ISLAMABAD: A government-sponsored bill seeking the creation of the south Punjab province is set to be listed on the National Assembly’s agenda for Monday, when the house meets next to take up the crucial no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi submitted a constitutional amendment bill to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Friday, seeking to split Punjab into two provinces — with Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions constituting the new south.

At Mr Qureshi’s request, the speaker issued orders to put the bill on Monday’s agenda. Deputy Speaker Qasim Soori was present on the occasion.

The move comes as the PTI struggles to win back support of dissidents within the party, many of whom happen to be from south Punjab.

Under the draft bill, the south Punjab province would have 56 seats in the National Assembly, including 46 general seats, and 119 in its provincial assembly.

Creating south Punjab as the country’s fifth province was one of PTI’s election manifestos.

“Today, we have fulfilled another promise made to the people of south Punjab,” Mr Qureshi later told reporters outside Parliament House, adding that he had moved the bill on the prime minister’s directive. He urged opposition parties, including the PPP and PML-N, to support the constitutional amendment bill.

The minister said this was a longstanding demand of the people of south Punjab and the passage of the bill would further strengthen the federation.

He stressed that the PTI was the first government that had made serious efforts for creating the south Punjab province. It was the first time in the country’s history that a separate annual development package was rolled out for southern Punjab areas, he added.

Mr Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier announced at a public meeting in Mailsi that the constitutional amendment bill would be tabled in the parliament.

About the no-confidence motion against the premier, Mr Qureshi said the opposition was set for a defeat. “We will face their motion in a democratic, constitutional and political way,” he said.

A bill seeking the creation of south Punjab province landed in the Senate in January. The private member bill was introduced in the house by Rana Mehmoodul Hasan of the PML-N and was supported by both PTI and PPP.

“It is a wail of our deprivations,” Mr Hassan said at the time while presenting the case for south Punjab province before the upper house of parliament.

He said people living in southern parts of Punjab had been facing multiple hardships and had to travel long distances only to fetch drinking water. He also reminded the PTI of its promise to make south Punjab a separate province within 100 days in power.

Leader of the Opposition in Senate and former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani said the issue was so important that the PPP during its rule had already managed to get a bill for the creation of Bahawalpur province passed from the Senate.

However, he reminded other parties that PPP was demanding a separate province and not just a secretariat for the people of south Punjab. “We are demanding a province, not a secretariat. It is not a colonial system where limited democracy will work,” the PPP senator asserted.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on the occasion had said PM Imran Khan was in principle in favour of the new province but there were ‘certain problems’ that needed to be discussed and resolved.

He then requested the chair to refer the bill to the committee concerned for further deliberations and to achieve political consensus.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2022