South Punjab: ‘Bahawalpur will resist Seraiki province’

LAHORE:

Former minister Muhammad Ali Durrani has warned the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) against pressing for the creation of a Seraiki province, saying the move would be resisted by the people of Bahawalpur, who wanted a separate province of their own.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, Durrani said that President Asif Zardari’s announcement regarding a Seraiki province was a clear violation of the Constitution.

Durrani said that the president represented the federation and should not spread “ethnic and linguistic hatred”. He said that Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani were “conspiring” against southern Punjab, and their push for a Seraiki province would result in unrest.

During a recent trip to Multan, Zardari told businessmen that he would direct the government to set up a separate Seraiki province in southern Punjab before the general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2012.