MUZAFFARGARH: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday the people of Seraiki belt had the right to demand a separate province for themselves and that his party would help them achieve their goal.

Addressing a ceremony at which keys of houses built under the Benazir Bhutto model village initiative were distributed among the flood-affected people of the area, Mr Gilani said the Seraiki belt had rejected PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s proposal about creation of new administrative units in the country.

He said that those who lived in the Seraiki belt were sober, kind-hearted and soft-spoken people. “But this does not mean that they don’t know what they want,” he remarked.

“They do not compromise on principles. They hold their ground like I do whenever problems arise.”

The prime minister said that south Punjab was a backward area, an area where there was a deep sense of deprivation. He addressed the gathering in Seraiki but also made a brief speech in English for the benefit of some foreign diplomats who were present on the occasion.

Mr Gilani said Multan was once the capital of Sindh and the time had come for it to become the main city of a new province. He said the People’s Party was a party of principles that got mandate from across the country.

The prime minister distributed allotment letters of 143 newly-built houses among women affected by floods. He said he felt pride in helping build a new model city, called Benazir Bhutto Basti.

Addressing the public meeting‚ Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said it was the prime minister’s fourth visit to the area which showed how much importance he gave to the backward areas of the country.

She paid tribute to the flood-affected people, who helped themselves by fully taking part in the rehabilitation process.

On the issue of Seraiki province‚ Ms Khar said that like other promises made by the PPP‚ this one too would be realised soon. She said the creation of a new province would not only end the sense of deprivation among the people of the area, but would also make the country stronger. She said that most of the irrigation projects started in the area had been completed while 250 villages had been provided electricity.

Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan also spoke on the occasion and thanked the prime minister for visiting a far-flung and backward area of Muzaffargarh.