South Punjab Province

In 2012, Punjab Provincial Assembly and the National Assembly passed resolutions for the creation of a new province in Punjab. These resolutions were supported by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PMLN) and were passed.{{Cite news|title=What lies behind demands for a separate province in south Punjab|url=https://herald.dawn.com/news/1398695|access-date=16 April 2020}}

In the 2013 election, the Peoples Party tried to mobilize voters from Southern Punjab over the creation of a separate province. But they got only one National Assembly seat from the region.

In 2018 the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) promised to create a new province in South Punjab within the first 100 days of taking office, if they win.{{Cite news|title=A province for Seraikis|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/631911-a-province-for-seraikis|access-date=16 April 2020}} PTI won the election and won 30 out of 50 seats of the National Assembly seats in South Punjab.{{Cite news|title=A province in the making|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/567833-province-making|access-date=16 April 2020}} On 15 August 2018, PTI MPA of Punjab Assembly, Mohsin Leghari tabled a resolution for the creation of a new province in South Punjab.

In 2019 Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tendered a constitutional amendment seeking to create two new provinces; Bahawalpur (formed from Bahawalpur division) and Janubi Punjab (formed from Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan divisions). The bill proposed that the two new provinces would have 39 and 38 National Assembly seats respectively. Each province was also proposed to have its own High Court and Provincial Assembly.

On 28 January 2022 the Senate of Pakistan accepted a bill seeking the creation of South Punjab province, and was supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP).{{cite web |title=BILAWAL, SHEHBAZ'S SUPPORT SOUGHT FOR CREATION OF SOUTH PUNJAB PROVINCE |url=https://arynews.tv/bilawal-shehbaz-support-south-punjab-province/ |website=ARYNEWS.tv.|date=20 January 2022 }}

In 2020, a separate civil secretariat was established for South Punjab. The secretariat was made up of Dera Ghazi Khan Division, Multan Division, and Bahawalpur Division. It became officially operational on 15 October 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1577999|title=South Punjab secretariat becomes operational on Oct 15|first=The Newspaper's Staff|last=Reporter|date=5 September 2020|website=DAWN.COM}}

Initially, the following departments were included in the separate Administrative Secretariat of South Punjab region: Services and General Administration, Home, Health, Education, Agriculture, Planning and Development, Livestock and Dairy Development, Local Government and Community Development, Housing, Urban Development and Public Health, Engineering, Irrigation, Forest, Communication and Works, and Revenue,{{Cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1577291|title=15 full-fledged depts created for south Punjab secretariat|first=Mansoor|last=Malik|date=1 September 2020|website=DAWN.COM}} as well as Police.

In 2021, however, the Punjab Government "curtailed the administrative and financial powers" of the 15 departments devolved in the Secretariat, instead being declared "attached departments" subordinate to the Punjab Civil Secretariat. It was also noted in the new rules that “the Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab, shall exercise such powers and functions as may be assigned to him by the Chief Secretary," and that Southern Secretaries were to perform their functions "as directed by the administrative secretaries in Punjab Civil Secretariat."{{Cite web |date=2021-03-31 |title=South Punjab Secretariat’s powers curtailed through amendments |url=https://www.nation.com.pk/31-Mar-2021/south-punjab-secretariat-s-powers-curtailed-through-amendments |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=The Nation |language=en-US}}

The Saraikistan Qaumi Council demanded the creation of a province by merging 24 districts in South Punjab and 2 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts).{{Cite web |last=Shah |first=Nadeem |title=A province for Seraikis? {{!}} Dialogue {{!}} thenews.com.pk |url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/631911-a-province-for-seraikis |access-date=19 June 2023 |website=www.thenews.com.pk |language=en |quote=Zahoor Dhareja the chairperson of the Seraikistan Qaumi Council, says, "We demand a province consisting of 24 districts: Multan, Lodhran, Khanewal, Vehari, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Pakpattan, Okara, Sargodha, Khushab, Bhakkar, Mianwali, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Chiniot and Faisalabad. We also demand inclusion of two districts from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Dera Ismail Khan and Tank where 70 percent of the population speaks the Seraiki language."}}{{Cite web |last=Wasim |first=Amir |date=25 October 2022 |title=Demand for south Punjab province echoes in National Assembly |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1716800 |access-date=5 February 2023 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}

The Main Political parties PTI, PPP, and PML(N) have differences in the geography of the proposed province. The PPP supports the formation of the South province by merging 15 districts of Punjab and as well as Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The PTI supports the formation of the South Punjab province by merging 13 districts of South Punjab only. The PML(N) does not much support the division of Punjab into two separate provinces, but rather three.

The administrative divisions of the current secretariat:

[[File:Saraiki-speakers by Pakistani District - 2017 Census.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|

The major language spoken in Southern Punjab is Saraiki. Punjabi and Haryanvi are also spoken.{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/skr |title=Saraiki, a Language of Pakistan |publisher=Ethnologue |access-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924061905/http://www.ethnologue.com/language/SKR |archive-date=24 September 2015 }} Urdu is the official lingua franca.{{cite journal |editor1=Robina Kausar |editor2=Muhammad Sarwar |editor3=Muhammad Shabbir |title=The History of the Urdu Language Together with Its Origin and Geographic Distribution |journal=International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences |volume=2 |issue=1 |url=https://www.ijires.org/administrator/components/com_jresearch/files/publications/IJIRES-154_final.pdf}}

Islam is the dominant religion in Southern Punjab, with a Sunni majority and a Shia minority.{{cite web |title=Information on Sunni-Shia conflict |url=https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1292441/download |publisher=Pakistan - Researched and compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre}}

• History of Punjab
• Saraikis
• Hazara Province Movement, a proposed province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
• Muhajir Province, a proposed province in Sindh, Pakistan

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• {{Cite journal| last = Rahman| first = Tariq| author-link = Tariq Rahman| title = The Siraiki Movement in Pakistan| journal = Language Problems & Language Planning| date = 1995| volume = 19| issue = 1| doi = 10.1075/lplp.19.1.01rah| pages = 1–25}}

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Category:Proposed provinces and territories of Pakistan

Category:Provincial disputes in Pakistan

Category:Regions of Pakistan