South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15

[Saiyan0321]

South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15



ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday decided to formally make south Punjab secretariat operational on Oct 15 and expressed the hope that the decision would bring an era of prosperity and development to the under-developed areas of Punjab.

The prime minister announced this at a meeting on the establishment and working of south Punjab secretariat.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, the chief secretary, additional chief secretary and the additional inspector general of south Punjab joined the meeting through video link.

According to the Prime Minister Office, Mr Khan emphasised that the government’s focus was on bringing about improvement to the life of the common man and directed the administration of south Punjab to work to fulfil this vision.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

He lauded the efforts of Chief Minister Buzdar and the Punjab government for the establishment of south Punjab secretariat and said these solid steps reflected the PTI government’s will to implement the party’s manifesto in letter and spirit.

PM hopes decision will bring prosperity to the region

The prime minister regretted that governments in the past had ignored genuine issues of the people of south Punjab.

Stressing the need for introduction of provincial finance commission award, the prime minister said: “Separate allocation for south Punjab would usher in a new era of progress and prosperity.”

He directed the authorities to complete the process of devolution of power phase-wise to ensure smooth running of administrative procedures. PM Khan asked them to keep him regularly updated on the progress of the working of south Punjab secretariat.

Foreign Minister Qureshi highlighted the steps taken by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in accordance with the aspirations of the people of south Punjab for the establishment of new secretariat, devolution of administrative powers, ending the sense of deprivation among the people of the region and solving their problems at their doorsteps.

He said the PTI government had fulfilled its promise to establish south Punjab secretariat, which had instilled a new spirit among the people of the area about their identity.

Mr Qureshi presented a proposal for allocating budget for south Punjab in the next year’s Public Sector Development Programme and reserving a quota for locals in employment.

The prime minister was informed that the rules of business of the Punjab government had been amended following the establishment of south Punjab secretariat and 16 secretaries had been deputed in south Punjab.

The prime minister was informed that health, education, police, planning and development, local government, finance and agriculture departments had been established for south Punjab.

An effective structural organisation had been put in place in the new secretariat which was equipped with technology, e-governance and paperless culture to facilitate the people, he was told.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020

South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15

“Separate allocation for south Punjab will usher in a new era of progress and prosperity," says PM Imran.

www.dawn.com

Good. This will allow for them to run their own region and will also have them witness how the land lords have eaten them dry and central punjab played little role in that. Also if it is done during this tenure, which it wont, then we will also witness the removal of PTI in Punjab since it the southern MPAs that are holding the province for PTI

 

[Saithan]

South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15



ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday decided to formally make south Punjab secretariat operational on Oct 15 and expressed the hope that the decision would bring an era of prosperity and development to the under-developed areas of Punjab.

The prime minister announced this at a meeting on the establishment and working of south Punjab secretariat.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, the chief secretary, additional chief secretary and the additional inspector general of south Punjab joined the meeting through video link.

According to the Prime Minister Office, Mr Khan emphasised that the government’s focus was on bringing about improvement to the life of the common man and directed the administration of south Punjab to work to fulfil this vision.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

He lauded the efforts of Chief Minister Buzdar and the Punjab government for the establishment of south Punjab secretariat and said these solid steps reflected the PTI government’s will to implement the party’s manifesto in letter and spirit.


The prime minister regretted that governments in the past had ignored genuine issues of the people of south Punjab.

Stressing the need for introduction of provincial finance commission award, the prime minister said: “Separate allocation for south Punjab would usher in a new era of progress and prosperity.”

He directed the authorities to complete the process of devolution of power phase-wise to ensure smooth running of administrative procedures. PM Khan asked them to keep him regularly updated on the progress of the working of south Punjab secretariat.

Foreign Minister Qureshi highlighted the steps taken by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in accordance with the aspirations of the people of south Punjab for the establishment of new secretariat, devolution of administrative powers, ending the sense of deprivation among the people of the region and solving their problems at their doorsteps.

He said the PTI government had fulfilled its promise to establish south Punjab secretariat, which had instilled a new spirit among the people of the area about their identity.

Mr Qureshi presented a proposal for allocating budget for south Punjab in the next year’s Public Sector Development Programme and reserving a quota for locals in employment.

The prime minister was informed that the rules of business of the Punjab government had been amended following the establishment of south Punjab secretariat and 16 secretaries had been deputed in south Punjab.

The prime minister was informed that health, education, police, planning and development, local government, finance and agriculture departments had been established for south Punjab.

An effective structural organisation had been put in place in the new secretariat which was equipped with technology, e-governance and paperless culture to facilitate the people, he was told.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020

South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15

“Separate allocation for south Punjab will usher in a new era of progress and prosperity," says PM Imran.

www.dawn.com

Good. This will allow for them to run their own region and will also have them witness how the land lords have eaten them dry and central punjab played little role in that. Also if it is done during this tenure, which it wont, then we will also witness the removal of PTI in Punjab since it the southern MPAs that are holding the province for PTI

I hope transparency is going to be the keyword here.

 

[Saiyan0321]

I hope transparency is going to be the keyword here.

brother the only thing transparent in Pakistan is the obvious hypocrisy of the nation. South Punjab is the land of landlords and they are extremely powerful over there. Waderas and sardars rule those lands and most of the MPAs of south are exactly those land lords. In 2008, they were with Pakistan Peoples Party with the hopes that PPP would make them south Punjab as they had promised so. About a group of 40 and basically those 40 MPA and MNA make all the difference. PMLN also promised such and in 2013 they shifted support for PMLN and N wont majority in Punjab assembly and by 2018, they shifted to PTI on the back of the same promise. The South bloc is pretty influential just like the Central & Northern Sindh bloc is and all of it are basically landlords that have most of the power. They are strong and most consider themselves above the law. Even the posting of an SHO aka the incharge of the police station responsible for an area can lead to m,massive fights because they need the police on their side. Be assured that this fight happens in other areas as well however the severity here is huge. The people vote for their landlords since their entire interests and life is centered on those land lords.

After the declaration that land reforms are unislamic by the Federal Shariah Court, the land lords have been growing in power and they can make or break political parties. Imran learned this lesson very well when he contested the election 2013 on the back of new candidates and all lost one after the other and when he contested on the back of some landlords, well the fight was more stiff in 2018 and he got a very little majority in Punjab ( the other side also had their influential) and a very thin majority in national.

Now Pakistan is very autonomous with its provinces. It has to be. Centralization nearly broke the country more than once and in this decentralized environment the region of south will be given their own province and it will be in the hands of landlords. They will come to understand the same lesson balochistan is learning. The problem wasnt just the central power was taking all resources but that the sardars and the influential weren't giving it to the power and they see it now and they protet and raise concerns against the baluchistan government. Who knows maybe the people of south will also see the shackles that the landlords have placed and try to break them after south punjab

 

[Kaptaan]

South Punjab is the land of landlords

Agreed but this will at least address one issue. Making governance easier and more closer to the people. Punjab is larger then entire Turkey. The landlords could have been sorted out back in 1960s but as you say the Mullah-elite nexus put stop to that. The only hope now is education and changing political economy. Increased mobility whic will now take place will slkowly see the power of these landlords eroded.

 

[Null/Void]

Agreed but this will at least address one issue. Making governance easier and more closer to the people. Punjab is larger then entire Turkey. The landlords could have been sorted out back in 1960s but as you say the Mullah-elite nexus put stop to that. The only hope now is education and changing political economy. Increased mobility whic will now take place will slkowly see the power of these landlords eroded.

Say what you want about ex Socialist states like the USSR, and China they did pretty well in land reforms and breaking up heavy feudal lords again not praising them lots of blood was spilled and revolts occurred too

 

[Saiyan0321]

Agreed but this will at least address one issue. Making governance easier and more closer to the people. Punjab is larger then entire Turkey. The landlords could have been sorted out back in 1960s but as you say the Mullah-elite nexus put stop to that. The only hope now is education and changing political economy. Increased mobility whic will now take place will slkowly see the power of these landlords eroded.

Absolutely. Infact i wholeheartedly support more provinces and would like the south province to be formed as two provinces named bahwalpur and south punjab which is a bill presented in Punjab assembly however it seems we are going to the South Punjab route alone. Considering the diverse nature of the country, Pakistan could form itself into small regions like Turkey did but the provinces have their own history and culture and alot of times, the present boundaries were home to small sultanates. South also gets more leeway due to the historical importance and central nature of Multan and the sultanates that formed through multan and alot of times took the shape, south punjab will most likely have in the future.

Indeed however that ended and three important things played a crucial role in curbing land reforms.

1. The ruling elite found it far more easier to deal with a set of land lords rather than with the people and found their support to be easily bought then having to ask for votes from the people and being held accountable for their incompetence and mistakes. Dictators found it as their bread and butter. They did the same in Baluchistan where they empowered the Sardars rather than empowered the people and through them formed regional politics that would be more inclined to trade political support for benefits. This was actually witnessed repeatedly and most recently in 20017-18 when the National party, which was ruling with PMLN at baluchistan witnessed mass defection of sardars from both parties to form a new party called BAP and they won 24 seats to form a coalition where they held the central position and this is thanks to the sardars. Same with South Punjab. The ruling elite found it far easier to rule the country through these landlords then to rule through the people. The military also finds it easier to control the political elite through controlling this set of political power.

2. There is ofcourse the Mullah nexus since WAQF is extremely profitable. Some of the best lands are under the control of WAQF and they find it very easy to build mosques and then force the owners to give the land as WAQF. If land reforms are passed then the religious nexus would lose the WAQF which funds alot of their operations and working. It was WAQF where the battle against land reforms began.

3. Then we have the landlords themselves who will not tolerate any land reforms and will fight by raising militias and raising cries of independence if somebody so much as mentions the word reforms. They are central to the political power of the country and they are well aware of it. They see themselves as the kingmakers of the country and will not give that crown to anybody else. They will fight anybody and i mean anybody that threatens their power.


You know what the funny thing is. Both the Prophet and Hazrat Umer (R.A) were central in Islamic Land reforms where they passed several Agrarian reforms and the second caliph passed huge reforms concerning land ownership in the newly acquired territories which were fertile and central to the production of the region at a level unseen by the Arabs.

The thing that worries me is that South Punjab may become another northern Sindh and these sardars dont like education and they will respond very negatively to any educational efforts by anybody over there.

Never the less a High court that would watch the province, an administration that would be centered on it, may lead to better administration and we may see a drop on the atrocities committed by these landlords and their so called panchayat justice.