ISLAMABAD: PPP stalwart Senator Raza Rabbani has warned the party leadership against taking any decision in haste on the issue of new provinces because it can cause a “backlash” against the party and even bloodshed, particularly in Sindh, sources in the PPP told Dawn on Monday.

In a nine-page letter to PPP Co-Chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari, the senator called for convening a meeting of the party’s central executive committee and initiating a process of debate and discussion at every tier on the issue before taking any step.

Mr Rabbani, who resigned as federal minister for inter-provincial coordination in May in protest against his party leadership’s decision to make the PML-Q a coalition partner, has expressed concern over the PPP’s move to support a resolution in the Punjab Assembly for Seraiki province.

In the letter, a copy of which was also sent to PPP secretary general Jahangir Badar, Mr Rabbani warned the party against a possible adverse reaction in Sindh and Balochistan if it continued to pursue the demand for division of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without having done any homework.

He also expressed concern over the party’s handling of the local government issue in Sindh. “The manner in which the issue was handled has sent serious shockwaves to the party’s support base in Sindh. The party, which as a consequence of the 18th Amendment and its implementation had put nationalist forces on the back foot, is now looking for a defence.”

The senator asked the party leadership to act fast and hold party meetings from the provincial council down to the tehsil level. He also suggested to the leadership to replace the Local Government Ordinance 2001 in the light of the party’s manifesto and evolve a consensus on it immediately after Eid.

Mr Rabbani is of the opinion that the issue of new provinces should be put on backburner for the time being because of the prevailing “fluid political situation” which has been “plagued by terrorism, extremism, sectarianism and regionalism”.

The move will encourage “extreme nationalist forces, particularly in Balochistan, which are working for arrangements outside the scheme of the Constitution”.

The PPP leader said: “Making, sponsoring or supporting a move for creation of new provinces by the party will unleash a snowball effect in which regions in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which have claims of possessingingredients of a province, will get legitimacy and begin to agitate for it.”

He warned that “if such a movement picks up in Sindh, it will destabilise, tear the society apart and give rise to a bloody strife which the PPP will not be able to withstand; after supporting such movement, there will be no moral or political justification for the party to oppose any other movement made in this direction”.

Mr Rabbani has also opposed the idea of creation of new provinces on an “administrative basis” — a major demand of the opposition PML-N. “The creation of provinces is a historical process and, therefore, these should not be carved out on the basis of administrative convenience. This will further aggravate national, ethnic, linguistic and natural resources question,” he added.