Muted voices for the separation of Saraiki speaking areas of the Punjab into a separate province seem to be gaining momentum in recent months. Until now demand for Saraiki province was confined to small political groups generally referred to as Saraiki nationalist parties but now leaders of major political parties belonging from the area have joined them giving more potency to the demand. Establishment of the Saraiki province has been popular among the ethnic nationalist across the country. ANP and PKMAP as well as MQM have distinct chapters for the region while the Sindhi and Baloch ethnic ‘nationalist’ parties also distinctively treat the area and include it among ‘depressed’ nations.
In the meantime former Minister Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani has rediscovered his Bahawalnagar roots and revived demanded for the establishment of Bahawalpur province. Senator Durrani has had a long journey since his rise on the political horizon through Pasban. He served Jamaat-e-Islami contesting the 1993 elections under the slogan of “Zalmu Qazi aa raha hai’, (O oppressors Qazi is coming”) but despite his efforts the Jamaat failed to improve its historically meager share in votes and assembly seats. Later he served both former President Leghari as well as Pervez Musharraf though results remained the same.
The present day Punjab is a lopsided province and a legacy of British colonial rule. The British divided their Indian empire into provinces as they marched from their coastal linchpins of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay to the interior and then across the Indo-Gangatic plains to Himalayas and Hindukush. Ethnic, religious or linguistic considerations seldom played much of the role in demarcating the boundaries of the provinces.
Punjab, annexed by the British in 1846, was an empire in itself. Its boundaries extended from China in the north to Sindh in the south; Khyber Pass in the west to River Sutlej in the east. Later trans-Sutlej areas controlled by the Sikh chieftain were also annexed in the Punjab province, extending provincial boundaries almost into central India. Soon thereafter, the British sold Jammu and Kashmir to Maharaja Ghulab Singh. In 1901 Hazara and trans-Indus districts were put together to establish the North West Frontier Province.
Still Punjab was among the biggest provinces at the time of independence and consisted of 30 districts. Out of which 17 namely Attock, Dera Ghazi Khan, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Jehlum, Jhang, Lahore, Lyallpur, Mianwali, Montgomery, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Shahpur, Sheikhupura, Sialkot and tribal tract west of River Indus were awarded to Pakistan. Ambala, Amritsar, Firozepore, Gordaspur, Gorgoan, Hissar, Hoshiyarpur, Jullandar, Kangra, Karnal, Ludiana, Rohtak and Simla were granted to India. Except for Bahawalpur and Khairpur, all of the 36 Punjab states joined India. It may be mentioned that these two states represented more than 50 percent of total area and population of all Punjab states put together. (Khairpur, though falling in Sindh had relations with the empire through resident Punjab states). After annulment of One Unit in 1969 Bahawalpur too was merged into Punjab.
After independence the areas falling within the Indian union were divided into three separate states. Simla and adjoining hilly districts were formed into Himachal Pradesh while the plains were divided into Hindu majority Haryana in the east and Sikh majority Punjab state in the west. Total areas of three succeeding states of former east Punjab is 150,725 square kilometres, far less then 205344 sq km of Pakistani Punjab and their combined population is only two-third of the same. The division of Indian Punjab was, in fact, part of to wider process to rationalise state boundaries. Indian Union now consists of 28 states excluding seven union territories and the process continues. With Uttar Pradesh alone representing 80 out of 542 seats in the lower house of Indian parliament where 11 others have less than 10 each and six large states having 56 percent seats in the Lok Sabha, disparity in size and clout among Indian states is still there but it is not as conspicuous as in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, Punjab represents 56 percent of population and seats in the National Assembly. Presently Punjab elects 148 of the 272 directly elected members of the National Assembly. It also has a quota of 35 out of the 60 women reserved seats. Punjab also get majority of 10 seats reserved for minorities and allocated to political parties on the basis of their performance in the general election. That takes the total tally for Punjab to 190 out of 342, 18 more then the absolute majority required for the formation of government. A party sweeping the province during national elections can form federal government even without a single seat from the other areas in the federation. Pakistan has already become a victim of this disparity in 1971 when Awami League winning all but two seats from then eastern part of the province but none from the western part was bent upon imposing its will in constitution making and formation of government in total disregard of the wishes of the leadership from other provinces which of several reasons for the breakup of the country. We should seek possibilities where a 1971-like situation does not arise again.
With separation of the southern districts, the Saraiki province will take away 56 out of these 148 directly elected seats from the Punjab. Women and minority seats will also be similarly divided. It will thus greatly reduce symptoms of instability from the body politic of the country and allow the succeeding units to run as normal federating units. There is a perception that government in Lahore does not do justice with the region in distribution of resources and jobs and as a consequence the region has fallen behind in socioeconomic development.
The accusations that out of Rs 175 billion earmarked for annual development programme for the year 2009-10 Punjab government has allocated only Rs 5 billion for 14 districts of southern Punjab will only exacerbate such feelings.
Linguistically, Punjab can easily be divided into three distinct parts. The districts mentioned above speak a distinct dialect and there is a prevalent sense of deprivation in the area. Till the ascendancy of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh Multan has seldom been part of government run from Lahore. It was either a separate province in a kingdom or kingdom itself but not part of any province governed from Lahore.
In north of the province Potohar region, mainly consisting of the districts of erstwhile Rawalpindi division, has more in common with the adjoining areas of Hazara and Kashmir than the Punjab plains falling south of the Salt Range.
During the Mughal period the region, called Sindh Saghar, was a separate province with headquarters at Shahpur. Depending on willingness of NWFP Hazara and Potohar can be combined to make a separate province. Potohar province without Hazara will not be feasible as creation of too small federating units will consume a lot of national resources on administration.
The size of Punjab has always been a source of instability in Pakistani politics. Every Prime Minister or President felt threatened from the Punjab and abhorred prospects of an opposition lead government in the province. Even independent minded politicians from Prime Minister’s/president’s own party are not tolerated and those exhibiting an iota of independence are removed at the first available opportunity. From Mamdot-Daultana tussle to present uneasy détente between the PPP and PML-N, the thoughts of installations of yes-man as head of Punjab administration consumed most of the energies of the federal government. Given the size of the Punjab, its rulers too do not take much time to aspire for government of their own at the federal level. Division of Punjab in two or possibly three provinces will greatly remove the basis of this power struggle too and make Pakistani federation even stronger.
The reason for not accepting Potohar without Hazara as a province stands true for Bahawalpur too. It would be a natural part of larger Saraiki province but its separation as a province will not be feasible and would lead to such demands from other areas too. Besides as we have seen in case districts, creation of mindless administrative districts only eat up financial resources in administration which otherwise can be utilised for development purposes.
(The Post, June 30, 2009)
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