Photo: pap.gov.pk
Pakistani President Asif Zardari has directed his party leaders not to support demands for a new province to be carved out of southern parts of Punjab, according to a report in an Urdu daily.
President Zardari met with elected leaders of his Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday and asked them not to get involved in new issues, according to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat.
President Zardari told the PPP leaders: ‘‘We are not opposed to the creation of new provinces, but the time now is not for division but to uniteand fight for the survival of Pakistan.’’
Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, the Finance Minister of Punjab province, said that the leaders, who are demanding a division of Punjab, are hatching a conspiracy against Pakistan which will be foiled.
Tanvir Ashraf Kaira (pictured above) accused the PPP of backing the leaders who are campaigning for a new province in southern parts of Punjab and added that his government is working to remove the sense of deprivation among the people in southern parts of Punjab.
Source: Roznama Jasarat, Pakistan, July 2, 2009
