South Punjab Province movement

The South Punjab province movement is an idea to create a new province in Pakistan by taking the southern parts of Punjab. Multan is often suggested to be the capital of this new province.

In talks about politics in Pakistan, South Punjab usually means three southern areas of Punjab: Multan, Bahawalpur, and Dera Ghazi Khan. The most spoken language in these areas is Saraiki, although some places there, like Khanewal, Vehari, and Bahawalpur, mainly speak Punjabi. On the other hand, some places in central Punjab (Mianwali and Bhakkar) and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (Dera Ismail Khan) have many Saraiki speakers but are not included in this movement.

The idea for a Saraiki province started in the 1970s when people who spoke Saraiki wanted their language to be officially recognized. The Pakistani government did recognize Saraiki as a separate language under President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, but did not support the province movement strongly. In 1989, Taj Langah started the Pakistan Saraiki Party (PSP) and led it until he passed away in 2013. He was one of the main leaders in the movement for a Saraiki province.

The area that would become the new South Punjab province includes Bahawalpur, Multan, and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions. This proposed province would cover about 52 percent of the current Punjab province’s land and almost 40 percent of its people.

History

In the late 1960s, people began asking for a new area called Saraikistan in southern Punjab. Multan became a key place for these activities. In 1970, an activist asked the highest court to create a new area named Bahawalpur, but the request was turned down.

In 2012, leaders in Punjab asked to make a new area in southern Punjab. In 2018, a political group promised to create this new area if they won the election, and they did win many votes in southern Punjab. In 2020, a special office was set up for South Punjab to handle important jobs like health and education. However, in 2021, some of its powers were taken away.

Geography

Some people in Pakistan want to create a new province from the southern part of Punjab. They suggest combining 24 districts from South Punjab and 2 districts from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, to form this new area. There are also ideas to split South Punjab into two separate provinces instead.

Different political groups have different ideas about how this should happen. The PPP group supports making a new province with 15 districts from Punjab and the two districts from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI group wants to create the new province using only 13 districts from South Punjab. The PML(N) group prefers dividing Punjab into three parts instead of two.

Proposed divisions

The current area being discussed has three main parts: Multan, Bahawalpur, and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Demographics

Language

Most people in Southern Punjab speak Saraiki. The official language used in schools and government is Urdu.

Religion

The main religion in Southern Punjab is Islam, and most people follow the Sunni tradition.