The Baloch Hal NewsQUETTA: Members of the Balochistan Assembly seemed divided during Tuesday’s intense debate over a fresh resolution regarding the creation of new provinces in the country.
The assembly met after a two-day lull with Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani in chair.
Captain (R ) Abdul Khaliq of PML(N) and Shiekh Jafar Khan Mandokhel of PML (Q) had tabled a joint resolution demanding of the Federal Government for immediate solution of issue of new provinces on solid basis as debate on the issue was casting negative impacts in the country.
They said that country could not afford any further crises because of unnecessarily raising the issue of new provinces as there were already “more important issues” in the country which required urgent attention.
One of the movers of the resolution, Shiekh Jafar Khan said prevailing situation was not viable for raising the issue of new provinces. Therefore, it should be left for future discussion.
He said that they were not against the formation of new provinces but first of all there should be complete trust and consensus amongst all political parties and people over the issue.
“I don’t know why my party has taken up this highly sensitive issue at this time,” he said, “I think it is merely an effort to damage the vote bank of other party”.
Mr. Mandokhail, who is regarded as a veteran parliamentarian, demanded that a constitutional committee should be formed to review the all aspects of creating new provinces. Once consensus was developed, he proposed, the government should proceed with the decision endorsed by the majority population.
Nonetheless, another PML-Q member, Habib-ur- Rehman Muhammad Hassani, supported the creation of a Siraiki province. He said in case of constitution of a Siraiki province, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajan Pur districts should be merged with Balochistan because they had historically remained parts of this province.
The third member of PML(Q) Tariq Bugti, who took part in debate on resolution, termed the whole debate over new provinces a “political stunt” saying that the country’s rulers had failed in resolving the problems of the people and now they had raised this topic to divert the attention of the people from government failure.
Three independent members, Abdul Rehman Mengal, Mir Shah Nawaz Marri and Sardar Aslam Bizenjo also alleged that the government had brought up the issue to gain political mileage.
Irrigation Minister Sardar Aslam Bizenjo said, “we should not preoccupy ourselves in the discussion of new provinces. Instead, we should pay attention to challenges faced by the country including the dire issue of law and order and power breakdown.”
Awami National Party (ANP) representative Engineer Zamaruk Khan supported the demand for creation of a province for the Siraikis.
He said when “our leaders” used to talk about the redemarcation of provinces on linguistic, culture and historical basis, they were branded as “traitors”.
“ When the NWFP [North Western Frontier Province] was renamed as Khyber Pashtoonkhowa nothing happened to the the national integrity,” he remarked.
He said creation of new provinces was very necessary because as we talked about the grievances and backwardness of Balochistan similarly the Siraiki people were also victim of deprivation. “If they talk about formation of their own province that was their right and we should support them”, he added.
Another independent member Mir Zahoori Buledi said he was in favour of new provinces on historical and cultural basis but presently the issue had been raised to corner a political party.
He said we always tried to hide the truth and never concentrated to solve the issues while keeping in view the ground realities. He said Pakistan was a multi-national country where every nation had its own culture, language and history and were dwelling on their own historical land.
He said that if any nation wanted its historical name on its land then there was no harm in it.
He said one military general for his personal gains formed one unit. He said that creation of new provinces in accordance with the law was necessary. However, he said that raising the issue of new provinces was only wastage of time since it was not possible without 2 third majority in the assembly.
BNP (Awami) leader Syed Ehsan Shah stressed the need for creation and demarcation of provinces on historical, cultural and linguistic basis.
The member of JUI-F Ainullah Shams opined that members of assembly should seek guidance from their parties before passing or rejecting the resolution.
The presence of members was very thin in the session therefore movers opted for withdrawal of resolution instead of presenting it for vote after the debate.
The house adopted amended draft bill of Balochistan Historic Mosques and Shrines Receipts Bill 2011 unanimously in the presences of only seven members.
Independent member Abdul Rehman Mengal pointed out the quorum but member of panel of Chairmen Abdul Rehman Jamali who was chairing the session said he had pointed out the quorum after the passage of bill.
Later on the chair adjourned the session till Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment