BAHAWALPUR: The women wing of the Suba Bahawalpur Ithehad and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) held separate demonstrations to demand provincial status for Bahawalpur on the arrival of Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz and PML-N vice-president Maryan Nawaz here on Saturday.

The CM and the PML-N leader addressed a public meeting at the Dring Stadium to commemorate the 24th anniversary of Yaum-i-Takbeer to mark the 1998’s nuclear blasts when Mian Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister.

The women activists of the Suba Bahawalpur Ithehad, led by Chairperson Asiya Kamal gathered at the DPO Chowk and held a demonstration.

The participants were holding banners with the following slogans inscribed on them, ‘Hamara Suba Ham Ko Do’ and ‘Humara Votes Ko Izzat Do’.

Addressing the participants, Ms Asiya and other women reminded the CM Punjab and PML-N vice-president that their party had made a commitment for separate province of Bahawalpur, for which a resolution was also passed by Punjab Assembly. They demanded that it’s time for their government to implement the resolution and there should be no excuse for not doing it.

The demonstrators stayed at the protest venue for sometime before dispersing peacefully.

The JI organised its demonstration outside its office of JI at Masjid Al-Haq.

It was led by South Punjab Naib Emir Zeeshan Akhtar and Kissan Board of Pakistan central president Jam Hazoor Bakhsh.

In their speeches, they also reminded PML-N leadership of its commitment to grant Bahawalpur the status of a separate province. They claimed that the separate province was their just right, which should be restored by the PDM coalition government. The demonstrators were also addressed by JI district media coordinator Arif Hussain Asim, general secretary Jam Khursheed and others.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2022