September 19, 2006	Tuesday	Sha'aban 25, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: A civil society organisation has called for dividing Punjab province into three administrative units to avert any threat to the federation. Speaking at a press conference, Liberal Forum of Pakistan (LFP) Chairman Asif Khan said the province should be bifurcated into Southern, Northern and Central administrative zones, with their capitals in Multan, Jhelum and Lahore, respectively.

He said the people of Saraiki belt in Punjab had a genuine grievance that they had only seven ministers, while there were sixteen ministers in the cabinet from Gujranwala division.

He said the grievances and reservations of the smaller provinces must be removed and it should be ensured that the people living in different parts of the country enjoyed equal rights.

He observed that other provinces should also be divided, but the process must start from Punjab. It would send a positive signal to Balochistan and the NWFP, he said. He said India had successfully bifurcated its provinces into various administrative units on linguistic lines.

Mr Khan said the devolution plan failed to deliver as 80 per cent financial powers rested with the centre. He said even the division of provinces would become meaningless if the centre did not devolve powers to the provinces and the latter transferred the same to local administrations to address the problems at grass-root level. He stressed that economic and political deprivation of the provinces must be addressed.

He said there were under developed areas in Punjab where safe drinking water was not available to the people. He, however, said Punjab had an overwhelming majority in the ruling military and civil administration.

The Liberal Forum chairman condemned the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and said the issues must be solved through negotiations. He observed that Mr Bugti was a moderate and had never closed doors for talks. A former governor and chief minister of the province should not have been treated like this. Mr Khan called for announcement of a development package for Balochistan and suggested that the package should be named Bugti plan.

He also opposed the idea of establishing cantonments in the province, saying the people thought that these were meant to subjugate them.

He said there had been no raise in the gas royalty of Balochistan since 1992. The country’s biggest pipeline passes through Balochistan, but the province did not get a benefit from it.