The government has decided to make a serious attempt to create a much-demanded south Punjab province, with a bill to be tabled in the National Assembly within a month for this purpose.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
However, the meeting could not reach consensus whether Bahawalpur or Multan would be the capital of the new province, and it was decided that whatever decision the prime minister took in this regard would be accepted by all, a source privy to the meeting said.
The prime minister is of the view that first spadework should be done and a bill be introduced in parliament; then it would be decided where the provincial secretariat would be established.
The meeting decided that initially an additional chief secretary and additional inspector-general of police would be appointed for south Punjab in April, and one of them would sit in Multan and the other in Bahawalpur, and that the secretariat of the new province would start functioning by next month.
The meeting was not informed from where the government would generate funds for the new province amid a severe financial crunch in the country.
However, it was told that 35% of the budget of Punjab would be transferred to the new province.
The meeting was informed that the government needed to get the bill on south Punjab province passed with a two-thirds majority, and for that purpose it required support of two main opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Prime Minister Khan asked the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders to hold meetings with the main opposition parties to garner their support for smooth sailing of the bill.
Interestingly, the PML-N had already introduced two bills in the National Assembly last year for the creation of not only south Punjab province but also a separate Bahawalpur province.
However, the PTI had not backed those bills.
Similarly, the PTI’s ally Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) had already demanded that two provinces be carved out of Punjab, including Bahawalpur province, and its leader and federal Housing Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema had categorically announced on the floor of the National Assembly that his party would not accept creation of a single province to be called south Punjab.
After the meeting, Foreign Affairs minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held a press conference outside Parliament House, where he unveiled the decisions made in the meeting.
He said that the prime minister had taken the decision to move forward with the process of creation of south Punjab province.
“We have taken the decision in line with the PTI manifesto,” he added.
He said that Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, some federal and provincial ministers from south Punjab, and the chief secretary and inspector-general of the province, were present in the meeting.
“Adequate measures are being adopted to fulfil the promise of establishing south Punjab province and once the province is created, it will be given its due share in the National Finance Commission award,” Qureshi said.
Talking about the opposition’s support to get the bill passed, he said that the PTI would reach out to other political parties for the creation of a new province with mutual consensus.
“We hope that PPP would support the bill. Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had a clear stance on the issue, and party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also spoken in favour of creating the new province.” 
Qureshi urged PML-N lawmakers to convince their leadership to support the bill.
The capital of south Punjab will be decided after consultations with legislators on the both sides of the isle, he said.
He said that Rs3.5bn would be required to create the secretariat of the new province and 1,350 people would be needed to run the secretariat. “The creation of infrastructure for a proper secretariat will take some time.” 
Qureshi quoted the Punjab chief minister as saying in the meeting that in the coming budget, keeping the ratio of the provincial population in mind, 35% of funds would be allocated to south Punjab, and this share will not be re-appropriated to other areas.
The minister said that in previous years, funds were allocated for south Punjab and then channelled to other areas as the year progressed.
However, the PTI has decided to not repeat such this year.
Meanwhile, PPP leader Haider Zaman Qureshi said that the PTI’s “incapable” government did not know that in 2013, the PPP had managed to get 24th constitutional amendment passed from the Senate about south Punjab province.
Similarly, in 2012 the PPP had managed to get a resolution about south Punjab province unanimously passed from the Punjab Assembly, twice.
PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif in a TV show asked how the PTI government would create the new province amid severe financial crisis prevailing in the country.