Seraiki Province: For Seraiki nationalists, it’s a moral victory

Concerned over Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani’s conviction in the contempt case, Pakistan Peoples Party loyalists and Seraiki nationalists have termed it “an attempt to revert the democratic revolution that was set to hit Pakistan.” Chief Organiser of the Pakistan Seraiki Party Mansoor Karim Sial believes that the democratic norms that were established during the four-year rule of PPP have been attacked by the conviction of Prime Minister Gilani. “Democracy is neither a magic wand nor it is a one-day process but in fact it is a continuous process and PPP government was leading the society towards a democratic revolution and the decision may hamper the national democratic revolution.” The PPP representative character, Sial said, was maligned hit by the decision. “Such verdicts are only appreciated in courtrooms, not on the roads by the public,” he told Dawn.com “The real historic decision is not the one given by SC, it’s the decision taken by the party (PPP) to form the Seraiki province,” he added. The decision to form a separate Seraiki province, if implemented, could be one of the most crucial ones taken during PPP’s current regime. Zahoor Dhareja, a writer and an intellectual from Gilani’s hometown of Multan, believes the PM has been punished for raising voice for the establishment of Seraiki province and Seraiki Bank. “A democratically elected Seraiki prime minister has been convicted for not changing his stand over the issue creating a new province for his nation” he said. Despite the conviction, he firmly believes the “one-sided decisions” will not be able to demoralise the “Seraiki nation.” “Victimization will strengthen the Seraiki people and it will be a blessing in disguise for them in their quest for a Seraiki identity and a province,” Dhareja said. While it may seem that the court verdict has made the PM and his party, political martyrs, but writer and intellectual Ahsan Wagha believes that internally, the party exudes a triumphant confidence. but inside the ruling party the feeling is of winner. “The government, especially the prime minister, will enter the Seraiki region with a brave face and the Zardari-Gilani government, having been put under pressure, may not care to move toward practicalities of the province.” Meanwhile, member of PPP’s Central Executive Committee Haidar Gardezi was critical of the judiciary’s decision, saying that it always set selective standards by “supporting the dictators and victimising the democratic governments.”