A FEW months ago, the government in Punjab had announced that the status of Mianwali district in southern Punjab was being raised to the division level, comprising the districts of Mianwali, Bhakkar and Talagang. With decentralisation of power being the defining feature of democracy, the act was justified. However, it raised serious concerns among those living in far-flung areas of the province, struggling hard to find a place in civil services through competitive examinations.

To a great extent, the concerns are rational and reasonable, and are validated by the lack of facilities in those areas that enable one to compete with their counterparts in urban areas having an academic background that is not available in rural Pakistan.

The concerns are genuine because of the fact that the proposed province of South Punjab will comprise the divisions of Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan as well as some adjoining areas of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In such a scheme of things, there is no mention of Mianwali division and other areas that together represent what is typically called the Seraiki belt.

The backwardness prevailing across southern Punjab, owing to the neglect of political and civil administrations, has kept the area alienated from the rest of the province. This divide is visible in the education sector, making it tougher for the local students to compete against a single quota of seats with those having studied in private elite schools.

To this end, there was a specified quota for students coming from backward areas of southern Punjab that enabled them to have allocated seats in civil services and other public-sector employment opportunities. But with the proposed exclusion of Mianwali division, or the districts of Mianwali, Bhakkar and Talagang, from the proposed province of southern Punjab, that opportunity seems to be slipping away.

If the Mianwali division is not part of southern Punjab, it naturally becomes part of central Punjab, which simply means uneven competition between two entirely different sets of students. This in no way is what the concept of equality demands. After all, the students of remote areas are not academically inferior because of something they have done. They are so because the government has failed to look after the citizenry fairly. That being so, why should the people be made to pay the price, especially when it comes to government employment?

The relevant authorities need to realise that they cannot act on mere whims. The constituencies, be it political, geographical or administrative, ought to be marked keeping in mind the historical, linguistic and cultural aspects as well as the availability of facilities, like food, shelter, security, education and health. The fortune of coming generations appear to be currently in the wrong hands.

Muhammad Mubasir Khan
Bhakkar

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2023