Zardari’s pledge: Formation of Seraiki province inevitable, Dasti told

MNA says president to make an announcement upon his return.

MULTAN:

With a clean bill of health in hand, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday that the formation of the Seraiki province was “inevitable”.

Talking to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Jamshed Dasti, President Zardari said he was making a quick recovery and would be back in Pakistan in no time. He said he would make an announcement over the coming weeks regarding the formation of the province during his visit to Multan.

Furthermore, Zardari vowed that his return would be a slap across the faces of all his opponents and those spreading rumours of a coup in his absence, Dasti told The Express Tribune.

All government functionaries and PPP officials were in Pakistan while the president was undergoing medical tests in Dubai, Dasti said quoting Zardari, adding on the president’s behalf that the chief executive of the country had managed all government activities “magnificently”. The president further informed the MNA that in his absence, PPP co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had been present in Pakistan.

The president will address the grievances of the people of South Punjab and come up with a resolution for the formation of a new province, Dasti told The Express Tribune.

The MNA opposed the formation of Bahawalpur province, saying the city was never a province in the history of the subcontinent, adding that it was a state within a confederation only during British rule.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.