a panel discussion on ‘Media, Politics and National Interest’ at a hotel, she said the demand for a new province was the constitutional right of the elected representatives while political parties had no role in deciding the fate of the new provinces.

Only the stakeholders through their representatives could take a decision on the issue, she said and urged the political parties to protect the rights of the masses.

The minister said that the people believed that southern Punjab had been deprived of its rights in the past where masses were denied their basic human rights. The PPP government started dialogue on the creation of a new province in order to address the grievances of the backward areas in the country, she added.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2011.