A low-key demand for the creation of Seraiki province out of Punjab has been there for a long time. Until now, Barrister Taj Mohammad Langah's Pakistan Seraiki Party had been leading the separate province movement, which failed to catch the fancy of the area's powerful landed gentry.
Interestingly, though, when Langah last contested the National Assembly election in 2002 from four constituencies, not only he lost his bid, but also security in all the four constituencies. His cause has now suddenly been adopted by some prominent political figures.
A few days ago, Senator Mohammad Ali Durrani, information minister in General Pervez Musharraf's regime, introduced a resolution in the Senate to seek a separate province for the Seraiki speakers. Soon enough, some other politicians, including PML-F MNA from Rahim Yar Khan, Jehangir Tareen, joined the chorus of Seraiki province demand.
Although the PPP has not officially supported the move, many of its members have. In fact, a PPP MPA from southern Punjab, Sardar Athar Khan Gorchani, created quite a stir in the Punjab Assembly last Monday as he raised a Point of Order to voice his support. The PML-N remains strongly opposed to the division of Punjab though its vice president, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, has been pretty vocal in championing the cause of Seraiki province, probably because of a personal conviction.
So far as the demand itself is concerned, nothing is wrong with it. There are several examples in other countries, especially in India - with which we share a lot of history and culture - where several new states (provinces) have been carved out of the old ones. More to the point, since Independence its side of Punjab has been reorganised twice.
Still, the timing of the present move begs the question. What has suddenly energised Durrani and his ilk, supported by strong voices from the PPP, to make the demand at a time the state and society are confronted by unprecedented challenges? A war is going on in the extremist-infested Fata as well as in some settled areas of NWFP; Balochistan is in the grip of a raging insurgency; the economy is in a bad shape; and the unresolved constitutional issues are undermining political stability.
The timing seems to be inopportune though it may actually have been chosen carefully. Committees in this country are usually set up either to fend off public criticism of government handling of an issue/situation or to delay decision.
As it is, the PPP-led government has been dragging its feet on the constitutional issue of 17th Amendment. After much procrastination it has formed a parliamentary committee to recommend changes, but its intentions remain suspect. The PML-N has repeatedly been expressing its concern over the slow pace of progress, demanding a fast-track action.
The controversy about a new province at this point in time may well serve as a convenient excuse for the PPP to resort to further delay the required changes. Durrani has been trying to understate the legal and procedural aspects of the issue. According to him, a simple majority vote in Parliament, even a presidential notification, would be enough to do what he wants.
Of course, he would know that even if the procedure could be as simple as he seems to think, it has to be in accordance with the constitutional provisions. So far the Constitution is silent on the subject. Which means a provision has to be inserted in the amendment currently under review. Probably the expectation is that when it is brought up the PML-N will resist, or people in other provinces might make similar demands, and thus the entire exercise will run into a stalemate.
It is not difficult to guess who would be the happiest person in such an event. Nonetheless, the issue itself deserves serious consideration. Let us examine the various justifications that the Seraiki province supporters have been trotting out to make their case:
Seraiki-speaking people must have their own province. In that case Pothohari-speaking people in Punjab might also think they would be entitled to have a Pothohar province of their own. In fact, some unthinking and uninformed politicians, such as Ejazul Haq, have come up with that suggestion in the unsuitable forum of TV talk shows.
But no one from northern Punjab itself has ever expressed such an interest, perhaps because Pothohari is a dialect of Punjabi, (dialects are known to change every 40 miles). If language is a sound argument for the creation of Seraiki province, it should be good enough for the Hindko speakers in NWFP and Pushto speakers in Balochistan to form their own language-based provinces.
The Seraiki areas were administered by the Bahawalpur State until its merger into One Unit. If history is invoked, Lahore could lay claim to entire NWFP, all the way to its border with Afghanistan, where it ended under British rule in 1901. Earlier during the Sikh rule (1801-1849) Punjab's borders stretched from the Khyber Pass in the west to Tibet in the east, and from Kashmir in the north to Sindh in the south, which of course covered the Seraiki belt as well.
Digging up history would be fraught with troublesome claims and counter claims. The Seraiki belt has remained underdeveloped and economically backward due to persistence negligence. That is true, even though majority of Punjab's ruling elite comes from the Seraiki areas. There is no guarantee though that a separate province status will bring economic prosperity for the ordinary people living in that part of the country.
Balochistan has had provincial status right from time the One Unit was dissolved, yet it is the least developed unit of the federation. There can be no excuse for continued neglect of these and other underdeveloped areas.
But the problem of underdevelopment in the Seraiki areas is linked directly to an antiquated and oppressive land-owning system. Feudalism is alive and well in Punjab's Seraiki belt, from where come the big land-owning 'pirs' and 'sajjada nashins' to claim positions of power both in Lahore and Islamabad.
Unless the hold of this exploitative system is broken, ordinary Seraiki speakers will continue to suffer deprivation. Hence a radical land reform must precede any serious attempt to create Seraiki province.
People have to travel long distances for matters big and small requiring provincial administration's attention. Creating ease of access for ordinary people is a compelling reason. In fact, if the Potoharis have never expressed any interest in a separate province one easily identifiable reason is their proximity to both the provincial and federal capitals.
The timing of the present move may be wrong, but the issue needs to be discussed and debated from all angles. It must not be tied to the current deliberations on the 17th Amendment. Doing so will render suspect the intentions of those who are at the forefront of a fresh and forceful demand for the creation of Seraiki province.
saida_fazal@yahoo.com