Towards Bahawalpur province

M RAFIQUE GORAYA

Lahore: The Punjab Assembly by unanimously adopting a resolution for restoration of former Bahawalpur province on Wednesday removed the major hurdle in realisation 42-year-old demand of people of the former Bahawalpur State which had a history of 228 years ending in 1955 when it was merged with One Unit.

Bahawalpur division comprising Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahimyar Khan districts is the largest division of Punjab province having an area of 45,588-km and population around 9 million, which is 10.3% of the total population of Punjab.

It is a historic fact that before One Unit in 1955 Bahawalpur had a provincial status, and Bahawalpur merged with a status of a province with West Pakistan at the time of One Unit. The State had its own legislature assembly, secretariat, High Court, Accountant General and Public Service Commission.

Political analysts say that it was a great injustice to people of former Bahawalpur State that when One Unit was dissolved on 30th March, 1970, and status of former provinces was restored, Bahawalpur was made a part of Punjab though Ameer of Bahawalpur had been given an assurance that whenever One Unit was abolished, Bahawalpur would be restored as a separate province. After dissolution of One Unit the demand for restoration of Bahawalpur Sooba was so strong that in the first-ever general election in 1970, the people of Bahawalpur elected supporters of Bahawalpur province.

Analysts say that Bahawalpur division (former Bahawalpur State) is one of the important regions from agricultural and defence points of view. The important agricultural crops of this region are cotton, wheat, sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses. The most important crops are cotton and wheat, which contribute 23% and 10% of the total production of the country respectively. From the defence point of view, Bahawalpur has 300-mile border with India with the requirement of special defence tactics suited to desert warfare. This region is being represented by 15 MNAs in National Assembly and 31 MPAs in the Punjab Assembly.

Bahawalpur is the land of grand pirs and landholders, the Syeds, Makhdums, local Rajputs and Jats, settler Jats and Arains and 1947 migrants hold sway on the area politics.

The people of Bahawalpur region have been facing problems of underdevelopment, economic and political deprivations. The general masses feel that their region is being exploited and they are not being provided their due shares.

Bahawalpur region is one of the major producers of cotton crop, the earnings of this cotton crop are not being spent on the region. Another major grievance is the share of jobs in provincial and federal government departments.

The people feel that there is not much representation of Bahawalpur in various important government institutions like Public Service Commission, Board of Revenue, Industrial Development Corporation, Agricultural Development Corporation, Wapda etc.

A veteran leader of Bahawalpur Sooba movement Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood of PML-F says that “Bahawalpur’s autonomous status was usurped through the establishment of One Unit.” According to him, he supported the movement for the formation of a Seraiki province but not at the cost of suppressing the rights of people of the Bahawalpur region.