The conspiracy of bringing Punjab at par with other provinces would also be destroyed. People shall start idealizing Punjab once again and the race to bring other provinces at par with Punjab shall begin once again, making it a healthy competition for all political parties.
Opinion Article by: Javed Jaleel
The only glitch rather the only and biggest hurdle in the creation of a new province in Punjab was Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz. But PTI’s victory has become a hurdle itself in the way of creating a new province. Punjab is Pakistan’s most populous province with around 110 million population, out of the total population 32 percent of the people constitute south Punjab. This faction with around 35 million people residing in it came under the limelight and during the previous government’s rule the budget allotted to it increased a great deal and it stood at 36 percent for a couple of years until recently PTI’s provincial government slashed it a bit.
There are 36 districts in Punjab, with 9 divisional headquarters. Out of these 9, three divisions namely Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan comprise of 11 districts i.e. Multan, Khanewal, Lodhran, Vehari, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalnagar. Apart from tertiary healthcare, the primary and secondary healthcare hospitals comprising of District Headquarter Hospitals and Tehsil Headquarter Hospitals constitute a number that’s impossible to handle for a single unit. In addition to that there are over 50,000 public schools in Punjab. Shehbaz Sharif had mastered the art of managing it all alone, which was actually system’s flaw but despite being one-man army, he was doing it well. On the other hand managing the province by PTI, a province that already has high standards and a province that has been managed by experts, Shehbaz and his chosen bureaucrats, is a hard nut to crack. Federal government’s performance aside, Punjab is failing PTI badly and even PTI from inside has realized this obvious fact except the captain himself. Or if we put it more appropriately, the captain is seeing beyond what an eye can observe. So, in the best interest of the general public in Punjab and as per the promise that PTI had made before elections to make space for itself, it is need of the hour and it is an obligation for PTI to facilitate creation of a new province. As discussed earlier, the only hurdle was PMLN earlier and it was PMLN that suffered with this slogan, but now Shehbaz Sharif has offered full support to turn this dream of the people of Punjab into a reality. But why is it difficult for PTI now?
The central Punjab which had total 42 seats of NA, PTI lost whooping 32 to their arch rivals, the Sharifs. PTI lost 22 seats of provincial assembly from Lahore alone. These numbers suggest, breaking the province into two means handing over the central Punjab to Hamza Shehbaz Sharif and only 32 percent of the population would be left for Usman Buzdar to rule. Central Punjab already is in favour of PMLN and their delivery narrative in their respective divisions and however with this intervention and the way PMLN is raising voice for a new province the people in southern Punjab shall start giving credit to Shehbaz Sharif. PTI’s stronghold will start losing its strength in southern side because it would be evident from performance that who governed them better. PTI shall need to deliver, if not better than PMLN in Punjab, then equal to what Shehbaz has done to Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot and other districts. As southern Punjab shall start leaning towards Sharifs again, the already conquered central Punjab shall be easier than running the whole province of Punjab. The younger Shehbaz would easily handle education, health and infrastructure initiatives with lesser burden on himself. This means the central Punjab would emerge as a province even better than the older Punjab and would be up as Smart Punjab or Model Province 2.0.
On the other hand, the conspiracy of bringing Punjab at par with other provinces would also be destroyed. People shall start idealizing Punjab once again and the race to bring other provinces at par with Punjab shall begin once again, making it a healthy competition for all political parties. This is beneficial for PMLN clearly but it has a bigger benefit for PTI, captain shall get rid of the extra responsibility for which his team isn’t even ready yet. Prime Minister Imran Khan shall be judged on the basis of his province in the federation only, he will be better able to sell himself to public in the next elections and PMLN shall struggle to continue as a regional party. This, on the other hand, shall be a win-win situation for people living in Punjab who are currently suffering in the name of change.
However, there a blessing in disguise in the event. On Monday, Maryam Nawaz Sharif and three time prime minister Nawaz Sharif shall be listening to their verdict. If Nawaz Sharif gets away this time, it clearly means parties have reached a sweetspot. And as part of the deal, people in southern Punjab shall not get a separate province in the next 4 years. On the other hand, PMLN shall not put further weight on the demand. Let’s hope for the best and wait for the verdict.
