The chairman of the commission now plans to approach the NA speaker for another extension. PHOTO: FILE
It seems that carving new provinces out of Punjab is not more than wishful thinking as the commission formed for the purpose missed yet another deadline to present its report before the National Assembly on Thursday.
The chairman of the commission now plans to approach the NA speaker for another extension.
“We will request the speaker to extend the deadline for the compilation of the report on the creation of new provinces in Punjab,” said head of the commission Senator Farhatullah Babar after its meeting on Thursday.
He said that the commission had completed the process of public hearings and had taken input from the experts. “We have entered the next phase and will formulate our recommendations for the purpose,” he added.
The commission will hold hearings on a daily basis from January 19 and will meet the deadline, Babar added.
Though Babar said that the commission would complete its task as early as possible, he did not give any deadline.
The commission is supposed to look into issues related to fair distribution of economic and financial resources, demarcation, allocation, readjustment of seats in the National Assembly, Senate and the concerned provincial assembly and allocation of seats in the new province on the basis of population, including seats of minorities and women and other constitutional, legal and administrative matters.
The commission in its past 10 sittings had taken input from over 30 experts and stakeholders. During the course of hearing a majority of the experts and people from the region have opposed the move of restoring the status of Bahawalpur as province.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ