Re: After Altaf?
I am pro division of Punjab (into lots of administrative units), it will not only benefit the province and the whole of Pakistan. My disdain for ‘rig Punjab, rule Pakistan’ electoral system is no secret. But it has to be said, the situation with Punjab and Bhawalpur cannot be compared with Sindh and Karachi. Punjab Assembly had seamlessly passed the resolution for Bhawalpur province, likes of Shahbaz Sharif promised to create Bhawalpur as new province in 2013 campaign, and none of these things led to any communal bloodshed or rise of ethnic tensions. So South Punjab is indeed a very unique case. I for one is quite surprised how there isn’t much of a local pressure to create Bhawalpur province, despite the job being half completed.
India to this day is creating a new state after every other year, but in Pakistan, merely talking about new provinces is akin to breaking the country.
Creation of Karachi as a separate province is a distant dream, there will be bloodshed and we are not talking about in terms of law and order situation going out of hand for few days. The Establishment won’t allow that to happen as it’ll push the Sindhis further away and give serious boost to Separatism there. So for now, having an empowered and truly devolved LG system and perhaps a Federal budget for Karachi is the only way forward.