Grandstanding: PTI will create a Seraiki province, Qureshi says

PTI leader says Bahawalpur province an attempt to divide nationalists


Our Correspondent June 29, 2015
Shah Mehmood Qureshi. PHOTO AFP

MULTAN:


Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Monday that the party was cognizant of the grievances the people of south Punjab and would create a Seraiki province when it came to power.


Addressing a public meeting in UC-75, he said the PTI was committed to addressing discrimination in the region.

“The PTI will struggle for the rights of Seraiki people,” he said.

He said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had used the demand for a Seraiki province to garner votes.



“Before the election, they take up the issue to curry favour with voters,” he said. “After they are voted in, they have no plans to implement,” he said.

Read: Seraikistan: Activists protest map deletion

He said the PML-N had broadened the debate on a south Punjab province by calling for a Bahawalpur province.

“This is an attempt to divide the Seraiki nationalists,” he said.

He said the PTI did not believe in ruling by dividing people.

“Genuine efforts will be made to address this demand [for south Punjab province] once the PTI comes to power,” he said.

Qureshi said the PTI was not an ordinary political party.

“The people of Pakistan have tested the PPP and the PML-N five times,” he said. “Each time they have been disappointed. Their voters now feel alienated. They have nothing new to offer the voters,” he said.

Both the parties had failed to provide relief to citizens. He said governments under these parties had not addressed the problems of peasants.

He said the south Punjab region played a key contribution in the agriculture sector but there was no policy to improve living standards of its people living here.

He said long hours of load shedding had destroyed businesses in the region. He said foreign investment in the region had been declined due to poor governance.

Read: Seraiki dilemma: the way forward

Qureshi said 1,400 people in Karachi had died but no one was willing to accept that negligence and poor governance had aggravated the crisis.

Qureshi said Pakistan Army had rendered immense sacrifices in the war on terror. He said the PTI would not tolerate criticism of the army.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2015.

 

COMMENTS (19)

ZMM | 8 years ago | Reply I wonder when is PTI going to make the Hazara Province (since it is in power in KP). Additionally, what will happen to the non saraiki areas of Southern Punjab like Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad etc. The strategy they are using of "divide and Rule" is just going to make another province like interior sindh with no facilities of any kind. I can bet cities of southern Punjab are far better in infrastructure (Hospitals, roads, colleges etc as compared to northern sindh. @ zatal: there is islami uni in BWP, Sheikh Zaid Medical college and hospital in RYK, Can you find something like that in Northern Sindh???)
zatal | 8 years ago | Reply We want saraikistan, reasons for it are very few universities, very few hospitals, very few girls and boys colleges despite the fact population is increased many fold, in cholistaan people drink water from the same pond and similar situation is in rajan pur. No new district and tahseel has made after 50 years while in north punjab several new district and tahseel was created . One bridge between rahim yar kha and rajjan pur is under construction for more than 5 years while in lahore mega project are completed in 6 month , in rahim yar khan where the population is more than 50 lac and the area is 12 thousands square km , one isamia campus is built on 2.5 canal this is a joke .
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