The Speaker of the Sind Assembly recently made a ruling that lawmakers should avoid using the terms “Interior Sind” or “Karachi and Sind” when debating on the floor of the house or he would strike them off from the record as Karachi and Sind are not separate and Karachi is a part of Sind.
He made this ruling in the backdrop of the demand of creating new provinces in the country.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to whom the speaker belongs has been demanding the “Seraiki” province for the Seraiki speaking people in the Punjab province. Surprisingly this demand comes at a time when the elections may be held in the next 6 months or so.
Punjab is the largest province of Pakistan and sends the most lawmakers to the National Assembly. Seraiki people comprise nearly 40% of the Punjab province so creating a separate province for them would increase PPP’s re-election bid. This division would however have some negative impct on the PML(N) who command a strong presence in the province and are thinking of winning the next elections based on the present government’s dismal handling of the day to day affairs.
The PML(N) has countered this by demanding the division of the Sind province thereby giving the Urdu speaking people (Mohajirs) their own province which did not go too well with the PPP party as they have a strong presence in the Sind province.
The recent ruling of the speaker is part of the PPP’s policy of treating Karachi as a part of Sind and dispel any impression at the government level that Karachi is not a part of Sind.
Following news item appeared in Daily Jang on January 21 2012
