RAHIM YAR KHAN/ BAHWALPUR: Prince Bahawal Abbasi launched on Sunday the Bahawalpur Suba Mahaz (BSM) movement.’ The restoration of Bahawalpur province was the constitutional right of the people of Bahawalpur,’ he told a press conference in Khanpur town, 50km from here.
Abbasi is on a ‘special’ visit to the Rahim Yar Khan district with some elders of the BSM.
Recalling history, he said the restoration ofBahawalpur province was started in 1970 but it was dropped later.
‘Similarly, my father had started the same movement during 2009-2011 and due to his hard work a resolution was presented in the Punjab Assembly that proposed two new provinces -Bahawalpur and Southern Punjab.
Abbasi said he had written letters to the heads of all political parties to remind them that they all have presented this resolution when they were in power. But today when the establishment of new provinces was the talk of the town, theywere silent now.
He further claimed since Bahawalpur province had already been established and there was no need to define its border. Only its restoration is needed because it was the constitutional right of the people of this region.
He said there was no provincial assembly from 1952 to 1955 and Bahawalpur was merged into One Unit after a promise that when One Unit would be dissolved, the status of Bahawalpur province would be revived. But in 1970 the state forcibly merged in Punjab.He said all the institutions of Bahawalpur were established in the era of Bahawalpur State.