ISLAMABAD: The smart move made by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) seeking two provinces in Punjab is going to win partial support of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and opposition from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).A bill handed over to the National Assembly Secretariat by the PML-N has called for two more federating units – Bahawalpur and South Punjab. It clearly aims at targeting the PTI, exerting pressure on the ruling party to fulfill its pre-election promise made at a sonorous pitch. It knows that the PTI can’t immediately do it for a variety of reasons.A number of former lawmakers of the PML-N, who had formed a south Punjab front agitating that this party did not do anything concrete to create a separate province in this region, had joined the PTI before the last general elections just after five weeks of their creation. An agreement had been signed which provided that in one year substantial measures would be taken for establishment of south Punjab province.After coming to power, the PTI realised that it was easy to make the commitment but too difficult to accomplish it. It started dragging its feet on the pledge. Finally, it announced that by June this year, a separate secretariat would be set up in Multan to solve the problems of south Punjab.“As far as creating south Punjab in the Saraiki belt is concerned, our longstanding stance has been that it should be carved out without any delay,” PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor told The News when contacted for his reaction. However, he said that it was not possible to have Bahawalpur as province. But it can be given a kind of special status, he said adding that if the Bahawalpur State is revived, demands will be aired for restoration of many former princely states. He believed that the prevailing scenario doesn’t permit restitution of such states.Chaudhry Manzoor said the PPP parliamentary party would take the final decision on the PML-N’s constitutional bill. He stated it was a fact that there was a sense of deprivation in south Punjab and the demand for having a province in this area is indigenous.The PML-N is likely to get the support of other opposition parties with the conditional backing of the PPP in the parliament. When contacted, PTI leader Sadaqat Abbasi said that the PML-N move was intended to politicise the issue of having south Punjab as a separate province. “When the PML-N was in power and has the requisite majority in the legislature and Punjab Assembly, it did not seriously move to set up the south Punjab province. It is now exploiting the situation.” He said the PTI would take all the stakeholders on board and try to develop a consensus to make another province in Punjab. He said the establishment of the administrative secretariat in Multan was the first step to make the new federating unit. “The PML-N is struggling hard to create hurdles in the legislative agenda, delivery and devolution of powers.”Clause 4 of Article 239 of the Constitution says a bill to amend the Constitution which would have the effect of altering the limits of a province shall not be presented to the President for assent unless it has been passed by the assembly of that province [Punjab in this case] by the votes of not less than two-thirds of its total membership.The provision makes it clear that a bill to make two provinces will have to be passed by the two-thirds majority not only in both the parliamentary chambers but also in the Punjab Assembly. It will not be assented by the president unless it has earned the approval of the Punjab Assembly with the same huge majority of votes.The article doesn’t provide for passage of a non-binding resolution in the Punjab Assembly. The National Assembly and Senate can approve this kind of constitutional amendment but it will not be enacted unless it has been passed by the provincial legislature.If new federating units were now created, it would be after 49 years that the provinces would be established. In 1970, military ruler Gen Yahya Khan had abolished West Pakistan and formed the present four provinces. Political sloganeering apart, setting up of a new province out of the most populous and powerful federating unit will be a huge political task, which will not take place as easily as some may think.When in 2002 only the name of the then North-West Province (NWFP) was changed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) during the previous PPP government, it had fueled a big storm. Some people had been killed in Abbottabad in the bloody mayhem as the people of Hazara had also demanded to declare their area as a separate province.
from The News International - National http://bit.ly/2sS81vR
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