BAHAWALPUR: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday said all political parties should sit together and decide on calls for formation of new provinces.

“Separate provinces should be formed only after the consensus of all political parties,” PM Abbasi said while addressing an inauguration ceremony in Bahawalpur. PM Abbasi inaugurated a forty-five kilometer Jalalpur Pirwala-Uch Sharif road section near Bahawalpur today.

Referring to the move by more than half a dozen lawmakers belonging to south Punjab to quit the ruling party and struggle for the creation of a separate province, the premier said, “I read news articles about five to six people holding a press conference and demanding a separate province for South Punjab.”

“I know those people, they are my friends but they did not need to hold a presser,” he continued.

The premier said, “They were members of the assembly for five years and should have raised the issue there.”

He continued, “All parties should sit after the elections in July and decide whether new provinces need to be made and if there is agreement then we can take this forward.”

“There are similar demands for separate provinces in KP, Sindh and Balochistan.”

PM Abbasi further said, “Problems are not solved by raising issues in press conferences. Instead we should facilitate the nation by solving problems.”