Nations fracture not from diversity but from its denial. Pakistan learned this at a brutal cost in 1971, when hubris and centralization tore apart a fragile federation. Today, Saraikistan/ the Saraiki belt, sends an equally urgent warning: the federation cannot survive if one province hoards power, resources, and representation. The Saraikistan question is not a regional grievance. It is Pakistan’s last federal stress test. Ignore it, and the consequences may rhyme with history in ways too costly to bear.
The Land That Lahore Forgot
Saraikistan/The Saraiki belt, from Multan and Bahawalpur to Dera Ghazi Khan and Darya Khan-Dera Ismail Khan, carries the weight of millennia. Multan thrived before Lahore was born, Bahawalpur was a sovereign state until 1955, and Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s Saraiki verse still resonates across South Asia. Yet, this ancient land has been erased from Pakistan’s official imagination.
Consider the disparities. Lahore’s Orange Line Metro cost over Rs. 300 billion; the combined annual development budget for Multan, Bahawalpur, and DG Khan divisions was less than one-tenth of that. Saraikistan grows the cotton, mangoes, and citrus that fuel Pakistan’s exports, but the ginning factories, banks, and universities remain ring-fenced within the Lahore–Faisalabad triangle. The invisibilization of Saraikistan is deliberate, not accidental.
Punjab’s Monopoly, Pakistan’s Fragility
Punjab holds 173 National Assembly seats, an effective veto over constitutional amendments, financial awards, and national direction. But even within Punjab, power is grotesquely asymmetric. Lahore thrives as a fortress of privilege, while Saraikistan remains a pocket of poverty.
This is not simply development gone wrong; it is structural capture. The concentration of seats gives Punjab not just majority rule but what political science calls a “tyranny of the majority.” The resistance to Saraikistan, a Saraiki province is therefore not about efficiency or cost, it is about preserving Punjab’s absolute parliamentary monopoly. Such monopolies do not merely corrode; they ossify the federation and institutionalize inequality.
Myths and Manipulations
Critics dismiss Saraikistan as an elite ploy, a fiscal impossibility, or a recipe for chaos. These arguments are as recycled as they are hollow.
Affordability? The cost of centralization is far greater. Bureaucratic gridlock and Lahore-centric decision-making already waste billions. Smaller, accountable units like Saraikistan would enhance efficiency, not drain it.
Elite conspiracy? The demand is among the most organic democratic movements in Punjab’s history, cutting across party lines, spanning decades, and voiced by millions of ordinary Saraiki speakers who see their identity erased and resources siphoned.
Chaos? New provinces create balance, not disorder. Saraikistan, a Saraiki province would dilute Punjab’s hegemony, strengthen the Senate’s federal role, and ensure the federation survives by distributing power instead of concentrating it.
Saraikistan: The Name Question
Critics sometimes concede the need for a new province but object to the name Saraikistan, branding it “linguistic.” The irony is staggering. Punjab is named after Punjabi, Sindh after Sindhi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Pashto, and Balochistan after Balochi. Across the world, countless nations, from France to Turkiye, derive their names from language or ethnicity. To single out Saraikistan, the Saraiki demand as illegitimate is not reason but prejudice. If this logic were applied consistently, half the provinces and countries of the world would require renaming. The truth is simple: the new province, when created, will be called nothing but Saraikistan. Any other suggestion is not compromise but bias dressed up as argument.
The Democratic Imperative
Saraikistan is not a cultural afterthought; it is a democratic imperative. Citizenship is meaningless if a people’s history, language, and resources are consistently denied. The Saraiki language continues to thrive in poetry, music, and everyday life, despite being excluded from curricula and governance. Recognition of Saraiki as a national language and the creation of Saraikistan, a Saraiki province would restore dignity to millions who have long been treated as invisible.
A Choice Before Pakistan
The way forward is unambiguous. Parliament must use Article 239 to pass a constitutional amendment creating Saraikistan and restoring Bahawalpur as a province. Anything less is evasion. This is not about secession; it is about salvation.
Pakistan today does not need another commission, committee, or empty promise. It needs courage. Saraikistan is not about weakening the state; it is about ending Punjab’s monopoly so the federation can finally function as intended, just, equitable, and inclusive.
Saraikistan for Pakistan. Saraikistan for democracy. Saraikistan for the future.
