NA to take up South Punjab province bill on Monday

FM Qureshi presents bill to NA speaker; Qaiser orders including it in agenda

ISLAMABAD:

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday presented the Constitution Amendment Bill 2022 for the establishment of South Punjab province to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.

The NA speaker ordered including South Punjab Constitutional Amendment Bill in the agenda of Monday's meeting at the request of the foreign minister.

In a statement, Qureshi said that the establishment of South Punjab province is part of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's manifesto.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced during a public gathering in Melsi district that a South Punjab Constitutional Amendment Bill would be brought in parliament.

On the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Qureshi said, he had presented the constitutional amendment bill to the NA speaker after the approval of the Ministry of Law.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri was also present on the occasion.

On Thursday, the incumbent government circulated a summary for the cabinet’s approval to amend the Constitution in order to split the Punjab province and create a fifth province of Pakistan amid serious political crisis and questions over its majority in the National Assembly.

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The South Punjab province – proposed to comprise three divisions – will have 56 seats of the National Assembly and the new provincial assembly will have 119 seats, according to the draft bill moved to create the fifth province of Pakistan.

The Ministry of Law and Justice had circulated the Constitution Amendment Bill 2022 for the approval of the federal cabinet for the creation of a separate new province comprising Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions called South Punjab, according to the cabinet’s summary.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has chosen to seek the cabinet’s nod through circulation instead of bringing the summary in the regular cabinet meeting for discussion and then approval. The move appears to be a political gimmick, as the government did not have two-third majority in the National Assembly to get the Constitution amended.