8 PML-N legislators quit party

MUHAMMAD SALEEM

LAHORE: Eight Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators – six MNAs and two MPAs – on Monday announced that they have quit the PML-N and vowed to wage a struggle for the creation of a separate province for southern Punjab under the banner of ‘South Punjab Province Front (SPPF)’. The front would be headed by former interim prime minister Balakh Sher Mazari.

The MNAs are Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar (MNA from Rahim Yar Khan), Tahir Iqbal (MNA from Vehari), Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon (MNA from Multan), Basit Bukhari (MNA from Muzaffargarh), Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak (MNA from DG Khan) and Saleemullah Chaudhry.

The two MPAs namely Ali Asghar Manda and Tariq Mehmood Bajwa announced that they would contest the next general elections as independent candidates from their respective constituencies.

The announcement was made at a news conference here on Monday. The disgruntled PML-N law makers also announced that they will be resigning from their seats. They underscored the need for dividing the country into new provinces “for security of the future of the children of South Punjab.”

Khusro Bakhtiar, who was accompanied by like-minded lawmakers, said, “The purpose of the press conference is to announce the creation of a new province.” Bakhtiar said: “New provincial demarcations are the need of the hour. We are not here to start a rift - time has made the need for new provinces very apparent. The demarcation of new provinces will ensure that funds allocated for Rajanpur are not given to Multan,” he said, adding “All we want is equality amongst the regions.”

To a question, Bakhtiar said they have a single-point agenda - the creation of a new province comprising southern Punjab under the banner of the ‘South Punjab Province Front’. According to Bakhtiar, the size of Southern Punjab is almost equal to as Khyber Paktunkhawa’s. We have 46 MNAs in the assembly at the moment and yet they barely gave us one seat in the Senate.”

Bakhtiar stated that it was necessary to create new provinces for strengthening the federation. “We should start thinking about the future as southern Punjab tops poverty chart with 51 percent rate”.

“The recently concluded population census makes it overtly clear that southern Punjab makes 50pc of Punjab’s population. Several key politicians are on our back”, stated Bakhtiar.

To a question, he said, “I greatly admire and respect Lahore but cannot forget the pain of southern Punjab where my ancestors are buried.” He said the South Punjab Province Front will take its message to the people through the media, schools and people to people contact.”

Tahir Iqbal said: “This demand [for a new province] is not a new one. It is a demand our ancestors made and a demand our children will make. It is time we are given equal rights. The need [for a different province in South Punjab] is not a linguistic issue.

Bakhtiar also took a jibe at wrong priorities of Punjab government while claiming that people did not have access to clean water, electricity “while rulers were making Orange Line Metro Bus projects”.

Speaking on the occasion, Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak said that a deepening sense of deprivation among the people of southern Punjab could be brought to an end by creating a separate province. “Today, we are initiating a movement for stability of Pakistan. Creation of new units will curb hatred”. Dreshak said: “We will not sit idle till creation of new province.”

Reacting to this development, Jamshaid Dasti, MNA, said these legislators have no political agenda; they are trying to create an independent group to brighten their electoral prospects. According to him, more legislators from other parties including the PPP and PTI would quit their parties and join this so-called independent group.