Why Pakistan Need More Provinces? What Are The Future Options For Pakistan?

By Anmol Asghar


At the moment Punjab has 60% of the population of Pakistan. Other Pakistanis think that Punjab is the usurper of their resources while at the same time people of Punjab are suffering the same prejudices as everyone else in the federation, like any Baloch, Sindhi, Pakhtun, Kashmiri, Balti & Hazara.
Saying that, I must add that sometimes perceptions are as powerful as truth and there is a need to allay those fears.
Many scholars in Pakistan have studied
and commented upon case-histories such as Switzerland, Belgium, India and Nigeria, populated like Pakistan by diverse people having different languages and cultures. Switzerland has German, French, Italian and Romanch as languages and culture. Like the Punjab (60%) in Pakistan, Switzerland is dominated by the Germans (70%) but the country is divided into 26 cantons. At the time of independence in 1947, India had 7 provinces and a few Union-administered territories despite 24 distinct languages.
Why then Pakistan can’t have more provinces.


Gen Burki has recommended 17 provinces. According to him Federal Government should have follwing areas under it:

(1) Defence
(2) Foreign Affairs
(3) Currency and Fiscal Policies
(4) Trade and Commerce, only policy
(5) Federal Taxation
(6) Railways
(7) Federal Highways and Motorways
(8) Water and Power
(9) Education, only basic policy and
(10) TV, Radio and Telecommunications.


& the Provinces would have

(1) Agriculture
(2) Irrigation
(3) Power Generation and Distribution
(4) Trade and Commerce
(5) Provincial Taxation
(6) Local Government and Provincial Highways.


According to eminent political scholar Ikram Sehgal “ Punjab should have four Provinces centred on Rawalpindi, Lahore, Sargodha, and Rahimyar Khan.
Sindh should have 2 Provinces centred around Karachi (less the Port and adjacent areas) and Hyderabad (Keti Bundar must be with Hyderabad).
Similarly NWFP should have 2 provinces
centred around Peshawar and Abbottabad. Balochistan should be split into 2 provinces centred around Quetta and Kalat, for a total of 11 with the Northern Areas (Gilgit/Skardu Dir/Chitral/Swat) constituting a separate Province, making it 12 in all.
The Federal territories should include Islamabad, Karachi Port/Adjacent areas and Gwadar.”



Mr Ikram Sehgal takes the view that the savings made by the good governance provided by these new smaller provinces will mitigate the expenses that will occur due to requirement for new political infrastructure. According to him “There may be all sorts of arguments about spending more on
Governors, Chief Ministers, Ministers, Assemblies etc but this is a necessary price not only for better administration but also for development. Even our smallest Provinces will be larger than 50 to 75 countries of the world. Each Province should have its own Assembly, the size varying according to population. The leaders of local government must act dually as Administrators and Assemblymen.”

He further says “ To give equal opportunity to each Province in the Federation they must have Members of National Assembly (MNA) as per a set delimitation as well as 5 Senators each in the Senate, all duly directly elected and 2 technocrats each (one male, one female) indirectly elected.
The Federal Territories will have 5 Senators, 2 each for Islamabad and Karachi Port/Adjacent area and one for Gwadar (plus 2 technocrats). There should be no quota except for one or two genuinely
backward areas and that too only a nominal one. Merit should be the only qualification for recognition and appointment. The buzzword for separation of East Pakistan was disparity, in creating more provinces and doing away with quotas we not only ensure parity but enter the new millennium as genuine and equal partners of a Federation made much more effective and viable.”

I believe that there is a need for a genuine debate among Pakistanis on this issue because the terrorism that we see today is a symptom not the real disease. The real disease is the feeling among the common man of Pakistan that power structures of Pakistani state are out of his reach and that is why there is need to bring these institutions of power closer to the people.
e.g currently if someone living in Bahawalnagar has a legal issue that he wants to pursue, he has to travel to Lahore where the Punjab high court sits. It is not possible for people of lower incomes to pursue this course of action. This in turn starves people of justice they deserve and breeds contempt for the system which leads to social unrest.