THIS is in reference to the report ‘Book launch revives debate on more provinces’ (June 24). It carries the views of a group of ‘intellectuals’ gathered to eulogise Khalil Nanitalwala’s book Soobay kyun zaroori hain (Why provinces are necessary). They all are supportive of, rather excited about, making more provinces for the ‘sake of Pakistan’s strength, development and prosperity’.

Some of them have, throughout, supported , and collaborated with, the central/dictatorial authorities in crushing the aspirations of the people of the existing provinces. It is just the matter of ‘yesterday’ that one of the speakers, Moeenuddin Haider, worked closely with Gen (r) Pervez Musharaf, who boasted of his abilities and capabilities to crush the Baloch people struggling for their rights and who ridiculed the Sindhi people by calling them uneducated and ignorant.

The author, Khalil Nanitalwala, as everyone knows, has always served the dictatorial regimes which ran the country in a highly centralised way. The same is the case with some of the other speakers who spoke at the book launch.

Now suddenly and surprisingly they have turned champions of more provinces and provincial rights. It raises many questions about the role and intentions of these people in the minds of the people of the existing historical provinces (national units), particularly Sindh which provided them sanctuary at the time when they were uprooted from their own motherland.

It is said that when you defend a wrong cause, you make mistakes and betray contradictions. One gentleman (Rizwan Siddiqui) forwards the example of India “which has some 40 provinces and they seem to be managing quite well”. His very next sentence is that a “province should not be based on language or ethnicity”.

Mr Siddiqui should know that in India provinces are created/readjusted on the bases of language, culture and ethnicity. That is why “they seem to be managing quite well”. In fact, by creating /coining provinces on the bases of language and culture Indian leaders (to start with J.L. Nehru) have made right a wrong done by British imperialists who created unnatural provinces on an administrative basis to help fulfil their imperialistic designs.

In the end, I ask these ‘intellectuals’, as well as the rational people, to reply to the question: what is the logic behind saying that either a unitary and highly centralised state structure is deemed to

be in the best interest of the country or making 17 (or more) provinces is the best course for better governance while any talk of the autonomy of the existing four provinces is always opposed as an act of blasphemy?

Abdul Khalique Junejo

Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2014