ISLAMABAD, April 8: A former information minister warned the PPP government’s manifesto committee on Friday against including Bahawalpur in the proposed Seraiki province.

“The ruling party’s entry into Bahawalpur will be disallowed if they deny a provincial status to the region,” Mohammad Ali Durrani, who heads the Muttahida Mohaz Bahawalpur, said while talking to reporters.

Senator Durrani said that Mohaz was the only voice of the people of the region.

“April 14 will prove to be the day of the burial of Yahya Khan’s Legal Framework Order through which Bahawalpur was merged into the Punjab province in violation of a promise made by the Quaid-i-Azam.

The people of Bahawalpur will revive their historical loyalty to the Nawab of Bahawalpur, Nawab Sadiq Mohammad Khan-VI, by following the Bahawalpur declaration to be announced by Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi in Dera Nawab Sahib,” he said.

After Pakistan came into being, Bahawalpur was the first state to join it and the nawab sacrificed an amount of Rs40 billion and all his assets to help the new state in the challenging times, he said.

“In recognition of his services, the Quaid-i-Azam had called Nawab Sadiq ‘Mohsin-i-Pakistan’. Now his son Nawab Salahuddin will play his role as a guardian of Pakistan by launching a movement for the rights of the deprived and abused people of Bahawalpur on April 14,” he said.

Senator Durrani said that the Muttahida Mohaz Bahawalpur had asked the rulers to explain the boundaries of the proposed Seraiki province but no one had come forward to elaborate the proposal.