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ISLAMABAD Federal Minister and Chairman Planning Commission Makhdoom Shahabuddin Friday added his voice with former Information Minister Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani for the formation of a province for the people of Southern Punjab.
The minister said the new province should be named Saraiki Province instead of Bahawalpur Province as Saraikis dominate the population of Southern Punjab.
'Yes, I urge the government to form Saraiki Province, as a new province is imperative to redress the grievances of the people of Southern Punjab. I mean it and strongly believe in it. Despite sitting on the Treasury Benches, I am for creation of a new province for the downtrodden people of Southern Punjab who have been deprived of their basic rights since independence,' said the Makhdoom in an exclusive interview with APP.
Shahabuddin alleged the main concentration of successive Punjab governments had developed and industrialized the upper and central parts of Punjab while the Southern part of the province had been ignored for years.
'The federation is just like a mother to all people of the country and in my view, the federation should come forth and address the issues, as the people of South Punjab are feeling betrayed by successive Punjab governments,' he added.
The Chairman Planning Commission said the formation of the new province would strengthen the federation and restore the trust of the people of Pakistan on the federal government.
When asked whether he supported the idea of restoration of provincial status of State of Bahawalpur, the Minister said Bahawalpur State was given the status of a province in 1951.
'When Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan was Prime Minister in 1951, Dr. Mahmood Hussain, the then Minister Interior, announced the provincial status for Bahawalpur and afterwards, Bahawalpur Parliament came into being,' he said.
However, he said later, the state was merged into One unit. it was promised that whenever the One Unit would be abolished by the government, the provincial status of Bahawalpur Province would be restored forthwith.
However, this promise was did not materialised as the Punjab Government in 1970 had objected to the idea of giving Bahawalpur a provincial status.
He said Bahawalpur State rendered historic sacrifices for Pakistan in 1947, but the state did nothing for the people of Bahawalpur in return.
The Makhdoom said that time had passed since and it was appropriate for the federal government to form the Saraiki Province now as the issue of the Bahawalpur Province had become redundant.
When asked whether the name Saraiki would offend millions of settlers on lingual prejudices, Makhdoom Shahabuddin said most of the Punjabis families settled in Saraiki areas of Punjab were in favor of the Saraiki Province.
