ISLAMABAD: In another setback to the PML-N, the Janoobi Punjab Mahaz has decided to merge with the PTI as 15 lawmakers of the political front will join the PTI tomorrow (Wednesday).
Fifteen lawmakers belonging to the Janoobi Punjab Mahaz from the national and provincial assemblies will announce their merger with the PTI tomorrow after meeting Imran Khan.
"This is a victory for Janoobi Punjab Mahaz and the PTI," said Jahangir Tareen. "South Punjab province will become a reality."
However, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani is convinced that the merger will hardly make an impact in Pakistani politics.
"How can old workers create Naya Pakistan?" he asked. "They were not able to bring a revolution earlier, what can they achieve now?"
Eight estranged lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz demanded a separate province carved out of Punjab last month.
The demand was made at a press conference in Lahore. Six MNAs, Khusro Bakhtiyar, Tahir Bashir Cheema, Basit Bukhari, Rana Qasim Noon, Tahir Iqbal and Balkh Shair Mazari, and two MPAs, Asghar Ali Shah and Nasrullah Dareshak, announced their resignations from the assembly and PML-N.
Forming the ‘Junoobi Punjab Mahaz’, Bakhtiyar spoke of injustices meted out to the southern belt of Punjab. APP/AFP