20 lawmakers switch sides, join Imran
IF ELECTED, PTI PARTY HAS ANNOUNCED PLANS TO SET UP A NEW PROVINCE IN SOUTHERN PUNJAB WITHIN 100 DAYS
PTI party has announced plans to set up a new province in southern Punjab in 100 days if it is elected
As many as 20 lawmakers from South Punjab, who recently parted ways with the ruling party, formally joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) yesterday strengthening the party’s position in the south Punjab region ahead of elections.
PTI chairman Imran Khan and Junoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz (South Punjab Front) leader Khurso Bakhtiar announced the merger at a joint press conference after signing an agreement yesterday.
Welcoming the politicians from South Punjab in his party, Imran said: “I welcome Khurso Bakhtiar and specially Mir Balakh Sher Mazari, who is a respected Pakistani politician.”
If elected, PTI has announced plans to set up a new province for the southern region in Punjab within 100 days of formation of the government.
“Federation is strengthened when its units are happy and this is what makes a nation strong and powerful,” Khan said, noting that the justification behind the creation of a separate province because it was administratively difficult to manage a province as large as Punjab.
Referring to the ruling party, Khan said “The power is centred in Lahore and there is growing sense of deprivation in South Punjab areas” especially because “a lot of parties [in the past] promised a South Punjab province and did not deliver.”
He added that after coming into power, PTI would also accelerate FATA’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khurso Bakhtiar, JPSM leader, said “Our merger is based on single point that South Punjab province will be established by the PTI if it manages to form the government” in upcoming elections.
Mass movement launch
He said Imran Khan carried hope for a new Pakistan. Last month, in a major blow to the ruling Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz’s (PML-N), eight legislators had parted ways with the ruling party. They had also announced launching a mass movement to make south Punjab a separate province.
“Making South Punjab a separate province is a one-point agenda,” Bakhtiar said. “The poverty rate in South Punjab is over 51 per cent. I admire development in the provincial capital but I cannot forget the pain and sufferings of South Punjab,” he said.
The movement currently has at least 15 politicians. Headed by state minister for foreign affairs Bakhtiar it includes MNA Tariq Iqbal from Vehari; MNA Muhammad Qasim from Multan; MNA Basit Bukhari from Muzaffargarh; Sardar Dareshak, Saleem Ullah Chaudhry, Alam Dar Laleka and Syed Asghar Ali Shah.