PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) has termed the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) move for a Seraiki province in the National Assembly a political gimmick, saying that the MQM was silently paving way for a separate province in Sindh.
Talking to reporters at the Peshawar Press Club, ANP provincial president Senator Afrasyab Khattak said that his party also supported a Seraiki province in Punjab and added that a Seraiki unit of ANP still exists.
However, he termed MQM’s move of tabling a resolution in the National Assembly against the law.
“A resolution [regarding provinces] must be submitted in the provincial assembly. Tabling a resolution demanding a province within a province in the National Assembly is wrong and against the law,” Khattak said.
He accused the MQM of having double standards, saying that if an addition of a single district in Karachi is unacceptable to the MQM, how can they demand more provinces in the country.
Khattak also said that the MQM should accept people from all parts of the country.
“If the MQM wants to make people happy, they should let all those who belong to different areas of the country, live peacefully in Karachi,” he said, adding that till dead bodies keep being recovered in Karachi, the MQM will continue facing hardships staying in politics.
Talking about the Hazara movement for a separate province, Khattak said that the movement had no background and started just after the North West Frontier Province was renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (17)
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@iamshakil: Brother I would surely agree with you , if the seraikis did not feel deprived of their rights, an un-divided Punjab would only work in case the Seraikis have their rights, otherwisethe hatred & dissappointment would increase. Think of Pakistan man, if we need to be united we need to give all the people their rights,& as per the current condition Punjab should be divided to give people their rights.
Make Pakitan better Pakistan Zindabad
@iamshakil: death to emtionalism. It is important to understand administrative needs and do what is best for the people of Punjab. All parties agree to have more provinces, all that is needed is to develop consensus and to move towards the common objective, the beginning of which lies in debating the issue with an open mind
MQM seems to have national interest at the core of their actions in the National Assembly. May it be GRST, NRO, HAUDOOD ORDINANCE or the recent Gas crisis, MQM, seems to have the courage to even go against their allies, when it comes to national interest and a principal stand. People seem to develop a trust in their vision, they are the most voacl members in the assembly. All the hard work that has gone into the preparation of the draft of the resolution should be discussed in the parliament. why shy away from the debate, if it doesnt turn out to be viable, then it can of course be rejected. In all fairness it deserves a chance to be openly discussed.
As stated by MQM, Sindh at the moment needs no division, who knows in another decade or so if the need arises then it can be evaluated. The resolution should not be rubbished just because MQM has produced and tabled the document.
Nobody can divide Punjab. Death to haters of Punjab.
hazara province is a fact.hazara.i am a from hazara.thanks altaff bahi.
Independent administrative units are not division but a move to strengthen unity. India and even Bangladesh have taken benefit after forming new provinces. We can not afford another East Pakistan movement in shape of South Punjab and Hazara. It is the right time to listen and address their demand or else the situation will get worst..I believe It is the timely move by MQM which has about 80% of parliamentary support in the National Assembly. I don't completely deny that it is a political game of MQM...It was all time demand of the people of Hazara, Bahawalpur and Multan for their separate independent units MQM has just channelized and brought their demand to assembly for a debate and fulfilled their promise to the people of Hazara and South Punjab..
Hazara is the proof of diversity and beauty of Pukhtunkhwa, its government spends a lot more on Hazara in comparison to any other part of the province, unlike southern punjab where we keep our brothers with a budget less then what is being allocated only for Lahore. Hazaras speak Hindko, but they are none the less Pashtoons and Hindko is spoken in Peshawar by a huge population as well, who live very peacefully with the Pashtoon there and thrives in businesses, unlike Karachi with the terrible ethnic violence. Lets not advocate for a problem in another part of our country, which we already have at home but rather focus on how we can solve ours. And Karachi is at the heart of all Pakistanis and so does it belong to them.
There should be division of Sind & Baluchistan, IF REQUIRED IN PUNJAB+ KPK.
There is a strange game of division of country has been started especially by ppp +mqm. although giving new name to nwfp was first step.Govt & it allies instead of solving problem of poor people,diverting attention of people to trivial matters,what a govt ?
New provinces should NOT be made on ethno-linguistic lines but for simple administrative demarcation reasons!
@sadia. I 100% agree with you. Divide karachi into five districts, call it sooba or district whatever you like. And give Muhajirs one. Give the rest of four to diverse populace of karachi.
A new mohajir sooba is now also the need of the hour,when punjab and KPK can be divided,then why not sindh?
so,now there should be a new province for the muhajirs in sindh also.the urdu,memoni speaking people are no less humans than the saraikis so why not a new province for the muhajirs?
We must have more provinces in Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan and KPK but only on administrative grounds to improve the efficiency and provide good service to our people.
Every province further made divided and there should be 12 out of 4 for better Administration and Control
Favours Seraiki province but opposes Hindko province -- strange. Its the need of the time that more provinces be carved out as it would ease the administrative difficulties due to bigger provinces.