South Punjab: Still a dream of Seraiki-Speaking people

In Pakistan, the inequalities in education, health, infrastructure and industry provoke the separatist tendencies, which is the main issue in southern Punjab. The demands and slogans raised by the Saraiki-speaking people of Pakistan for geographical and administrative recognition were exploited by politicians in the elections of 2012, 2013 and 2018 for their own vested pursuits. The historical position of the Saraiki region portrays that Punjab’s civil and military bureaucratic domination gave rise to ethnic issues and slogans such as Hindhu Desh, greater Baluchistan, Muhajir movement, Bahawalpur Mutahiza Mahaz, Saraiki Sooba Mahaz, which in one way another finds its solution in the establishment of separate province. The amalgamation of Bahawalpur into the Punjab under the selfishness of Pakistan’s government and without the consent of the people, and Multan being part of Sindh, emerged in Punjab depicting that southern-Punjab has been a separate administrative unit for centuries and has a separate cultural and linguistic identity from other areas through various periods.

A key question arises: Is Saraiki language the reason backing the demand for a separate province?
Considering the statistical study of the ethnic divisions in the primary districts of South Punjab shows that Ethnicity and Saraiki language in South Punjab are not the basis of demand. According to Punjab Development Statistics, Mianwali, which is claimed by Saraiki nationalists as a completely Saraki speaking area, consist of 74.17% Punjabis and 12% Saraikis. Similarly, in the district Vihari possesses 82.85% Punjabi and 11.35% Saraki people, Khanewal is another Punjabi language dominating area. On the other hand, Layyah, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, and Bahawalpur (Saraiki: 72.99%, Punjabi: 28.39%) own majority of Saraiki ethnic groups possess a substantially large number of Punjabi speaking people as well . So, it’s obvious that the majority of Punjabi people exist in the Saraiki region do not hold up the demand of Saraiki province on the grounds of a lingual majority.

What lies behind the demands of the separate province of Saraikistan?
The Social and economic imbalance between the south and the rest of the Punjab justifies the establishment of Saraikistan. All the districts of the Saraiki region are located far away from the central and north Punjab which deprives it of their own share of revenue. In south Punjab, there is a less allocation of for the development budgets. Moreover, the number of jobs reserved for South Punjab and regional job quotas is much lesser compared to the North or Central Punjab. Even though DG Khan is a division but is not an industrialized area due to which a gigantic mass of poor people seek a job in big cities. Due to this the young men from the villages of DG Khan have to come to Lahore to do jobs in bakeries and petrol pumps to support themselves and their families. The regions of Saraiki belts are always neglected by Takht-e-Lahore. The leadership of central and north Punjab is too corrupt that they get lion shares from the divisional pools and hinders the development of other small provinces. Moreover, an effective governance and administration based on equality is required to provide civil services to the most populated region consisting of approximately 110M population. Secondly, the health and education conditions of Southern Punjab demand great attention of the government. Making it a province will improve the quality of education and the students like me will not have to come to Lahore from the backward areas of South Punjab to study. Even in Multan there are 3 or 4 universities, but there exists a big difference between the education standard of Multan and Lahore. Similarly, many medical projects have also not been completed by the previous government. Making it a province will improve health, which is drastically at its downfall. Patients are referred to hospitals in ,Lahore from hospitals in southern Punjab cities because of the availability of more better medical expertise in the rest of the Punjab. Similarly, it is impossible for anyone from Multan to come to Lahore for just on hour of the session of court proceedings. Moreover, the creation of Saraikistan would create a balance in federation.

Saraikis want to retain their cultural identity, Pakistan’s constitution does not support the erasing of cultures. Rather to honor them. In Pakistan, provinces are named according to the cultural composition and social origin of communities living there. So on these cultural and social grounds, Saraikis demand the southern Punjab province named as Saraikistan because they comprise 90% of the population of the region. But the establishment of Saraikistan is still a dream of millions of Saraikis.

Role Of Government 
The government of Pakistan did not want the establishment of Saraikistan and political parties always used the Saraiki card to pursue their political interests. The issue of Saraikistan has been strengthen several times over the decades. The Constitutional Amendment bill of 2018 paved the way for the merger of federally administered Tribal areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and also promised that the southern Punjab will also become a new province which has not been achieved yet. The Seraiki nationalists also accused the PTI government of deceiving the Seraiki people in the name of organizing a separate province and creating a powerless Civil Secretariat. Rulers of the past and present made fake promises with the people of south Punjab including Asif Ali Zardari bhutto, Imran Khan and Fazul- Ur- Rehman. Their political parties participated in the elections in the name of the Seraki province in Dera Ismail Khan just to get the votes of those 70% seraki speaking people living there. From my point of view ,the political authorities of Pakistan do not want the creation of more provinces in Pakistan. PLM-Q Government and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi were against the division of Punjab. And these political parties had amended the constitutions several times that made it utterly impractical to create a new province. And why would a political party vote in a Senate and National Assembly to divide its own province? Therefore, all these parties blocked all the constitutional ways of the creation of Seraikistan.

In the end, my opinion is that unity exists in division. The welfare of the people of Southern Punjab requires political and constitutional implications. The administrations and commmisionerates should be declared provinces. Balochistan similarly needs division to improve the standard of life of people living there. Balochistan should have its own Provincial Capital city,Chief Minister,Governor and freedom to launch their own developmental policies for betterment. The division should be based on administrative lines, not on political or ethnic bases. Because division based on ethnicity gives chances to the enemies of Pakistan to blackmail Pakistan’s government through various nationalist parties. Through this methodology, Sindhis will be Sindhis, Serakis will remain Serakis, and the same goes for Balochs and Hazaras. In this way, people will be able to control their own resources and they will better utilize the funds in their economic and industrial development without the involvement of central government and to bring better governance over each province.