PAKISTAN MUST CREATE 106 DISTINCT PROVINCES/TERRITORIES WITHIN ITS STATE IN ORDER TO RETAKE BACK CONTROL OF ITS INTERNAL AFFAIRS: HABIB YOUSAFZAI, CHAIRMAN OF
THE KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE
ASSALAM-O-ALAIKUM!
At the present time Pakistan has set out in its constitution five provinces including Gilgit Baltistan which was given provincial status by the previous Pakistan People’s Party government. Azad Kashmir, a territory of about four thousand square miles does not bear any provincial status but is treated as a province of Pakistan because it is administered by Pakistan. Regardless of where you visit in Pakistan, even the most remote areas, the people there will assert that Kashmir is theirs, and it is one with Pakistan. We must realize that this provincial division has not been established so that those which are a part of one nation stand to create further wedges among each other on the basis of the area they reside in. This is being witnessed as for example, people in Sindh feel that they are totally different, and in fact, feel themselves to be superior to the people living in Baluchistan.
It is also worth noting that the 6 provinces Azad Kashmir, Gigilt Baltistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtun Khawa, Baluchistan, and Punjab have been given so much autonomy that they have even began going against the wishes of the federal government. Much analysis has been done with regards to power generation, and it has been found that creation of hydro electric power is considerably cheaper through dams than other sources. It is a sad state of affairs, and quite frankly embarrassing that the masses are surviving half the day without basic necessities such as electricity and yet those in the provincial government have failed to allow the building of the Kala Bagh Dam. It is ironic that those that are in government would find no issue in ceasing land for the purposes of the state, and amass personal wealth, and yet, there is no real progress on the building of the dam which the population so desperately needs.
There is no special quota system for jobs and educational admissions within Punjab where as one exists and imposed in places like Karachi creating further resentment among the people. This was originally established so the people from the rural areas of Sindh who do not have many facilities can be accommodated. This is actually having the opposite effect where those that live in the rural areas are being even further left behind. On the other hand, those that live in the rural areas of Punjab travel many miles just to get to school.
When one looks at the media presence of government officials at the provincial level, especially with appearances on TV, it seems as though they are bitter enemies with constant bickering and claims, but no concrete developments. The people in Maqbooza Kashmir have questioned me, what will be our status in Pakistan once we join with them?
It is worth noting that soon after partition, India forcefully occupied Junagar, Hyderabad, Jammu Kashmir, and merged Punjab, Khalistan, a Sikh state to increase its material power. Pakistan was left with no option to take the state of Jammu Kashmir by force. The fact of the matter is, the people of the state of Jammu Kashmir, prior to partition passed a resolution under the Muslim Conference on July 19, 1947 to become a part of Pakistan. Pakistanis liberated Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. They could have liberated all of Jammu and Kashmir, but the then Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru promised to Pakistan that it is sending its forces the state to maintain law. Despite this, one excuse after another has been stated, but until now, India has failed to withdraw and has fallen to the point where it has merged Maqbooza Kashmir and claims it as its own.
There is no way that a weak Pakistan can ever liberate its occupied territory from Indian occupation. India has, and is continually killing the innocent in Maqbooza Kashmir to suppress there voice. The human rights organizations have indicated that more than 200,000 innocent civilians have been killed and not one day passes by where they haven’t been atrocities committed.
However, we must take action now and move forward. The fact is, Pakistan must abolish all six of these provinces and create 106 provinces/divisions with at least four in Karachi, so that each area does not have enough autonomy to stand against the powers of the federal government and that problems can be solved at a smaller scale. Just taking an example, Bangladesh (formerly known as East Pakistan dismembered by India by force in 1971) is six times smaller than Pakistan, and has 13 provinces. At the present time, we should not be attached to such surnames as Kashmiri, Balochi, Punjabi, Gilgati,Sindhi; we are Muslims, or, we are Pakistanis. Whereas the people of Hindu faith living in Maqbooza Kashmir always call themselves as Indian. Pakistan must follow and retake control of its internal affairs.
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