LAHORE, Jan 31: The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to the attorney general and the Punjab advocate general on a petition challenging inclusion of Mianwali district in the proposed Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab province.

Earlier the court admitted the petition for regular hearing after the petitioner came up with an amendment and impleaded the Parliamentary Commission (on new provinces) in the case.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Azhar Siddique said president’s spokesman and PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar was heading the commission while major political party of Punjab had boycotted it. He said both the ANP and the MQM, part of the commission, had no representation in the Punjab province even at the union council level.

He pointed out that the Punjab Assembly had passed two resolutions on the subject matter and demanded restoration of Bahawalpur province. He said commission’s head Senator Babar had denied the existence of Bahawalpur province in the past which suggested that the federal and provincial governments were exploiting the situation for political gains.

He argued that the incumbent rulers had no mandate for the creation of a new province and such an act would amount to upset the administration system of the country. He reiterated that Article 239 of the Constitution empowered the parliament to change geographical limits of provinces.

He said Mianwali was more close to Lahore than Multan, but political parties were adamant to include it in the new proposed province only to gain a political mileage in the general election.

After hearing the arguments, Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan issued notices to the attorney general and the advocate general for their appearance in the court on Friday (today).

The judge also allowed the petitioner to individually implead 14 members of the parliamentary commission in the case.