Autonomy demand by Pakistan nationalities

ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: About 20 nationalist parties from all the four provinces of Pakistan ended their first two-day convention here yesterda...

ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: About 20 nationalist parties from all the four provinces of Pakistan ended their first two-day convention here yesterday demanding a new arrangement in which all provinces would be given equal rights and the 8220;five nationalities8221; in the country, formal recognition.

The convention also demanded that the 1940 Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League be made part of the Constitution. This resolution had promised autonomous status to the provinces constituting what was to become Pakistan.Sindhis, who supported the idea of a separate state for the Muslims of the subcontinent in the 1940s, said they were motivated by the 1940 resolution8217;s promise.

The convention was called by the Awami National Party ANP which had broken away from the ruling Muslim League early this year to protest against the Federal Government8217;s refusal to rename the North West Frontier Province NWFP as Pakhtunkhawa although the provincial Assembly had passed a resolution to this effect.

Since then the Awami NationalParty has been in the forefront of campaigns for provincial autonomy. Speakers at the convention made fiery speeches against the present system in Pakistan and demanded that for the country to stay intact Sindhis8217; Baluchis, Punjabis, Pakhtuns and Seraikis the five nationalities must be given equal rights, opportunities and representation in the armed forces.

It is for the first time that the Seraikis of southern Punjab have been given a formal recognition by other nationalist parties as a separate nationality. The Seraikis have been campigning for a separate province since they do not like to be identified with northern Punjabis, who control Pakistan.

By naming Sindhis, Baluchs, Pakhtuns, Punjabis and Seraikis as separate nationalities of Pakistan, the convention made a glaring omission: That of Mohajirs migrants from India after 1947 who claim to be a separate nationality because of their language Urdu and ethnicity.

The 20 participating parties have decided to launch a sustained movement topersuade the government to enter into an agreement with the five nationalities to change the present system in favour of one which allows equal rights to all provinces and nationalities. The Jamhoori Watan Party JWP of Baluchistan has already announced its intentions to table a private bill in the Senate to demand provincial autonomy.

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On Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had made an unscheduled visit to Quetta to persuade JWP8217;s chief Nawab Akbar Bugti to support his government8217;s 15th amendment bill. But Bugti told him to withdraw this bill and support his party8217;s bill for provincial autonomy.

The sense of alienation and deprivation among smaller provinces has increased in recent months. Sharif is accused of allowing his brother Shabaz Sharif Chief Minister of Punjab and his father to rule the whole country from Raiwind near Lahore where the Sharif family has built its massive estate.