AHMEDPUR EAST - Bahawalpur National Awami Party (BNAP) Quaid Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi met with President Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday.

The two leaders exchanged views on the issue of provincial status to Bahawalpur while Pakistan’s relations with the world, especially the US and China, also came under discussion during the meeting that lasted for 45 minutes. Abbasi told Zardari about the historical, constitutional and administrative background of Bahawalpur. He informed the President that the Bahawalpur Assembly was set up on the basis of adult franchise in 1954 before its merger in Pakistan.
He said the Office of Chief Minister, High Court and other government institutions were functioning properly but former Gen Yahya Khan did not restore former Bahawalpur province in Punjab, which was unacceptable to 12.5 million people of region. He cited the example of Balochistan which was not a province at that time but came into existence on the eve of disintegration of One Unit in 1970. Political pundits have called the Zardari-Abbasi meeting an important step. Earlier, the PPP leaders announced that President Zardari would meet Abbasi during his visit to Bahawalpur.