South Punjab Province

South Punjab (Saraiki, Urdu: جنوبی پنجاب),^[1][2] also proposed as Bahawalpur-South Punjab,^[3] are the names for the proposals to create a new province in Pakistan, out of the southern regions of Punjab.^[4] The proposed province comprises the Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions.^[5][6][7] The proposed province would form about 52 percent of the total area and almost 40 percent of the population of the current Punjab province.^[8][9]

Map of the proposed province of South Punjab (red) in Punjab

History

In 2012, Punjab Provincial Assembly and the National Assembly passed resolutions for the creation of a new province in Punjab. These resolutions were supported by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PMLN) and were passed.^[10]

In the 2013 election, the Peoples Party tried to mobilize voters from Southern Punjab over the creation of a separate province. But they got only one National Assembly seat from the region.^[10]

In 2018 the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) promised to create a new province in South Punjab within the first 100 days of taking office, if they win.^[11] PTI won the election and won 30 out of 50 seats of the National Assembly seats in South Punjab.^[12] On 15 August 2018, PTI MPA of Punjab Assembly, Mohsin Leghari tabled a resolution for the creation of a new province in South Punjab.^[10]

On 28 January 2022 the Senate of Pakistan accepted a bill seeking the creation of South Punjab province, and was supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP).^[13]

Establishment of Civil Secretariat

In 2020, a separate civil secretariat was established for South Punjab. The secretariat was made up of Dera Ghazi Khan Division, Multan Division, and Bahawalpur Division. It became officially operational on 15 October 2020.^[14]

Initially, the following departments were included in the separate Administrative Secretariat of South Punjab region: Services and General Administration, Home, Health, Education, Agriculture, Planning and Development, Livestock and Dairy Development, Local Government and Community Development, Housing, Urban Development and Public Health, Engineering, Irrigation, Forest, Communication and Works, and Revenue,^[15] as well as Police.

Geography

The Saraikistan Qaumi Council demanded the creation of a province by merging 24 districts in South Punjab and 2 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts).^[16][17]

The Main Political parties PTI, PPP, and PML(N) have differences in the geography of the proposed province. The PPP supports the formation of the South province by merging 14 districts of Punjab and as well as Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI supports the formation of the South Punjab province by merging 11 districts of South Punjab only. The PML(N) does not much support the division of Punjab into two separate provinces.^[11]

Administration Division

The administrative divisions of the current secretariat:

Name of Division	Name of District	Headquarter
Multan	Multan Khanewal Lodhran Vehari	Multan
Bahawalpur	Bahawalpur Bahawalnagar Rahim Yar Khan	Bahawalpur
Dera Ghazi Khan	Dera Ghazi Khan Muzaffargarh Layyah Rajanpur Jampur Kot Addu Taunsa Sharif	Dera Ghazi Khan

Demographics

Language

 

The proportion of people with Saraiki as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census.

The major language spoken in Southern Punjab is Saraiki, Punjabi is also spoken.^[18] Urdu is the official lingua franca.^[19]

Religion

Islam is the dominant religion in Southern Punjab, with a Sunni majority and a Shia minority.^[20]

See also

• History of Punjab
• Saraikis
• Hazara Province Movement, a proposed province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
• Muhajir Province, a proposed province in Sindh, Pakistan

References

1. "پاکستان تحریک انصاف جنوبی پنجاب کی محرومیوں کا ازالہ کرنے کیلئے پرعزم ہے، پنجاب کابینہ نے جنوبی پنجاب سیکرٹریٹ کی خودمختاری کیلئے تاریخ ساز فیصلہ کیا ہے ". Office of the Chief Minister of Punjab, Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
2. "Hopefully, govt will end injustice towards South Punjab: PM Imran". Aaj news. February 2022.
3. "South Punjab province or Saraikistan; what do Saraikis demand?". News Desk. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
4. "Body formed for creation of South Punjab province". The Express Tribune. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
5. Newspaper, the (15 June 2023). "Southern Punjab and the issue of equality". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 19 June 2023. The concerns are genuine because of the fact that the proposed province of South Punjab will comprise the divisions of Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan as well as some adjoining areas of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
6. "New boundaries: Protesters demand Tank, DI Khan be included in Saraiki province". The Express Tribune. 21 February 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
7. "Seraiki province debate". DAWN.COM. 14 August 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2023. Second, the majority of people of D.I. Khan and Tank districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are Seraiki-speaking. They are asking to be part of a Seraiki province and have formed the Seraiki Suba Mahaz to launch a campaign for the inclusion of their districts in the new province.
8. "South Punjab: larger in size, less in population". Retrieved 13 April 2020.
9. "Pakistan Population (2023) - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
10. "What lies behind demands for a separate province in south Punjab". Retrieved 16 April 2020.
11. "A province for Seraikis". Retrieved 16 April 2020.
12. "A province in the making". Retrieved 16 April 2020.
13. "BILAWAL, SHEHBAZ'S SUPPORT SOUGHT FOR CREATION OF SOUTH PUNJAB PROVINCE". ARYNEWS.tv. 20 January 2022.
14. Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (5 September 2020). "South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15". DAWN.COM.
15. Malik, Mansoor (1 September 2020). "15 full-fledged depts created for south Punjab secretariat". DAWN.COM.
16. Shah, Nadeem. "A province for Seraikis? | Dialogue | thenews.com.pk". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 19 June 2023. Zahoor Dhareja the chairperson of the Seraikistan Qaumi Council, says, "We demand a province consisting of 24 districts: Multan, Lodhran, Khanewal, Vehari, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Pakpattan, Okara, Sargodha, Khushab, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Chiniot and Faisalabad. We also demand inclusion of two districts from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Dera Ismail Khan and Tank where 70 percent of the population speaks the Seraiki language."
17. Wasim, Amir (25 October 2022). "Demand for south Punjab province echoes in National Assembly". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
18. "Saraiki, a Language of Pakistan". Ethnologue. from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
19. Robina Kausar; Muhammad Sarwar; Muhammad Shabbir (eds.). "The History of the Urdu Language Together with Its Origin and Geographic Distribution" (PDF). International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences. 2 (1).
20. "Information on Sunni-Shia conflict". Pakistan - Researched and compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre.

Bibliography

• Rahman, Tariq (1995). "The Siraiki Movement in Pakistan". Language Problems & Language Planning. 19 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1075/lplp.19.1.01rah.