ISLAMABAD, April 15: Unnerved by PPP’s fast moves to create a Seraiki province before the next elections, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N demanded on Sunday that the issue must be brought to a “constitutional forum” for a consensus. The PML-N’s call has been agreed to by the PPP, sources in the two parties said.

“We have expressed our viewpoint on the issue of Seraiki province and to achieve the goal we will follow the constitutional procedure and bring it to parliament and assemblies. We will be happy if the PML-N will be on board,” PPP’s information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira said.

The demand for bringing the issue of the Seraiki province to a constitutional forum was made by PML-N’s information secretary Mushahidullah Khan while reacting to statements by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over the past two days. Talking to Dawn on Sunday, Mr Kaira said President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani had in fact outlined the party’s programme.

After the announcement by President Zardari that the PPP would create the Seraiki province comprising the areas of south Punjab, the issue would be discussed and debated on every forum, he said.

Mr Kaira rejected the PML-N’s allegation that the PPP had been raising the issue of the new province in south Punjab to achieve political objectives before the next polls, saying it had been a longstanding desire of the people of the region who felt neglected.

When asked as to why the ruling party had not brought the issue before parliament despite being in power for four years, the PPP leader said such issues could not be moved in assemblies without doing proper homework.

When asked if the government would bring a new piece of legislation or simply support any of the private members’ bills submitted by the MQM and other members to the National Assembly, Mr Kaira said the PPP had so far not given a final shape to its plan.

He, however, did not rule out the possibility of adopting any private member’s bill to fulfil its plan of creating new provinces in the country.

Mr Kaira said it was the first assembly that had encouraged the members to move private bills even on the issue of new provinces and now it was up to the government to decide whether it would come up with its own bill or take up any of the private bills.

On the other hand, the PML-N information secretary in a statement alleged that President Zardari was not sincere in his desire to create the Seraiki province.

“Had President Zardari been sincere on the issue, the government would have brought it to any constitutional forum to achieve a consensus as it had done on the 18th, 19th and 20th Constitution Amendments,” he said.

He said that PPP’s leaders had raised the issue only to divert the attention of people from the pending cases against them in various courts. He said if the people’s problems could be solved with the creation of new provinces, then why the rulers had wasted four years on it.

Mr Khan said the PML-N had never been opposed to the idea of creation of new provinces and claimed that it would resolve the issue once and for all after coming to power.