Should Punjab carry Pakistan's burden?

[Captain1]

Re: Should Punjab carry Pakistan’s burden

@Ali_Syed

It’s a provocative article, will see how the discussion progresses.

Definitely very provocative article, seems like a different agenda being brought to life? Some inconsistencies:

@Ali_Syed

Some valid points raised by the author.

Should Punjab carry Pakistan

Should Punjab carry Pakistan’s burden?

The writer is a political economist

The evidence is quite clear: Punjab is far more developed than the rest of Pakistan; it has been growing faster, has far less terrorism than Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) or Karachi, and almost none of Karachi’s regular shutdowns. Shahid Javed Burki has written a number of well-argued articles on these pages arguing this point.

The question of what ‘Punjab’ is, is clearly central to any fair assessment of Punjab’s presumed success and prospects. Of course, there are very wide disparities within Punjab itself, a fact recognised by anyone who talks about Punjab, with southern Punjab, in many ways, worse than many of Sindh’s districts in terms of underdevelopment. One highly respected Lahore-based researcher has called the Takht-e-Lahore an oppressive entity usurping the rights, resources and identities of the Seraiki people, equating central and northern Punjab (and Punjabis) to colonisers. One can also complicate such analysis by asking whether the Punjabi industrialist in Karachi, or agricultural settler in Sindh, or trader in Gilgit, ‘belongs to’ Punjab in any meaningful way, and , what such location means to understanding regional and subregional administrative structures. Despite such disparities and questions of methodology, there is still a province in Pakistan called Punjab, and until there are more provinces in Pakistan (with Punjab needing at least three), one can continue to speak of an entity called ‘Punjab’.

The question arises, then: should prosperous Punjab, which has all the attributes listed above,** carry the rest of Pakistan with it?** Now that Punjab’s political leadership is also the party in power in Pakistan, does one expect this political leadership to sort out the other problem provinces in Pakistan (all three), as well? Or should it concentrate just on Punjab, for as we know, whoever rules Punjab, rules Pakistan? For some, Punjab is Pakistan, and vice versa.

Shouldn’t Punjab first focus on removing disparities within itself first before idiots like this can argue “carry the rest of Pakistan with it”?