CHINIOT: The civil society and people from various walks of life rejected the inclusion of Chiniot district in the proposed Jhang division.

Social, political, business, legal and media representatives rejected the proposal to establish Jhang as a civil division and including Chiniot as its district after excluding it from Faisalabad division.

A joint meeting of stakeholders was organised at the District Press Club in which the proposal was condemned as a conspiracy against the people of Chiniot who fought for decades for separation from Jhang district and got a status of district in 2009.

Addressing the meeting, MPAs Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, Taimoor Lali, and Syed Hassan Murtaza; MNA Qaiser Sheikh; District Press Club President Shahid Mehmood Chaudhry; District Bar Association President Jafar Ali Shah Jaffri; business community leader Jameel Fakhri; and NGOs Network President Haroon Malik rejected the proposal by the Jhang deputy commissioner (DC) to upgrade Jhang to a division and make Chiniot a part of it.

They said the people of Chiniot will not accept such a move and Faisalabad division was the best choice for them, as it was merely 30 kilometres or a 25-minute drive from there.

The proposal was sent to the chief minister (CM) two months ago by three provincial ministers and six MPAs from Jhang seeking upgrade of the district to a civil division and including Chiniot and Bhakkar as its districts.

The CM forwarded the proposal to the Senior Member Board of Revenue asking him to place it before the task force to review boundaries of districts and tehsils in Punjab.

The matter was sent to the Faisalabad commissioner, who then sent it to the Jhang DC, who proposed establishment of a new division in a letter.

The citizens have formed a joint action committee to further move against the proposal and vowed to continue their agitation till the proposal was dropped.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2019