ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party is ready to support Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government to create the South Punjab province, close aides of the top leadership said.
Over the weekend, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the PTI needed the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz help to create the new province. Qureshi said that with only a simple majority in Punjab and the centre, the PTI could not amend the Constitution alone to create the South Punjab province. “The new province will benefit all the people,” he maintained.
A close aide of the Bhutto family told The Nation that the PPP leadership was in favour of creating South Punjab but the PTI also had to show seriousness to fulfil its promises made in the election campaign. “If they (the government) need any help, we will be there but the PTI knows only to criticise others and discredit the opposition. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari are ready to help the government on the national issues including South Punjab,” he said.
PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said that a Constitution amendment Bill to create South Punjab province had already been passed by the Senate in August 2013 and the PTI-led government could adopt the same as its own Bill or make further amendments if it was sincere in carving out the province.
“If the new government wants to take credit for the new province it could adopt the report and the Bill already passed with some modifications to give it the colour of its own initiative. I am confident that no member of the erstwhile Parliamentary Committee will have any objection if the PTI government wishes to do so,” he added.
PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari recently said that the promise of the PTI on South Punjab was unlikely to be fulfilled. “We have proposed to the PTI government that they could use the PPP bill for creation of South Punjab and even take credit for it. We will support the PTI for creation of South Punjab province,” he said.
The PPP leader said that the PTI had not given a positive response on the PPP’s offer. He added that if the government did not take serious steps towards the creation of south Punjab province, then the PTI will face a backlash.
Last month, PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that South Punjab province was PPP’s mission and PPP wanted the South Punjab to develop and prosper. He said that PPP would follow its manifesto from the opposition benches.
PPP South Punjab Secretary General Natasha Daultana said that the PPP had good support base in South Punjab and it had promised a new province to the people.
“South Punjab is our agenda and we will be ready to work with the other parties to achieve the goal. We did not have a government in Punjab last time (2008-2013) and the PML-N was also not supportive in the centre. If we had the required numbers we would have created South Punjab in the last tenure,” she said.