PPP back to square one

Friday, 25 Jan 2013 12:34 am, Source

ISLAMABAD - Having failed in its strategy to name the proposed South Punjab province Bahawalpur Province, the Pakistan People’s Party government has decided to drop Yousaf Raza Gilani’s proposal and decided to submit its previous proposal of South Punjab Province in parliament in the form of 24th Amendment Bill 2013, Pakistan Today has learnt.

A source in the PPP said the party wanted to form one province rather than two provinces in southern Punjab and it was most likely that the commission would recommend the formation of South Punjab province, as the party leadership had decided to drop Gilani’s proposal of naming the new province as Bahawalpur and naming Multan as its capital.

“The party leadership has now decided to table its previously agreed bill to name the new province as Southern Punjab Province for which the ruling party had full support of its allied parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP),” the source added. “As soon as the commission on new provinces finalises its report, it would be tabled in the National Assembly and after its nod, the bill would be given a final shape. The commission has taken feedback from scholars, thinkers, NGOs, etc and all aspects, including revenue collection, sustainability of province and historical and geographical aspects would be covered by the commission’s report,” the source said.

He added that the PPP had suffered a major blow to its popularity in Bahawalpur due to planning by party’s Senior Vice Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani to get his cousin Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmud appointed as the Punjab governor. The move has infuriated Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi, the guru of Bahawalpur’s political dynamics, who contacted the PML-N leadership for a possible alliance between the Nawaz league and Bahawalpur National Awami Party (BNAP). “President Asif Ali Zardari had formed a three-member committee to thrash out a plan to address the issue of the demands of two provinces in southern Punjab that was unacceptable to him.

The president had formed the committee comprising Yousaf Raza Gilani, Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi and Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmud”.

The source said the president had also promised to appoint Nawab Abbasi as the Punjab governor if he could help resolve the issue.

However, after his meeting with the president, Abbasi left for London and stayed away for a while, as the meeting with the president had created confusion among his followers in his hometown that he had made a compromise over the demand of restoration of Bahawalpur province.

The source added that following his mysterious silence, Gilani manoeuvred in favour of Ahmed Mahmud and convinced the president that Mahmud would not only play a role in luring many politicians of the area to join the PPP, but both of them would also convince the people of southern Punjab to name the new province Bahawalpur province, hence dealing with both the demands with one province.

“But both Gilani and Mahmud have failed to convince the people of their respective areas on one province. Moreover, President Zardari was upset over the statement by the new Punjab governor who had told media that he was still a member of Muslim League. When the reservations were conveyed to Gilani and Makhdum was asked to fulfil his promise of luring politicians to join the PPP, only Makhdum and his two sons joined the party and no other influential political figure joined the PPP”.

“Gilani’s solo-flight has left many party leaders infuriated who were making efforts to resolve the issue. Makhdoom Shahabuddin, the president of PPP Southern Punjab chapter, has conveyed his reservations against Gilani to the president. Shahabuddin is also making damage-control efforts and he would soon meet Nawab Salahuddin to pacify him,” the source added.

When contacted, PPP South Punjab Senior Vice President Haider Zaman Qureshi said the PPP leadership was working rigorously to resolve the matter of new provinces. “The commission is working over its report which would be finalised soon. The report would be detailed and it will cover all aspects of new province(s) including economic, infrastructure and geographic dimensions. All the recommendations made by the allied parties would also be included. Once the report is laid before the House, it would be debated and then the 24th Amendment Bill would be laid before the House,” he concluded.