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Creation of Bahawalpur and South Punjab provinces

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PML-N submits bill seeking creation of Bahawalpur, South Punjab provinces in NA

January 28, 2019


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Bill calls for amendments in Article 1, 51, 59, 154 and 157(1) of the 1973 Constitution. — File

The PML-N on Monday submitted in the National Assembly a constitutional amendment bill for the creation of the Bahawalpur and South Punjab provinces.

The bill was submitted to the NA secretary by MNAs Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Tanvir and Rana Sanaullah. The bill demands that Article 1 of the Constitution be amended to create the Bahawalpur and South Punjab provinces.

The Bahawalpur province will consist of the current administrative division that is considered Bahawalpur, while the current divisions of Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan will fall into the South Punjab province.

The bill also calls for changes to Article 51, which will see to the changes in allocation of seats in the National Assembly, making way for representation of the two new provinces in parliament.

According to the bill, once the amendment is done, Bahawalpur will have 15 general and three women's' seats, bringing the total count of seats to 18. The bill also calls for the allocation of 38 seats to the South Punjab province.

After the amendment, the total number of seats on the NA would rise to 326, out of which 266 will be general seats while 60 will be women-specific seats.

The amendment also calls for relevant changes to be made in Article 59 of the Constitution.

The amendment also calls for 39 seats of the Punjab provincial assembly to be allocated for Bahawalpur, out of which 31 should be general and eight should be women-only. According to the bill, 80 seats should be allocated for the South Punjab province, out of which 64 should be general seats while 14 should be women-specific and two should be allocated for minorities.

The bill also calls for an amendment in Article 154 on the Constitution, through which a National Commission for the Creation of New Provinces should be constituted to deal with the area and other such specifications of the new provinces.

The bill also says that Article 175(a) of the Constitution should be amended to create principle seats of the Supreme Court and the high court in the new provinces.

The bill pointed out that on May 9, 2012 the Punjab Assembly had already approved the creation of these provinces.

The bill also said that the people of these areas have been seeking the creation of these new provinces for a very long time and have been working towards this demand.

Speaking to the media regarding this development, PML-N leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Ahsan Iqbal said that their party will support the government unconditionally if it sincerely plans to create the two promised provinces.
 
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The Bahawalpur province will consist of the current administrative division that is considered Bahawalpur, while the current divisions of Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan will fall into the South Punjab province.
 
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PMLN has played a master stroke to get back the government in Punjab. Ball is in PTI's court. They can win the hearts of 50 million people of South Punjab but then they will have to surrender their first ever govenrment in Punjab.

People of South Punjab are demanding these provinces due to scare government and private jobs available, lack of technical institutions and business opportunities and due to getting misbehaved by the superior class in Upper Punjab.

New Provinces will immediately create half million new jobs in South Punjab region because it will attract the regional and provincial HQs of several local and multi national companies and will its own share from NFC and CPEC projects.
 
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Smart move by Noon to get CM-ship of Punjab. IK and PTI need to play their cards right.
Best move is to drag this motion for 4 yrs in lieu of discussion, planning etc and get it approved in thier 5th year. This way they will get a massive boost near elections and keep the Punjab govt for most of thier tenure.
 
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PMLN has played a master stroke to get back the government in Punjab. Ball is in PTI's court. They can win the hearts of 50 million people of South Punjab but then they will have to surrender their first ever govenrment in Punjab.

People of South Punjab are demanding these provinces due to scare government and private jobs available, lack of technical institutions and business opportunities and due to getting misbehaved by the superior class in Upper Punjab.

New Provinces will immediately create half million new jobs in South Punjab region because it will attract the regional and provincial HQs of several local and multi national companies and will its own share from NFC and CPEC projects.
I have no issue if division of province is on an administrative basis but if people are demanding another province because they want to make separate Saraiki province then this will no stop there

and what will happen to demand of hazara who want separate province in KPK? Urdu speaker demand separate province( Karachi + Hyderabad) in Sindh, Pashtuns want separate province in Baluchistan
 
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I have always been of the view that we need to dissolve powers to Divisional level. We also need to get rid of these provincial legislation assemblies as they are a waste of limited resources.

I have no issue if division of province is on an administrative basis but if people are demanding another province because they want to make separate Saraiki province then this will no stop there

and what will happen to demand of hazara who want separate province in KPK? Urdu speaker demand separate province( Karachi + Hyderabad) in Sindh, Pashtuns want separate province in Baluchistan

I agree, these people already claim that existing provinces are based on ethnicity. If we dilute the powers to divisional level and dissolve the provinces all together then we won't have this problem.
 
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Question?

  • Did Pakistan make the provinces.
  • Did Provinces make Pakistan.

Pakistan is a combination of provinces that are divided among multiple countries.

Punjab (India/Pakistan)
KPK (Pakistan/Afghanistan)
Balochistan (Pakistan/Afghanistan/Iran)
Sindh (Pakistan/India)

I know where you going with this, but that was more than 70 yrs ago.........time to look to the future
 
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Question?

  • Did Pakistan make the provinces.
  • Did Provinces make Pakistan.
The provinces made Pakistan, i guess its time Pakistan made provinces.

The looming shadow of the recent war on terror has made people more open to change as of now. The state has strengthened ten times over, i sometimes think this war was a huge blessing in disguise.

We need to move change quickly before the populous goes back to the same stubborn order so heavily entrenched in the mindset of this region.

Ehtinicity has been and always will be the weakest link in Pakistans armour. The enemy made a huge mistake when they selected the mode of war they wanted to impose on us, had they used ethinicity as fiercely as they used religion, i fear they wouldve succeeded in disembering Pakistan.

We need to create a dozen provinces that mix diff ethinicites together to effectively answer the ethinic question that plagues Pakistan and with it reinforce the weakest link to our state.
 
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I have no issue if division of province is on an administrative basis but if people are demanding another province because they want to make separate Saraiki province then this will no stop there

and what will happen to demand of hazara who want separate province in KPK? Urdu speaker demand separate province( Karachi + Hyderabad) in Sindh, Pashtuns want separate province in Baluchistan
Seraiki activist parties are present on ground but they cannot win a seat of an MPA even if they do a collective effort. This is not about ethnic bias but the demands are genuine. Youth of South Punjab is working on 10-15k salary in Lahore away from their home living miserably just because they do not have opportunities. This is the genuine demand with genuine reasons.

Nishtar Hospital of Multan is treating the people from South Punjab to Baluchistan, Northern Sindh and even North and South Waziristan. Image how much workload is on every institution. This region with almost 50 million local population and millions of settlers is thirsty of jobs and industry.
 
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Bingo. They pre-existed Pakistan and constitutionally federated into the union we call Pakistan in 1947.
There was a state named as Bahawalpur, the richest one. But now a days, they are begging Lahore for transfers and postings. Why GHQ is dividing its decision powers to Corps, Divisions and Brigades level? This is the same situation. State should give easy solutions to the problems of its people.
 
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