Former senator Muhammad Ali Durrani has warned the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) coalition government against moving the 21st Amendment in Parliament exclusively for the creation of a Seraiki province. He has said that the people of Bahawalpur division will resist any action that would be carried out on the basis of hatred and ethnicity.
Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club, Durrani said that President Asif Ali Zardari’s announcement regarding the establishment of a Seraiki province was an open violation of the constitution as the law did not empower him to announce or form a new province in the country.
Durrani, who is the torch bearer of the Bahawalpur division restoration movement, lashed out against Zardari in a calculated manner. Sources close to the former senator and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) said that the press conference was meant to counter Zardari’s announcement.
The president during his visit to Multan had announced that the PPP government will carve out a Seraiki province before the general elections.
Durrani said that the president is a symbol of the federation and should not propagate ethnic and linguistic hatred, adding that Zardari’s refusal to announce the restoration of Bahawalpur province had disheartened the people.
The former senator said that it was regrettable that the president was accompanied by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in his “voyage of hatred on linguistic basis”.
He said that Gilani was trying to create “Karachi-like circumstances in the peaceful region” through his statements.
“Zardari and Gilani both are hatching conspiracies against south Punjab as they have failed to control the law and order situation in Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and in northern areas.”
Durrani said that Gilani should refrain from “cultivating the seeds of hatred” in south Punjab if all parties like PML-N and the JUI-F had agreed to the restoration of the Bahawalpur province.
He said that Gilani has turned the Pakistan agenda of PPP into hatred on linguistic basis.
Durrani alleged that Gilani had used Rs120 billion on roads leading to his residences, adding that the money had been allocated for the development funds of south Punjab.
He demanded that a referendum be held in Bahawalpur to ask if they wanted their own province or not, adding that he had submitted a resolution for referendum when he was a senator but it had not been entertained.
Durrani thanked Nawaz Sharif for his promise to restore the status of Bahawalpur.
Responding to a question on the creation of a Seraiki province, Durrani said, “if PPP commits such a blunder then it would be its last error.”
COMMENTS (34)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1729154425-0/BeFunky-collage-(67)1729154425-0-165x106.webp "article")
Lol. The guy who has been living in Lahore through out his life and even has domicile of Lahore demands Bahawalpur province.Is not it funny? And people what is bad in demanding a province on lingo-ethnic basis? If Saraiki people want it than let it be. I guess we live in a democratic country. Don't we?
Why aren't they adding the seraiki majority districts of sindh n KP to this new province ? Its a conspiracy. Much better would be to make a bhawalpur province i think.
Mohammad Ali Durrani is a known ISI agent. The way he was transferred to Bahawalpur to counter the movement for Seraiki province shows establishment's opposition to the province. This is not hard to understand as establishment takes 70% share in power claiming that it represents all of Punjab while it is representative of a small number of districts in the Central Punjab.
@Faisal:
Can you explain me what is a pure punjabi, never heard of this thing in my area in my entire life, kashmiris form a caste/tribe in lahore, gujranwala, sialkot, gujrat, jehlum and rawalpindi in northern punjab, they are viewed just as a caste/tribe like jatts, gujjers , arain etc. They are living in these areas since centuries , they speak punjabi, live punjabi and die punjabi, and they are in millions in central and northern punjab. The greatest punjabi wrestler the great gama was one of them, one of great punjabi poet from gujranwala Dr. Faqeer muhammad faqeer was one of them, sohail ahmad (hasb e haal) is one of them, almost all famous wrestlers of gujranwala were kashmiri punjabis. Lahore and gujranwala cusine ows to kashmiri punjabis.
@ehsan:
"Even MQM has never demanded Mohajir province in Sindh."
Oh, now I remember, they only demanded something starting with the word Jinnah......
"Don’t just score points sitting in the PML-N camp and trying to pitch Sindhis against Sindhis."
But it is OK to pitch people of Punjabi against each other. I don't know if you're a original Sindhi or Urdu speaking Muhajir, who claim to be Sindhi, but ask the original Sindhi's if they consider the Urdu speaking Muhajirs, or Punjabi settlers, or Pathans living in Karachi as Sindhi. I guess you already know the answer. So coming back to the original point, Pakistan Plunder Party, aka PPP, didn't speak even once the name of Seraikistan during their first 3 and half years of rule. What happened that the Primer Minister, who happen to be a Seraiki, felt the extreme urgency of the matter and suddenly started sobbing for Seraikistan, though there was not even a single demonstration for the demand.. Perhaps you can better shed some light.
"From historical perspective Saraiki belt has never been a part of Punjab."
From historical perspective much of the northern Sindh and parts of KPK were also part of Seraiki belt. So you better get consent from the other provinces first before inflicting Punjab with your sinister machinations.
India divided east Punjab after Independence, it seems Punjabis in Pakistan cannot tolerate any challenge to their hegemony.
We are Muslims first, Pakistanis second... Ethic, linguistic and racial divisions are not the cadre of Muslims... unless we are ready to believe that our future is doomed.
@Qaisrani After creation of Saraikistan, should all the Seraiki people living in Lahore be sent back to the new province (there are millions living in Lahore with their lands in Bahawalpur region)? Would Gilani leave his mansion in Lahore and move back to Multan? Lastly do you honestly think that whoever becomes Lord of the new province, that he will share the resources with you common folk? Another thing the Sharif brothers are ethnically Kashmiri, but nobody in Punjab is saying they should leave the rule because they are not pure Punjabi...First and foremost we should remain united as patriotic Pakistanis.
Why target my homeland ? no one should be allowed to divide Punjab.
Word from India >> Division on ethnic basis is surely wrong but linguistically it is correct because people of same linguistic culture tend to be closer to each other as compared to ethnicity... Besides if you divide the provinces randomly, it would ultimately create some provinces with one majority and others with some and ultimately it would all go back to square one with them again asking for representation.. Linguistic Division works ...
@Hasan.
Have you ever seen any racist comments from my side??I hate racism. I told you earlier Saraikis,Punjabis and Urdu speaking all live in South Punjab.There is no question of ethnic discrimination involved.We all want separate province for ourselves due to consistent plundering of our resources.
between this please tell me,Sharif brothers d'not hate Saraikis as an identity??Do they not treat them with contempt???
I reiterete that we hate none yet we will not lose our ground to demand for our rights which have been plundered by "Takht e Lahore" along with thier feudal Saraiki stooges.
Zardari-Gilani duo want to weaken the political power of Sharif brothers in Punjab by dividing the largest province of Pakaistan. Chaudhry shujat husain whose commitment with the ppp has gone beyond any point of return are also supporting the creation of seraiki province to weaken N-League's hold in punjab. It's all a power game and nothing to do with the betterment of the people of the region. The people of Bhawalpur are rightly demanding a new province for bhawalpur if the restoration of its old status as 'Riyasat' is not possible for many complications. Before the creation of one unit in 1955, there were other states in existence besides bhawalphur, so we can't restore bhawalpur's old status as 'riyasat' but give it a new province of its own. However, the creation of new provinces is a very thorny path and we should tread on it very cautiously. It might encourage the 'mohajirs' of sind to demand a new province for them as well which the sindhis will never want to bifurcate their province. It is also not in the overall interests of the 'mohajirs' to seek a province of their own. They should continue to be integrated with the sindhis. It's not only in their own interests but also in the interests of sind province as a whole.
@Qaisrani: Blaming a certain region and a certain ethnicity for all of your miseries is a hate filled agenda and I have seen your comments many times in the past as well and your favorite past time is to blame everything on one ethnicity as the mother of all evils in Pakistan and you portray them as evil who is going to eat you anytime. Bringing your agenda with hatred will bring nothing good on your part. This is not like asking for your rights but is like creating a division based on a certain hatred of a certain region in pakistan.
I, despite living in multan think that bahawalpur should be province due to its historic position , I also support a province in south Punjab , but not on a linguistic basis only for administrative reasons ! South Punjab is very underdeveloped as compared to the north !
All the provinces are united to spill ethnic hatred on Punjab because it is the only stable province in Pakistan and they cannot watch it like that. That is why ANP , MQM and PPP are on a hate campaign mission and we can see only One Province bashing all the time. The likes on the hate fill comments here are attributed to the nherent hatred against the People of Punjab by other ethnicities. Blaming everything on evil Punjabis is the easiest thing that all other people of Pakistan can do as they cannot retrospect in their mistakes so the best way is to blame on one region and on a certain ethnicity for their miseries.
Convert all Districts into States. Abolish provinces. There will be no more ethnic hatered or Punjabi vs Sindhi vs Balochi vs Paktoon vs I don't know scenario.
@Hasan.
Asking for our right is agenda for hatred??I am also from those so called people of Punjab.
@Observer's Eye: Durrani always supported the revivial of Bahawalpur status on non lingual basis and on pure administrative and historical grounds. Durrani is a wise guy and he represents the people of Bahawalpur and people of Bahawalpur reject division on linguistic lines and just want their Bahawalpur back on administrative lines.
@Mooed come in Bahawalpur and then ask who is a Durrani is. He is the representative of people of Bahawalpur and is a sensible guy.
@Qaisrani Keep this agenda of hatred to yourself. People of Punjab dont think like that as you are telling here right now.
@Observer's Eye:
There is a clear difference in asking for more provinces for the sake of better administration and creating them on linguistic or racial basis. More provinces is a must .. especially in Balochistan and Punjab but not on racial or linguistic basis .. It should be done purely for administrative purposes keeping in mind the areas which are less developed and thus more attention.
Provinces should not be created on ethnic or linguistic basis and it always results in more hatred and bloodshed amongst nations as we have already witnessed that in former Yugoslavia. May God have mercy upon Pakistan.
@Yes there is peace,stability and and good governance in lahore and surrounding areas but there is poverty,under development,plunder in Saraikistan.
Mr Durrani keep your agenda with you.Bahawalpur was,is and will always be part of Saraikistan.
There is no ethninc issue involved in Saraikistan.All communities i.e Saraikis,Punjabi and urdu speakers are lliving in harmony yet abject poverty gifted to them by Takht e Lahore.So we all demand Saraikistan.
Ali Durrani who ?
wow.. so many issues of people are lying open while they are working to create new issues..
@Blithe: They are jealous that there is peace stability and good governance in Punjab so they want to punish the province to become like Karachi.
This is all a plan to destroy Punjab because the ppp can't win the majority in punjab , so now they have decided to break it up into different pieces so they can prevent nawaz sharif from ever coming into power. The ethnic hate and bigotry being displayed by the ppp and its supporters is horrific. Why doesn't the ppp start this new provinces campaign of their from Sindh province? Give the urdu speaking people of sindh a new province of their own. Since ppp has the majority of seats in the provincial assembly in sindh this new province can be made very easily and quickly.
The creations of new provinces honestly based on facilitation, good governance, distribution of resource and facilitation are highly encouraged…….All provinces (Sind, KPK, FATA/PATA, Balochistan, Punjab) should be surveyed and new unite of federation in each province should be marked. Such decision should take as early as possible in the best national interest.
The ppp should stop acting as an ethnic party and abandon its racist ideology. PPP's total focus is on inciting hate to break up punjab by any means possible.
The ppp leadership should also immediately announce the formation of a Mohajir Bank just as they are announcing other new banks.
There have been multiple rallies and demonstrations in karachi in favour of a new Mohajir sooba , then why are these demands being ignored by the media?
PPP should first make a Muhajir province out of sindh and then worry about other provinces. PPP and its allies have the overwhelming majority in the sindh assembly, they should at the very earliest declare the creation of a new Muhajir province. If Saraiki and Hazara provinces are being made , then why not a new Muhajir province also?
Durrani's stance is commendable. People should reject division on linguistic lines. I hope Bawalpur state will be restored. Punjab was and is the land of harmony,love and tolerance and we dont want any ethnic hatred here like we are watching in Karachi and all people should support divsion on administrative basis .
No Karachi like situation in Punjab.
Gilani and Zardari , kindly spare us!
Wasn't he the one who wanted to make the province?