Call for New Provinces

Political leaders weigh in on the question of forming new provinces in the country

KARACHI: The formation of a seven-member special committee by the National Assembly to consider proposals for creating new provinces and bring in the requisite Constitutional amendments has provoked a new debate in the country, with many politicians and analysts debating its pros and cons.

However, political leaders of Sindh province appear to be a bit careful, fearing a revival of the racial violence between the Sindhi and Urdu-speaking people if the debate is taken too far.

Bol News spoke to a number of people to get their reactions, which are detailed below.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan

The MQM leaders Bol News spoke to, did not want to be identified. But here is what they said.

This is a healthy debate to carve out new provinces or administrative units because the population in provinces like Sindh and Punjab is growing and there have been local demands for such arrangements. New provinces will definitely help address the issues of local populations more efficiently.

There are many examples in the past when such bills have been tabled not just by the MQM-P in Sindh but also by leaders of the southern Punjab and those of the Hazara region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Those bills were referred to the Law and Justice Committee of the parliament for necessary tweaks. But the committee sent them back to the speaker with the recommendation to constitute a special committee which has now been formed.

The MQM-P is not eager to be a member of this committee because none of the other members appear keen on considering a new province in Sindh, as is evident from reactions on social media by Sindhi nationalists and others.

Dr Karim Khwaja, former PPP Senator, Chairman Sindh Mental Health Authority

Under the Constitution, only a two-third majority in a provincial parliament can authorize the creation of another province within its boundaries. Also, this authorization needs to be endorsed by the National Assembly as well as the Senate. So, if the National Assembly alone passes such a bill, it will not be implementable and will lead to endless litigations.

Personally, I think the 220-million people of this country need more provinces to manage their affairs smoothly. But they should be taken on board in this process and their expectations should be clearly identified.

Afnanullah Khan, PML-N Senator

Punjab, having a population of over 110 million population, needs to be divided into two administrative units so as to ensure better service delivery to the people. We must be clear that if Multan and Bahawalpur are included in a new province, they will not drift away into some other world. They will remain on the same location.

Such divisions are not going to burden the national economy. There may be some additional expense at the start, but it will not be huge, and can be managed in a gradual, planned manner. That is because the infrastructure of most administrative departments already exists in all the major zones of the provinces. They will only need to build premises for the Chief Minister, the Governor and the new provincial parliament.

But a strong government is needed to take such initiatives, and I’m sure the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) is on its way to arrive at this benchmark. We’ve seen that the recent local bodies elections in Azad Kashmir took the steam out of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI)’s claims of popularity.

The PML-N is gaining strength by the day, and may well sweep the upcoming elections in Punjab as well as clinch a sizeable representation in the KP.

Ali Zaidi, President PTI Sindh, former federal minister

The special committee constituted by the parliament is just a lollipop to play with the emotions of the local populations. The PPP-led Sindh government has made a mess of the province. In next elections, the PTI is going to set up a government in Sindh, and it will never support Sindh’s division until equal rights are administered to the entire provincial population.

Given the recent talk that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party is gaining popularity in Karachi, it is all just on social media. The JI’s campaign in Karachi is supported by the PPP, but they cannot stop the PTI’s rise in urban Sindh in next elections. As for the proposed South Punjab province, the PTI-led federal government has already completed groundwork for it, and the people of Punjab support such a bifurcation.

Asaduulah Bhutto, Vice President JI

The sitting coalition government at the center is an interim one and should leave this matter to the next elected government. At the moment, this move will fan communal unrest in Sindh. Besides, in Punjab, too, there are many reservations regarding the carving of a Seraiki province there.

Actually, by bringing up this matter, the government is trying to divert the Karachiites’ attention away from the upcoming local bodies elections which are being constantly delayed, and thereby prevent the JI from proving its popularity in Karachi.

None of the three mainstream political parties – PML-N, the PPP and the PTI – are serious in creating new provinces. They just want to use it as a ploy to get more votes in the next general elections.

Dr Jaffar Ahmad, senior political analyst

There are constitutional and political aspects of this issue. The Constitution allows the creation of a new province under certain terms and conditions.

Politically, whenever the PPP and the PML-N speak about a new province, they only mean creating a Seraiki province in Punjab. None of them has plans to divide either Sindh or the KP. Even the PTI is in the same league. It did raise slogans for a Seraiki province in Punjab during its 2018 election campaign, all it did when in power was to appoint a Punjab chief minister (Usman Buzdar) from the Seraiki belt.

Creating a Seraiki province in Punjab is likely to trigger many controversies and hostilities. It is just a slogan used by different parties to gain electoral support. I think the formation of this parliamentary committee may well be a strategy by the PPP and the PML-N to regain their lost space in the Seraiki belt.

As for Sindh, barring the MQM-P, none of the other parties – the PML-N, the PPP or the JI – are keen to set up a new province in the Urdu-dominated belt of southern Sindh.

Amar Sindhu, Convener Women Action Forum, and senior political analyst

After the 18th amendment to the Constitution, creating new provinces does not fall within the purview of the National Assembly. It is the task of the respective provincial parliaments.

All three mainstream political parties, the PPP, PML-N and the PTI, have been longing to create a Seraiki province in the Punjab, and the local people also support the idea. The region has a strong historical heritage and there are no ethno-political fissures.

Meanwhile, the MQM-P wants to divide Sindh on ethnic grounds, and the Pakhtun population of Balochistan also wants a separate province of their own. These are complex issues, and playing on them is unlikely to undercut the PTI’s popularity.

Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, MNA and Patron-in-chief of Pakistan Hindu Council

The committee has been constituted as a follow-up of a bill to amend the Constitution which I had moved in 2018. But I wasn’t pursuing an amendment to create new provinces in the country. My aim was to set up women’s universities, and address some other issues concerning the minorities.

Since the PTI government tabled a bill to create a Seraiki province in Punjab at the same time, the subject of the two bills got mixed up and has not been changed in the latest notification.