Certain voices were being heard in South Punjab for a seraeki province since long but were without the consent n support of the popular political parties. After the 2008 elections MNAs from South Punjab, irrespective of their party affiliations, unanimously raised their concerns over keeping this part of Punjab under_developed by successive regimes. An ex minister from Musharraf regime suddenly came up with the demand for restoration of Bahawalpur state as a new province. This move in fact proved a distraction from the original demand for Seraiki Waseb.
Now, the renaming of Pakhtunkhwa Khyber has created an entirely uncalled for demand for Hazara province. Splitting Sind on ethnic grounds was once being demanded as well. There was a demand for bifurcating Balochistan, again on ethnic grounds between Baloch n Pashtuns.
The disruption of democratic process by dictators every now n then was a major reason why we didn't pay any attention to making our provinces more manageable administratively.Dividing Punjab into three admimistrative units, namely Potohar, Punjab n Seraeki Waseb, could've paved the way for development of the most neglected regions and would've brought all provinces at par, thus reducing hatred against Punjab.
In the next stage division of other provinces could've been negotiated to make them more manageable administratively. Unfortunately this didn't happen in time and now the matters appear to be going beyond reasoning. Never _the_ less it's still not too late, provided we are prepared to accept the ground realities and make Pakistan a land of equal opportunities for every citizen. India had 12 provinces at the time of independence, which have more than doubled by now and the process has not ended at 28 states.
Let's accept the fact that Punjab is too large a unit to be effectively administered from one center. The selfish politicians wielding power are never fair in distribution of resources for development of different areas of the province. Take the example of current provincial government, the money allocated for widening n reconstruction of Lahore Raiwind road is far more than the total development budget of South Punjab.
Imagine, the region growing cotton to provide over 70% of foreign exchange for the country, is the most under_developed part of the province. I would like our policy makers n economic gurus to take a trip to the districts of Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Bahawlnagar, Rahimyar Khan, Muzaffargarh, Leyiah, Bhakkar, Jhang n Mianwali in the south and Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum and Khushab in the north and you'll soon find out the stark difference from the districts of central Punjab.
The people of Sadiqabad in the south have to travel 700km to reach their provincial metropolis, once they land there, they realize that they have travelled over a 100 years in terms of time. People coming to Lahore from Attock khurd, Kalabagh or Mianwali may have to traverse 100 to 150km lesser in terms of distance but nothing lesser in terms of time.
I can write a 100 pages in favor of my suggestion, and i'll do so if need arises, at the moment the objective is to draw the attention of the think tanks and intellectuals towards an issue that must be resolved sooner than later.
Now, the renaming of Pakhtunkhwa Khyber has created an entirely uncalled for demand for Hazara province. Splitting Sind on ethnic grounds was once being demanded as well. There was a demand for bifurcating Balochistan, again on ethnic grounds between Baloch n Pashtuns.
The disruption of democratic process by dictators every now n then was a major reason why we didn't pay any attention to making our provinces more manageable administratively.Dividing Punjab into three admimistrative units, namely Potohar, Punjab n Seraeki Waseb, could've paved the way for development of the most neglected regions and would've brought all provinces at par, thus reducing hatred against Punjab.
In the next stage division of other provinces could've been negotiated to make them more manageable administratively. Unfortunately this didn't happen in time and now the matters appear to be going beyond reasoning. Never _the_ less it's still not too late, provided we are prepared to accept the ground realities and make Pakistan a land of equal opportunities for every citizen. India had 12 provinces at the time of independence, which have more than doubled by now and the process has not ended at 28 states.
Let's accept the fact that Punjab is too large a unit to be effectively administered from one center. The selfish politicians wielding power are never fair in distribution of resources for development of different areas of the province. Take the example of current provincial government, the money allocated for widening n reconstruction of Lahore Raiwind road is far more than the total development budget of South Punjab.
Imagine, the region growing cotton to provide over 70% of foreign exchange for the country, is the most under_developed part of the province. I would like our policy makers n economic gurus to take a trip to the districts of Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Bahawlnagar, Rahimyar Khan, Muzaffargarh, Leyiah, Bhakkar, Jhang n Mianwali in the south and Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum and Khushab in the north and you'll soon find out the stark difference from the districts of central Punjab.
The people of Sadiqabad in the south have to travel 700km to reach their provincial metropolis, once they land there, they realize that they have travelled over a 100 years in terms of time. People coming to Lahore from Attock khurd, Kalabagh or Mianwali may have to traverse 100 to 150km lesser in terms of distance but nothing lesser in terms of time.
I can write a 100 pages in favor of my suggestion, and i'll do so if need arises, at the moment the objective is to draw the attention of the think tanks and intellectuals towards an issue that must be resolved sooner than later.
