Manifesto unveiled: Fresh demarcation of provinces to heal rifts, National Party

The federal government will retain currency, foreign policy and defence, said party president.

QUETTA:

Unveiling his party’s election manifesto on Friday, the head of the National Party (NP) called for demarcating the country’s federating units on “ethnic, cultural and linguistic grounds”.

National Party president Dr Malik Baloch released the document at a news conference hosted at the Quetta Press Club. The party offered demarcation as a solution to the deadly ethnic, religious and cultural strife in the province of Balochistan. “The federating units should be re-demarcated on ethnic, cultural and linguistic basis,” Dr Malik said.

Though the federal government will retain currency, foreign policy and defence, he said, other subjects will be transferred to the provinces.

He pointed out that Pakistan was not a nation-state, it is a country of diverse nationalities and every nationality has its own identity, language, culture, customs and particular social structure.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2013.