North is South: ‘Mianwali is included for political mileage’

Siddique argued that political parties represented in the assemblies currently had no mandate to create new provinces.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday allowed a petitioner to amend his petition against Mianwali being included as a district in the proposed Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab province.

The petitioner’s lawyer Advocate Azhar Siddique extended his arguments with a prayer to set aside the decisions taken by the Parliamentary Commission regarding the establishment of the new provinces.

Siddique argued that the political parties represented in the assemblies currently had no mandate to create new provinces. He said the president, the prime minister and the National Assembly speaker do not have the power to form a parliamentary commission regarding the provinces.

He submitted that Mianwali was closer to Lahore than Multan but political parties were bent on including Mianwali in the proposed new province only to gain political mileage in the upcoming general elections.

Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan observed that the report of the parliamentary commission should be part of the case. The petitioner did not have a copy of the report.

Advocate General Ashtar Ausaf said that the court could summon the report.

The petitioner’s lawyer also sought the court’s permission to amend the petition so he could make the commission a party in the case. The judge allowed the request and adjourned hearing till Jan 31.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2013.