LAHORE – Rejecting the federal commission’s recommendation on new provinces, the PML-N said the Punjab Assembly-carried resolution over the issue was valid and the same would be pushed for implementation.
According to a PML-N spokesman, the PPP was playing political gimmick on the issue. He said the new provinces in Punjab could be established only in the light of Punjab Assembly resolution.
The spokesman accused the PPP of being non-serious on the creation of new provinces as it appointed commission head a person who was a member of the personal staff of President Asif Ali Zardari. “The commission head is from KPK and he is ineligible to be elected as councilor,” he said, adding that the resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly a year ago, mentioned the establishment of Bahawalpur and Multan provinces and the commission had no valid authority to make decision over the issue.
The spokesman said the commission neither consulted Punjab nor addressed its concerns over the matter. He said the the PPP, through the drama of new provinces in Punjab, wanted to influence the upcoming elections but the defeat of this party was written on the wall.
On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the PPP move to create Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab (BJP) province aims at postponement of the elections, while his brother and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif reiterated that creation of new provinces should be based on administrative grounds.
Chairing his party’s consultative meeting, Nawaz said creation of new provinces should not be based on either ethnic or linguistic basis.