DERA GHAZI KHAN: Seraiki activists organised a procession against the Punjab government’s proposal to include Layyah district in the proposed Jhang division, calling it gerrymandering to divide the Seraiki region, and demanded the status of division for Layyah.

The demonstration was jointly organised by Seraiki Lok Sanjh (SLS), Wasaib Youth Forum (WYF), Wasaib Tulba Ittehad, Seraiki Student Council and Progressive Study Circle.

The demonstrators were carrying placards inscribed with slogans demanding the status of division for Layyah and against alleged gerrymandering.

The procession started from Layyah Minor and culminated at Saddar Bazaar. It was attended by a large number of women, students, writers, lawyers, farmers and representatives of various political parties.

Addressing the participants, Fazal-i-Rab of SLS said as the general elections were nearing, politicians from central Punjab had started to hatch conspiracies to weaken the demand for a Seraiki province.

“The allotment of land in Layyah and other districts of Thal and Cholistan region of the Seraiki-speaking belt to non-locals from central Punjab is the most brutal form of colonisation and resource exploitation that the Seraiki-speaking people have been facing for decades,” he remarked.

PPP’s Sheikh Badar Muneer said the Seraiki people were not against the proposal for giving the status of a division to Jhang district. However, the inclusion of Layyah appeared to be a conspiracy to weaken the demand for a Seraiki province.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023