Commission on formation of provinces in Punjab: Parliamentary panel seeks stakeholders' opinion

The Parliamentary Commission on formation of more provinces in Punjab on Tuesday declared that it was seeking recommendations from all stakeholders to finalise its report. The main stakeholder, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), continued to boycott the commission's meeting, as its chairman Senator Farhatullah Babar again urged the major opposition party to join the commission.
The meeting was attended by members, including MQM's Dr Frooq Sattar, Haji Adeel of ANP, PML-Q's Kamil Ali Agha, Sughra Imam of PPP, Arif Aziz Sheikh of PPP as well as special invitees, including Syed Khurshid Shah of PPP and MQM's Sajid Hansnain. The commission invited experts, including Taj Langa, Ashiq Bazdar, Mohammad Ali Durrani, Malik Khair Mohammad, Ghafit Rehmani and Ghazanfer Mehdi who briefed the meeting about their views regarding formation of more provinces in Punjab.
Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q called for expanding the commission's mandate, saying that the commission should also address concerns of the people from Hazara division, while its chairman Babar was of the opinion that the commission has only the mandate of discussing formation of provinces in Punjab.
Briefing reporters, Babar said that the commission was given mandate by the Speaker National Assembly in light of the resolutions passed by National Assembly and Punjab Assembly to create more provinces in Punjab as well as the letter written to the Speaker by President Asif Ali Zardari in this regard. He said that there were two opinions in the commission - one, which he said was popular was in favour of two provinces in Punjab while the second was forwarded by Mohammad Ali Durrani who pleaded the case of Bahawalpur to be given the status of a separate province.
Babar urged the PML-N to end its boycott and forward their recommendations by joining its proceedings. He said that the commission would invite everybody, including former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi to get their input regarding formation of provinces in Punjab. The commission will again meet on December 24 this year.