The federal government’s attempt at carving out a new province from Punjab, oddly titled ‘Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab’ (BJP), has raised a cacophony of voices either objecting to its composition, or calling for the creation of another province as well, or questioning the constitutionality of proposing the BJP in disregard of the Punjab Assembly’s resolution. Partners in the ruling coalition crossed swords, with the PML-Q and the MQM putting across the idea of a Hazara province and the ANP feeling outraged at it and staging a walkout. The JUI-F, an opposition party, and the ANP filed their note of dissent on the report of the National Commission on New Provinces. The PML-N is boycotting the commission for ignoring the Punjab Assembly’s resolutions, with Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif terming BJP as an unnatural hybrid being created as a ruse to put off elections. Besides, Monday witnessed a shutter-down in Mianwali, protests in Multan, Bahawalpur, Sargodha and Bhakkar, and boycott of courts by lawyers in Bakkar – making different, some even contradictory, demands. Tehreek Hazara threatened to stage a sit-in before Parliament in favour of its demand for a separate province.
The new-fangled proposal is, basically, the outcome of the ruling parties’ urge to make political gains by currying favour with the local population, which is made to believe that the root cause of their problems is the larger governing unit they have at present and that the new province is the deal that would solve them. Looking at it keenly would convince anyone, though, that there is little to recommend in terms of real benefit to the local people. Rather, the new provinces’ resources would straightaway come under strain when it would have to bear the expenses of the ministerial and administrative paraphernalia; and its functionaries would demand perks and privileges enjoyed by their counterparts in the other units of the federation. For a country already under heavy pressure of a ruined economy and mounting debts, the very thought of another financial obligation would prove lethal.
The financial and economic factor apart, the idea of a new province suggests poor appreciation of another fundamental issue facing the country, which strike even a casual observer of the local scene straight in the eye. And that is the dangerous evil of parochial thinking in the face of issues crying out for a national approach to solve. Efforts at this point in time should mainly be focused on reversing the fissiparous trend. The creation of another federating unit on linguistic or ethnic grounds would rather tend to harden the local feeling and prove disastrous for the country, as we already hear calls for Hazara province; and soon the demand for Jinnahabad i.e. Karachi province would hit the newspaper headlines.
It is difficult to imagine that the BJP proposal would pass muster at the Supreme Court whose intercession would certainly be sought to judge its constitutional validity. It lacks the seriousness needed for such a crucial move; one would, thus, tend to agree with the view that the whole drama is being enacted to gain political support from southern Punjab during the coming elections.