Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and former Prime Minister Senator Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani gave his policy statement in favour of South Punjab province during Senate Session and assured full support to the government if serious commitment has been shown in this regard.
He rejected the formation of secretariat and demanded a fully empowered province for the people of South Punjab. He said that the issue of formation of South Punjab province is very important and some facts must be presented before the House.
Gilani said that if a province has to be divided or a province has to be formed out of it, then the first resolution is presented from that province. In this regard, he said, “We introduced a resolution in Punjab province which was passed and then presented in the National Assembly which was passed by the lower house. A commission was formed for this which was chaired by Senator Farhatullah Babar under that resolution.”
Gilani continued that the commission prepared a comprehensive report after detailed consultations with civil society, experts, writers, journalists and other relevant stakeholders. Which was introduced in the Upper House (Senate) and at that time only one member from our party, Senator Khaleda Mohsin Qureshi was present in the Senate.
We are thankful to all the political parties of the time who passed the bill with a two-thirds majority in the Upper House in which the new province was named Bahawalpur South Punjab.
