New Provinces: Petition filed against commission

The Watan Party filed the petition that the commission was “discriminatory”.

LAHORE:

A constitutional petition has been filed at the Supreme Court Lahore registry challenging the setting up and the objectives of the federal commission for the creation of new provinces.

The Watan Party filed the petition through its chairman Barrister Zafarullah Khan. He submitted that the commission was “discriminatory” as it was set up for the creation of a specific province.

He said that new provinces could be created with the consent of the provincial assembly concerned provided a division was required for administrative purposes. He that the commission violated Article 239 (4), 4, 5 and 8 of the Constitution. He said the president did not have the power to constitute such a commission.

He said the new province would be based on ethnicity and language. He said that the idea that people from the Seraiki region needed their own government to look after their welfare was false; the last prime minister, who had served for four-and-a-half years, the current Punjab governor and the current foreign minister were from that region. He asked that the commission be disbanded.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2012.