MULTAN: Three more MPAs from the PML-N Wednesday resigned from the party and joined the Janoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz (JPSM) which offered the mainstream political parties dialogue on a formula for the creation of south Punjab province. The development came on the first day of the of JPSM leadership’s four-day tour of the region. Starting from Khanewal district, the JPSM leaders visited Multan on Wednesday evening where they held a press conference.On the occasion, PML-N MPAs Qaiser Abbas Magsi from PP-264 (Layyah-III), Chaudhry Karam Dad Wahla from PP-219 (Khanewal-VIII) and Zeeshan Gurmani from PP-252 (Muzaffargarh-II) announced their decision to resign from the ruling party. The Bahawalpur Market Committee chairman also resigned from his office and joined the JPSM.Addressing the press conference, JPSM Secretary-General MNA Tahir Bashir Cheema said both PML-N and PPP played a game with the people in the name of creating south Punjab province. They developed a consensus on 18th Amendment and settled disputed issues except establishment of the new province, he added.Cheema said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had promised in 2013 general elections creation of the province but didn’t fulfil the commitment. He said the PML-N was talking about “respect vote” but it humiliated and insulted parliamentarians from south Punjab.The south Punjab parliamentarians, he said, were treated like some unwanted thing, adding that the PML-N had developed a culture of monarchy in the party.Cheema said the JPSM did not have a political agenda except the creation of south Punjab province.He said they were not demanding province on the grounds of ethnicity but purely on administrative basis. “The creation of province is a voice of the people of this region which has been kept backward in all respects,” said Cheema.He alleged that the government was claiming allocation of Rs 1,206 billion package which was existed only in papers as not a single penny could be released. On the other hand, Rs 240 billion were spent on Lahore Orange Line, he said.He challenged the chief minister to hold a referendum on the issue, which, he said, make Shahbaz understand the need of a new province.Offering PML-N, PPP and PTI to hold dialogue on a concrete formula for creating the province, he said, “The JPSM has submitted a resolution in Punjab Assembly for the creation of south Punjab province. If the government is sincere then it would endorse the JPSM resolution at any cost.”JSPM leaders MNA Rana Qasim Noon and MNA Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry also spoke on the occasion and said the creation of province was a basic right of the people.They said their demand wasn’t new as the people of the region had been pressing for the new province since long due to their deprivations and problems.They said Lahore was the heart of Pakistan but it could not sustain the burden of entire Punjab, adding, “Division of Punjab is inevitable.”Magsi said he was compelled by JPSM leadership to join the grouping because not only the parliamentarians but also the people of the region were not treated equally.On the other hand, Gurmani announced the decision to resign from the PML-N when Cheema and others visited his residence.Earlier, the JPSM leaders visited Khanewal and Jahanian, during which Wahla said he had resigned from his MPA seat and joined the JPSM.
from The News International - Top Story
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