President directs NA to form commission on south Punjab provinces
A press release issued by the National Assembly secretariat highlighted the directives by the president in his letter to the Speaker National Assembly, which stated that in reference to the resolution passed in the NA in its 41st session on May 3, 2012, a new province ‘Janoobi Punjab’ (south Punjab), previously referred to as Multan province, be created in order to address the grievances of the people and secure the political, administrative and economic interest of the people of the area. He also mentioned a similar resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly, demanding the parliament and federal government to create a south Punjab province and also to revive Bahawalpur’s status as a province.
The letter added that a 14 member commission should be constituted to expedite the process, comprising six members from the Senate, nominated by the Chairman, six NA members nominated by the Speaker and two Punjab Assembly members nominated by its Speaker.
The commission shall look into matters pertaining to constitutional, legal and administrative matters.
Zardari has suggested that the commission submit its report to NA speaker and the prime minister within 30 days of its notification, which will be followed by the initiation of the process of amendment of the constitution.
The following is the full text of the president’s letter:
1. The National Assembly in its 41st Session in its meeting held on May 3, 2012 passed a resolution to the affect that in order to address the grievances and to secure the political, administrative and economic interest of the people of the southern region of the province of Punjab and to empower them in this regard, a new province to be known as province of ‘Janoobi Punjab’ be created from the present province of the Punjab. The provincial assembly of Punjab has also passed a similar resolution demanding the parliament and the federal government to create a new province of Janoobi Punjab and also to revive the earlier status of Bahawalpur as a province (copies of the resolutions are annexed)
2. In order to implement the aforesaid resolutions and before a process is initiated to amend the constitution in terms of Article 239 thereof it is expedient that a commission may be constituted comprising of six members from Senate to be nominated by the Chairman, six members from National Assembly to be nominated by the Speaker and two members from the provincial assembly of Punjab to be nominated by the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab. The Commission shall look into the issues relating to the fair distribution of economic and financial resources, demarcation, allocation/readjustment of seats in the National Assembly, Senate and the concern provincial assembly and allocation of seats in the new province on basis of population, including seats of minorities and women and other constitutional, legal and administrative matters. The provision of the constitution which would require amendment inter alia include Articles 1(2), 51, 59 and 106 of the Constitution.
3. The commission shall submit its report to the Speaker as well as to the Prime Minster within thirty days of its notification in the official gazette, which will be followed by initiation of the process of amendment of the constitution.
COMMENTS (30)
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@Mirza you writed ''Let the local people decide their fate and future not from faraway places'' just because you live in Denmark, USA or what ever, it doesn't mean that we cann't be a part of our brother and sisters decision in the other side nobody is making decisions for them. We are just writing our opinions. Be more objectivity!
@NP Thanks for the information I didn't know that the population in punjab has grown so much up.
I do not understand why some people are talking about S. Punjab people as if they are stupid and others have to make decisions for them. How can we determine what is good for them? In fact what the other people decide would clash with the interest of SP people. Let the local people decide their fate and future not from faraway places. We do not stop talking about plebiscite in Kashmir, how about in south Punjab?
I am seeing my Punjabi brothers are angry over this move. But don't they see that the whole budget for Punjab is being spent on Lahore's development? Wake up, its 21st century. U can't make someone slave anymore.
Make Upper Punjab a New Country and merge it with Azad Kashmir. The Upper Punjab is more than happy by Living with AJK rather than with the rest of Pakistan. AJK and Upper Punjab should make a new country and we should demand full autonomy from the rest of Pakistan. Otherwise People of Pakistan will wipe the Punjabi Identity. Our Language have been removed and now our regions are being divided. Time to get united or else on the name of Pakistan will destroy the Punjabis at the hands of the rest of Pakistanis. There is no such thing as Pakistani identity and people will realize this sooner or later.
It is unrealistic to think that divisions of existing provinces will stop here. There is a movement to separate Karachi/Hyderabad from the rest of Sind exists - and 20 years ago no one imagined a Southern Punjab province. Anybody who thinks that the MQM staunch support for dividing Punjab on imagined ethnicities is limited to Punjab is kidding themselves.
The irony is that that Northern and Southern Punjabis have a much greater intermingling, intermarriage and shared culture (food, clothing, poetry, music sufiana kalam, Kafi, venerating shrines etc) than urdu speaking and Sindhi speaking people of Sindh...no matter how many ajraks Mr. Altaf Hussain dons or the lack of intermarriage/interaction between pushtuns and Brehvis of Baluchistan or between Baltis and Gilgistis or between Chitralis and people from DI Khan.
So this is just a first step for further divisions of all provinces in the future.....Whatever will be expedient for the the politicians needs in the future.
Is the division of Punjab such a bad thing? I am thinking purely in terms of effeciency and good governance. So-called southern Punjab will be governed by Sardars, Pirs and Fakirs. THey will be known for the biggest Madrassas. Will be known for great mangoes and cotton. Hopefully the feudal lords and holy men will help bring Southern Punjab into the 20th century. This will liberate Northern Punjab to get on with moving into the 21st century and free them from too much influence from holy men and tribal chiefs.Increase industrialisation and Education. The social development indicators for northern Punjab will also jump dramatically. It might be a bit unfair for the other provinces as Punjabis will have greater influence in the senate. In around 20 years southern punjab will split into two SE Punjab and SW Punjab. One for holy men and the other for tribal chiefs. People are people and their language and culture will remain the same if they live in Southern Punjab or Northern or move to another province altogether. On the whole a split will be good for the Northern divisions of Punjab and a nightmare for the poorest people in Southern Punjab.
@Qaisrani: It's a shame that people want to take the only stable and well governed province and instead create another poor province. Yes Southern Punjab is poor compared to Central and Northern Punjab because there is still some feudalism there which doesn't exist in other parts of Punjab. I would have thought people would want to stay part of the present Punjab where growth in the South Punjab would eventually follow from the stability of the rest of the province. Instead they want South Punjab to go the way of Sind?
I am not against division but I am worried about people of south Punjab. Zardari is luring them into a trap to win seats in the coming elections. Its example can be seen from the above comments made by Mr Qaisrani. Please don't give votes on the basis of division but on basis of unity. Analyse what Zardari and his party has done to Pakistan in the last four and half years. Leave other provinces and just pick sindh for analysis. PPP has control over it but they never did anything good for the people of Sindh then how people of south Punjab are assuming that PPP will do something good for them.
I am from Lahore and I am against policies of PML-N. Whenever someone argues with me about PML-N performance in Lahore, I always base my argument on the basis of their performance in whole province.
Once again I request you to think big in terms of your country not in terms of your regional interest. Once country wide problems would be resolved, our problems would resolve automatically.
The Bhuttos have taken it upon themselves to dismember Pakistan...Bhutto senior lost East Pakistan....Ms Bay Nazir lost the unity drive of the Sikhs of East Punjab to unite with Pakistan,IE The Bhinderwal revolution....and now Mr Zardari will divide Punjab so a civil war like Yugoslavia can begin here meanwhile he can slip away to his numerous homes dotting the whole globe ....
Seems Mr. Zardari, is taking some kind of revenge from people of Pakistanis.
Mr. Zardari, We are already very tired standing in different Ques, to get the basic necessities. The last thing we Pakistanis need is to be divided further. I do not want to loose my loved ones during any riots that may occur during protest for new divide. Please leave us and Pakistan alone.....
Why is the division of a province such a big deal? It's been happening in India since the days of Independence. It will work out fine. Give it a chance.
Punjab needs to be divided because its population has grown too large for it to be administered effectively. Its a province of almost 100 million people which is population almost equal to that of all of Russia.
@tom and jerry: Even simple hue and cry will dent "takht e lahore" psychology to exploit Saraikistanis. 20billion metro bus project for Lahore.PMLN failed miserably to even take care of Sarikis of it's own province,let Pakistan aside.They are genuine ethnic party who discriminate to people of it's own province.We are fed up with them.
About time we restore BWP as a province, the once most prosperous and richest state in south asia has been brought to its knees. Engulfed in poverty and lack of progress thanks to the takht e Lahore rule for decades.
Okay Punjab is going to be divided. The one thing i can't understand is how is Zardari starting to think about pakistani people and about their security?.The article is saying ''Janoobi Punjab’ (south Punjab), previously referred to as Multan province, be created in order to address the grievances of the people and secure the political, administrative and economic interest of the people of the area'' I'm a dreaming? ''Zardari and secure political'' HAHAHA as long Zardari is a player in pakistani political there always will be problems. I think Zardari won't to weak Sharif brothers
@qaisrani shaabash as if the president cares.... it is all political rhetoric...
@Rizwan Subzwari: Let a demand come from the people of sindh that a new rural sindh province be carved out for their convenience. why people from outside should demand? Every action needs to be justified then only it can be considered. As there is a proposal for the new province in Punjab. there can not be justification for other provinces as tit for tat action. There is a need to come out of provincialism, ethnicity linguistic difference.
Dear President,we,the sons of Saraikistan love you.Please donot make it a political stunt,it's time to divide Punjab and end Saraikistan's exploitation at the hands of Rulers of "takht e Lahore".
For Shahbaz Shareef and PMLN,Pakistan and Punjab is only the region from Sahiwal to Rawalpindi and especially Lahore.
Long live Saraikistan,Pakistan and president Zardari and Ex prim miniter Yusu raza Gilani.
For people opposing Saraikistan,please consider Sarikistanis(Sarikis,urdu Speaking and Punjabis) humans too.We want same facilities like our brethern in Lahore and GT Road cities are enjoying.We are fed up with pour expolitation.Any one has doubt,check CSS 2011 result and tell me how many are from Sarikistan there???
where in the letter does it talk about creation of multan province.. et atleast report correctly
GooD news for Poor Seariki Area and its People.
Go Ahead.....Prayers of oppressed people are with you.
If Pakistan is to prosper and flourish the division of Sindh is a Must.Without the division of Sindh,the People of karachi,hyderabad and mirpurkhas will continue to suffer.Now that new provinces are being made by the federal government,a new Southern Sindh province must also be created immediately.
elections are approaching.... zardari starts playing games.....
We want Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be divided too to create Malakand & Hazara provinces. Malakand province should consist of Swat, Buner, Dir, Shangla, Kohistan & Dargai districts. These districts are always sidelined and ignored. We want a separate Malakand province.
Sind needs to be divided immediately.Karachi has a population of 20 million,it is too big to be part of sind anymore.Karachi and hyderabad must be made into a new province and since the ppp is making efforts for new provinces in punjab it should make the same efforts in sind also.
We need to have this division as fast as possible; a recommendation from Sweden.
People against the new province of Punjab are talking about the people as cattle and without brains. What I think sitting outside S. Punjab is immaterial and inconsequential. What is imp is who do the people of S. Punjab want? While we never stop talking about plebiscite in Kashmir, why not let the people of S. Punjab decide what is good for them? NS and PML-N would only be wiped out of S. Punjab if they oppose their autonomy and right to run their affairs. Those mixing it with the division of Sind should know that the two main parties in Sind do not want the division. Karachi is the capital of Sind and the business hub and trade center. It is not like Multan where the citizens have to go to Lahore throne for everything imp or even any official work, Karachi population has everything in a few miles. If anything the people of rural Sind are far away from these facilities but to the best of my knowledge there is no movement for a separate province in rural Sind.
So division of punjab okay for ppp but division of sindh not? why the double standards. Why are PTI and PML-N silent over this? This is a continuation of the campaign against punjab by the federal govt. The ruling party is out to destroy punjab by any means possible.
Kind of not surprised. PPP is the same party which ripped apart the country because of their lust and hunger for power so I am really not surprised that they are dividing Punjab to break the hold of PML-N in Punjab. And Sharif is quite stupid to play into the hands of Zardari. If Punjab can be made into new provinces why not Sind as well? Why is Sind treated like a holy cow and not discussed at all. Hypocrisy.
Why didn't he direct to form committees for south sindh province also? Why only punjab is being targetted for division when there are movements for southern sindh province and hazara province also? Why all efforts only being made to somehow divide punjab only?
If Punjab is divided , PML N will be wiped out totally . Punjabis will view PML N as traitors , similar to how Hazara community felt after change to KPK.
Mian Sahib needs to wake up and stop agreeing blindly to Zardari ; otherwise , he will be thrown in the dustbin of history .