Bahawalpur South Punjab (BSP) was the name of a new province proposed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Government in the National assembly of Pakistan in January 2013.
Bahawalpur South Punjab (BSP) was purposed to be created in the southernmost region of Pakistan's Punjab province, partially as a response to the Conspiracy of Saraiki Stunt to create a separate province on areas of Multani and Derawali dialect speakers of Western Punjabi language.
However, due to following criticism, the proposal could not materialize.
Nine out of 13 districts to be included in the proposed province had rejected the proposal, citing the following reasons:
There is the majority of the Punjabi population in five districts i.e; 1. Bahawalnagar 2. Vehari 3. Khanewal 4. Mianwali 5. Bhakkar. They identify themselves with north Punjab rather than South Punjab.
Baloch people are in majority in the districts of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, who identify themselves with Baloch identity. They want their own separate Koh-Suleman province.
The popular demand of the residents of Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan is a separate province in the steps of the former princely state Bahawalpur.
In the remaining four districts 1. Multan 2. Muzaffargarh 3. Layyah 4. Lodhran, nearly 75% population is Majhi dialect of Punjabi speaking, who objected to the creation of a separate province based on linguistic criteria.
Additionally, the political parties campaigning for the creation of Saraikistan also rejected the new province as incompatible with their agendas, while Pakistan People's Party denounced the proposal as a "Political Stunt".
No comments:
Post a Comment