Bahawalpur was a princely state of the Punjab in what is now Pakistan, stretching along the southern bank of the Sutlej and Indus Rivers, with its capital city at Bahawalpur. The state was counted amongst the Rajputana states (now Rajasthan) to the southeast.
After two centuries of varying degrees of independence, the state became part of Pakistan in 1947. In 1941, the state had a population of 1,341,209 living in an area of 45,911 km² (17,494 sq mi). It was divided into three districts: Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalnagar.
Although all cities of the Punjab have been rotting for decades under massive political and bureaucratic corruption, the towns of Southern Punjab have suffered the most.
But former federal minister for information and broadcasting Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani believes that restoration of Bahawalpur’s provincial status is the only solution to the problems of Southern Punjab.
Talking exclusively to weekly pulse, Durrani, who is also Vice President of PML-Q, has linked the elimination of terrorism in Southern Punjab with restoration of the provincial status to the area, which he believes would lead towards progress and prosperity of the people of the region.
Senator Durrani asks the political leadership of the country to take a decision in accordance with the aspiration of the masses and this would accomplish a commitment made by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Nawab of Bahawalpur and its people.
“Pakistan is facing enormous challenges and is passing through a crucial juncture. Instead of resolving problems, we only react. The country’s situation demands us to resolve the problems by taking bold practical steps instead of putting them on the back burner,” he said. He said poverty was rampant in Bahawalpur division, which was the richest area of Pakistan in 1947.
“If we look into the history, we will come to know that Bahawalpur was the richest state when it decided to join Pakistan. It was the state of Bahawalpur that contributed resources from its own exchequer for payment of salaries to the government officials of the newly created Pakistan, supply of arms to the armed forces and help the new state to develop and grow in the comity of nations.
Durrani said that since the creation of Pakistan, the four divisions of Punjab had been converted into nine divisions, while 17 new districts have been formed in Punjab. However, none of those divisions or districts had been added to the entire Bahawalpur Division and the demography of the area remained the same. The only mistake made by the people of Bahawalpur is that they remained loyal to the country, he argued.
Senator Durrani said that giving rights to the deprived people of Bahawalpur would not only strengthen the federation, but it would also be fulfillment of a promise made by the state of Pakistan to the people of Bahawalpur in 1947.
“Bahawalpur is one-fourth of the land of Punjab province.  It is a division but despite that it has only two medical colleges while only Lahore has two-dozen medical colleges. Bahawalpur owns only one university while there is no engineering varsity in contrast to other areas having hundreds of such institutions. I ask the government to adhere to the issues of Bahawalpur, eliminate poverty and create employment opportunities for elimination of terrorism in the area,” he remarked.
He said the people of the Bahawalpur Division were committed to the revival of the provincial status of Bahawalpur and even he would welcome if the government conducts a referendum in this regard.
“There is lack of educational institutions. There is no clean drinking water and when I recently visited Cholistan, I saw humans and animals drinking water from the same pond – thanks to the rainwater, as the people only gather rainwater in summer or die due to thirst. The poor have nothing to eat if it does not rain,” he deplored.
He said the government should take steps to improve the living standard of the people of Southern Punjab. Brushing aside the impression that the new provinces would marginalize the strength of PML-N, Senator Durrani said it was an argument having no logic.
He said PML-N had massive support across the country, as it was a national party. Mian Nawaz Sharif enjoys support from Khyber to Karachi and it would be injustice to say that he was only a regional leader and the new province would destabilize his government in Punjab. He said more provinces would bring better management, better delivery system, better rights and also prove to be a healing touch for the deprived and ignored people of the area.
“Besides restoration of Bahawalpur province, a new province should be formed comprising Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions. Moreover, a total of 16 provinces should be created gradually in the country to ensure good governance and better delivery of rights on the peoples' doorstep to redress the issue of sense of deprivation among the poor people of deprived and ignored areas of the country," Senator Durrani said.
He warned the federal and Punjab governments of public wrath if Bahawalpur province was not restored. "Restoring the provincial status of Bahawalpur would not only correct a historic wrong by General Yahya Khan, who had defied a commitment made by Quaid-e-Azam to the people of Bahawalpur, but it would also engage the disappointed and hopeless people of Bahawalpur region who have disengaged themselves from the state affairs due to decades of ignorance," he remarked.
Responding to a question, Senator Durrani said the government had already conducted military operations in Swat and Balochistan and any further operation was out of question. “This is the reason that I call for economic and administrative measures in Southern Punjab to defeat the extremist forces,” he added.
Answering another question, the former minister said that he had submitted a draft resolution to the Senate Secretariat for amending the Constitution to facilitate the process of creating new provinces by a simple majority of parliament.
"My bill seeks to make the procedure of formation or creation of new provinces simple and reflective of the wishes of the people for faster development of the country. It is imperative to form new provinces of a manageable size. This will not only make the administration easy but the under-developed areas will also be able to make rapid progress."
He said as per the Constitution, parliament as well as the provincial assembly need a two-thirds majority to create new province. However, this bill would facilitate this process.
The bill says, “In Article 1, in clause (2), after paragraph (d), the following paragraph shall be added:
"(e) Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) may, by law form a new province by separating a territory from any province or by uniting any areas, territory and part as recommended by the Senate or the provincial assembly by adopting a resolution."
"In the Constitution, in Article 239, clause (4) shall be omitted and subsequent sub-clauses shall be re-numbered accordingly".