The remarks of Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court on Friday virtually rule out the possibility of the creation of a new province, putting paid to the federal government’s efforts to have another federating unit comprising parts of southern Punjab. Hearing a petition asking the court to issue a stay order against the government, which was trying to go ahead with the carving out of a separate province out of Punjab, Justice Khan questioned the competence of the present Parliament to take up the issue. He did concede, though, that article 239 of the constitution empowered Parliament to change the geographical boundaries of the provinces, but since none of the political parties advocating for a separate federating unit called, ‘Bahawalpur Janoobi Province’, had made it an issue while contesting elections, they did not have the mandate of the people to proceed in the matter. Justice Khan observed that apart from the fact that the opinion of the people to be affected had not been obtained, the ANP and the MQM, supporting the move in the commission, did not have any representation in Punjab, not even at the union council level. They were not, thus, authorised to speak on the issue. On top of that, Punjab had boycotted the National Commission on New Province tasked to make necessary recommendations. He told the petitioner that he could not, however, at this stage issue a stay order for want of a copy of the notification issued to constitute the commission and directed the Deputy Attorney General to appear before the court with its copy.
At the same time, the National Assembly witnessed strong protests on Friday when the recommendations of the commission were tabled before the house. PML-N members shouted ‘unacceptable’ but were disallowed to speak when they wanted to record their protest. The Fata parliamentary leader raised the question why Fata had not been included in the recommendations to be given a provincial status; JUI-F and Hazara members also rejected the recommendations. There were voices for the creation of Hazara as a separate province and against the inclusion of Dera Ghazi Khan and Mianwali in the new province.
That there is sheer nationwide discordance on the issue is unquestionable. It beats all logic and common sense that the authorities facing unprecedented multidimensional crises should be wasting their energies in raising yet another controversy. There can be no other reason except that the ruling coalition parties wish to improve their prospects in the coming general elections by winning over the electable candidates who by virtue of their being big landlords have the necessary clout with the people to get the required votes. With the new province they hope to secure the chance of holding positions of authority that they could not possibly aspire to while remaining in the larger Punjab province. The leadership should be diligently striving to create unity rather than fanning the parochial tendencies, which are already on the ascendant in the country. Then, there are price hikes, poor education and health problems and consuming insecurity. Making the potion poisonous is just too reprehensible.