by: MANZOOR CHANDIO, Karachi, SINDH
Courtesy: daily dawn, Saturday, 27 Jun, 2009
THIS refers to Maria Malik’s letter, “Restoration of Bahawalpur’s status” (June 20) written in response to Ayesha Siddiqa’s article, “South Punjab ‘movement’” (June 12).
Defending former minister Mohammed Ali Durrani’s demand for restoration of the state, she sabotages a case for Seraiki province. She also wrongly claims that there is a popular demand for the restoration of Bahawalpur state. People with myopic view of history like Mr Durrani and Ms Malik have always raised the issue of Bahawalpur whenever movement for a Seraiki province gains momentum. We should keep in mind that Seraiki, one of the representative languages of the Indus Valley civilization, besides Sindhi and Punjabi, is the country’s largest spoken language. Seraikis are concentrated in South Punjab and Dera Ismail Khan division of the NWFP — their historical abode from time immemorial. The area has been a separate administrative region for centuries and has a separate cultural and linguistic identity from other areas. Unfortunately, the Seraiki belt has been severally neglected in the past 62 years and no significant development work has been done for the uplift of people and to preserve their language and culture.
There is no representation of the language and culture on the national level because the area has no separate territory.
Administratively, Seraiki districts are far away from the capitals of Punjab and the NWFP and this makes difficult for the people to benefit from the provincial resources.
It is an irony that the biggest nationality of the country has no geographical identity. The only language which is spoken in the four provinces has no official status.
The establishment has always followed the policy of overcentralisation on the pretext of oneness. Actually this artificial oneness is aimed at usurping the rights of smaller nations.
All major taxes are levied and collected by the Centre and distributed on the basis of population among the provinces. Punjab being the largest province grabs the lion’s share in the revenue. The creation of the Seraiki province is the only solution to growing disparity among Punjab districts because most of the provincial budget is spent on Punjabi-speaking districts.
Recently MPA Makhdoom Syed Ahmed Mehmood told the Punjab Assembly that “Rahimyar Khan, with a population of 3.6 million, has just four degree colleges each for boys and girls, while Gujranwala, with a population of 2.6 million, has 16 colleges for girls and 21 for boys”.
Seraikis’ mandate, who overwhelmingly voted for the PPP, is not being recognised in Lahore. The PML(N) is a party which not only stands for the status quo in the country but also wants perpetual deprivation of the Seraiki belt.
The previous PML(Q) governments in Punjab did nothing for the Seraiki districts, paving way for recruitments of jihadi militants from the Seraiki belt.
For centuries, Seraiki areas were part of Sindh. Multan was a separate pragna (province) during the Mughal era. It was Ranjit Singh who annexed Seraiki lands and merged them into Punjab.
The British merged Dera Ismail Khan with the NWFP. There is no wrong if Seraikis have their own province in Pakistan.
According to one of the proposals, Seraiki province should be carved out of Seraiki-speaking areas annexed by Ranjit Singh and the erstwhile Bahawalpur state and Seraiki-speaking areas merged into the NWFP by the British Raj.
Definitely, Seraikis will benefit from their own province. The area is not as industrialised as the central Punjab, but it contributes most of the raw material (cotton) for Pakistan’s main exports — fabric, yarn and garments.
The area is also rich in mango orchids and other crops. Above all, the Seraiki area is the heart of the country.
The creation of the Seraiki province should not be seen in the context of separation. Punjab has heavily industrialised only the central districts, depriving Seraikis of prosperity.
With the creation of the Seraiki province, they would get their own share of revenue which would ultimately result in their prosperity. There is no wrong if a province is carved out of a big province according to the wishes of Seraiki people, who historically own this land.
The demand for the province is not tantamount to grabbing others’ land but Seraikis are demanding the revival of an administrative unit which existed there from time immemorial.
MANZOOR CHANDIO
Karachi
Source- http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=121066113641&h=OLPwQ&u=1T6Mi&ref=nf
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page)
WE SARIKIES R 6 CEROR IN PAKISTAN , BUT PUNJAB PUT US INTHE POORTY AND ECONOMIC DEPRIVIATION . OUR LANDS ARE ALLOTING TO PEOPLE OF UPPER PUNJAB , QUESTION IS , IS THER NO SARIKI, WHO HAVE RIGHT ON THAT LAND. LAND IS ALLOTIOG TO ARMY GENERAL , QUESTION IS ARE THEY ARE YOO MUCH POOR THEN PEOPLE IN OVER AREA.
WE R READY TO FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT AGAINTS PUNJAB
FIVE REGIONAL CITIES should be upgraded with in the provinces in Pakistan. Regional cities of Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, Gawadar/ Qalat in Balouchistan, Sukkar/ Larkana in Upper Sind, Jehlam/ Rawalpindi and Multan in Punjab province. These regional cities have been ignored by the federal and provincial governments although these cities have their own history, culture and languages.Dera Ismail Khan in south of Pakhtun khwa/MWFP is under seige, Multan/DG Khan in south of Punjab is next target of religious extremists,Sukkar/ Larkana is being rule by criminals, Gawadar/ Qalat is trouble some. The people of these regions have to travel to provincial capitals for every small issue and requirement of the daily life which should be provided in nearby cities. A good number of population travel to big cities for their survival to earn livelihood as the local feudal own majority land and keep the common man as their slaves. Creation of regional government and upgrading of the regional cities will save a lot of money and time of the poor people of these regions. Circuit benches of the High Courts are already working in these areas and only requirement is the additional staff of different departments involved in additional work at the provincial capitals. The concern authorities should immediately consider to upgrade the regional cities. And immediate attention should be given upgrade/build the airports,TV station, civic center, libraries,hospitals, educational institutes and investment opportunities for Pakistanis living abroad and foreign firms to create jobs in the area as majority population in rural Pakistan do not have enough resources to survive. It remind me the condition of pre Islamic revolution of Iran in Shah time when the rural Iran was ignored and the capital Tehran was developed in a way to call it Paris of Middle East with modern life style. Couple of other big cities like Isfahan and Caspian sea was taken care of because of foreign tourists but rural area was ruled by cruel police and intelligence. Then what happen rural population supported the Islamic revolution and moved to Tehran and other big cities later on. The new government after revolution developed, built and upgraded the rural areas of Iran accordingly. A fund to upgrade/build these regional cities in Pakistan should be intoduced by public and private sector and Pakistani government, our foreign friends and Pakistanis living abroad may be asked to participate in this development mission in the country..KHWAJA AFTAB ALI,( former secretary, Iranian embassy, Saudi Arabia,1975-88) Advocate High Court & I.P. Attorney-first & the only Pakistani lawyer who earned Intellectual Property laws scholarship in USA,presently residing in Florida, USA. all_languages@hotmail.com
it is high time to make pakistan strong through seraiki province.
I support additional provinces because its hell for people from different parts of province to travel long distance to Lahore for minor things. After new provinces they will be able to handle thing locally. India originally had 19 and now have almost 100 hundred provinces.
People need to stop politicizing this issue.