Seraiki province: Zardari orders Gilani to initiate consultative process

The Express Tribune

President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to immediately start consultative process with all the political parties with a view to make a separate Seraiki province in South Punjab, said a press release on Saturday.
The president said this during his meeting with the delegation of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) lawyer forum at the Prime Minister’s House Multan.
Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar, while giving details of the meetings held today, said that the president maintained that this was not politics but was meant to respect and honour the aspiration of the people of South Punjab who have been feeling deprived for the last sixty years and were demanding their just rights.
The president said that the PPP promised to give identity to the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and we fulfilled our promise.
“Similarly we gave rights to our Balochi brothers and the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.” Now, he said, we have promised the people of this belt to cater to their aspirations and we would do our best to honour our commitment.
He said that the people of this area have every right to demand and have their own province and the party leadership respected their wishes and aspirations. He added that this was the right time to give what people have been asking for so long.
“If giving rights to the people is a crime, we will continue to commit such crimes,” Senator Babar quoted the president as saying.
Zardari is on his first visit to Multan, where the Prime Minister House is his temporary residence.
Strict security measures have been taken and Multan has been declared a red alert zone for the president’s arrival.
All political leaders of PPP southern Punjab were called to Multan for the final decision on the Seraiki province.
As per sources, PPP has completed the constitutional framework and all paperwork for the creation of a Seraiki province.
Earlier, PPP southern Punjab President Makhdum Shahabuddin had said that the president will be announcing the creation of a Seraiki province after the senate elections, adding that he would be doing so in person.