All political as well as religious parties contested the 2018 general election on the slogan of Saraiki province in this area.Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had secured three out of the total six national assembly seats of Muzaffargarh. For NA-182, NA-183 and NA-184, PPP candidates Mehar Irshad Ahmed, Raza Rabbani Khar and Nawabzada Iftikhar Ahmed Khan have secured their seat.
Though all political parties are on one page for creation of Saraikistan Province , No Political party including Pakistan People’s Party , Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf is serious and sincere in making south Punjab a province .They have not taken any practical step to move forward for the creation of the new province yet as no consultation has been made even with the government’s coalition partners nor is there any preparation of a constitutional amendment in this regard.
Tehrik-i-Insaf is not in a position to create a separate province when it does not enjoy two-third majority in Provincial as well as National assembly. On the other hand, PTI would lose the power in Central Punjab if it creates South Punjab Province because it failed to attain seats in upper Punjab. Then PML-N can easily form its Government in upper Punjab to create troubles for the Federal Government like PPP era.
PML-Q and PML-N want to revive the Bahawalpur province and to create Province of South Punjab at a time .This plan was not acceptable to the Saraiki Nationalist Paties who are waging a struggle for the creation of a 23 districts province. Saraiki Nationalists are demanding two districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank of KPK and 21 districts of Punjab including Mianwali, Khushab, Sargodha, Bhakkar,Chiniot, Jhang,Layyah ,Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khanewal, Lodhran, Vehari, Sahiwal, Pakpattan,Okara, Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan and Bahawal Nagar districts.
Saraiki Nationalist are highly impressed or terrified from Sindhi Nationalists, They never demand for construction of Kalabagh dam which is a lifeline for South Punjab and they never demand Kashmor and Jacobabad districts where people speak Saraiki fluently.
A source in the government said no framework had been worked out for the creation of new provinces while no formula of resource generation had been evolved for any new province. “Before carving out a new province, you need to evolve a framework based on population and area under which the province would be created. Moreover, no formula has yet been worked out for revenue generation for the new province while it has to be ascertained what role the federation would play vis-à-vis resources generation for the new province,” the source said.
Elaborating on legal hitches in creation of a new province, Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmed said that the Saraiki province seemed to be a mere political gimmick aimed at winning the next elections as the treasury benches had not even launched a consultative process for the draft of a constitutional amendment. “Under the constitution, the relevant provincial assembly would have to pass a resolution for creation of a new province with a two-thirds majority. Moreover, both houses of parliament would have to pass a constitutional amendment separately for the creation of a new province with a two-thirds majority,” he added.
He said it seemed that the new provinces mantra was an election stunt and not a mature move as “divisions are never good for nations”, adding that instead unity was the need of the hour. Eminent jurist SM Zafar said Article 239 of the constitution allowed creation of a new province under which both houses would have to pass a constitutional amendment for the creation of a new province. Moreover, he said before the assent by the president, the relevant provincial assembly would have to pass a resolution for the creation of a new province with a two-thirds majority.
Former Punjab law minister Khalid Ranjha agreed with his senior colleagues and told Pakistan Today that the relevant provincial assembly would have to pass a resolution with a two-thirds majority followed by a constitutional amendment by both houses of parliament to materialise the dream for new provinces. In its maiden meeting held on April 8, the PPP manifesto committee decided to make the party’s politico-economic policy and a Saraiki province as cornerstone of the party’s manifesto for the upcoming general elections.
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