As the debate kicks off in the media and the general public on the carving out of new provinces, voices, in favour of a Seraiki province, echoed in the Provincial and National Assembly. Jamshed Khan Dasti, MNA, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi MNA, Makhdoom Shahab-uddin, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Jatoi, Federal ministers, Sardar Bahadur Sehar, MNA from Layyah supported the formation of another administrative unit to lessen the problems of the people of Southern Punjab.
They said that southern Punjab had been deprived of development, despite having the ability to become a bread basket for not only Pakistan, but also for South Asia. They said that since the 1970s, no major educational institution, such as a medical college or an engineering university, had been set up in Southern Punjab. "If the people there do not get proper education, religious seminaries would benefit," they added.
They said that from the development budget of Rs 137 billion for the Punjab, a sum of Rs 5 billion only had been allocated for an area with a population of approximately 50 million. " When we raise our voices for our rights, we are declared anti-Pakistanis," they said.
Seraiki nationalist Muzaffar Khan Magsi had said in the historical 1940 Lahore Resolution, that the rights of all nations had been accepted. "We are demanding the rights granted in the 1940 Resolution and even in the Charter of Democracy," he added.
Rejecting the impression that the voice for a Seraiki province had been raised on a linguistic basis, Magsi said this demand was not raised on ethnic or a linguistic basis but "we wanted our issues to be resolved at our doorsteps. We wanted our files to go to Multan, instead of Lahore," he added. He said that the people of southern Punjab did not even get a share of the National Finance Commission.
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