Pakistan has had four provinces for more than half a century. The country’s defence minister now says it should consider having twelve, drawn for better administration rather than language or tribe, and the remark has reopened one of the most sensitive arguments in Pakistani politics.
Khawaja Asif, the defence minister and a senior figure in the ruling PML-N, said in televised remarks on Sunday that Pakistan could consider up to 12 provinces. He said new units should be created on administrative grounds, because population growth and basic services have outgrown the present structure, and not on linguistic, ethnic or political lines. He also argued that power should move down from provincial capitals to local institutions, and he floated the country’s existing 36 administrative divisions as one possible basis for a new map.
Reporting on the debate describes a possible map that would split Punjab into four, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into three, Balochistan into three and Sindh into two, making 12 provinces in total. Some headlines described the idea as 12 new provinces. The map described in the reporting totals 12 provinces overall, up from the present four, and no official map exists.
The reactions split along familiar lines. The MQM-P, which represents much of urban Sindh, supports new units and has renewed its demand, saying people in cities like Karachi are deprived under the present system. The PPP, which governs Sindh and is a partner in the federal coalition, firmly opposes dividing Sindh. The Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on September 3 rejecting any split of the province. Asif accused the PPP of a double standard, saying it has supported a Saraiki province in Punjab while resisting any change in Sindh.
The constitutional road is steep, and it runs through the provinces themselves. Under Article 239(4) of the constitution, an amendment that changes a province’s boundaries cannot be sent to the president for approval unless that province’s own assembly has first passed it by two thirds of its total membership. A constitutional amendment also needs two thirds majorities in both the National Assembly and the Senate. In practice, the Sindh Assembly holds a veto over any change to Sindh.
For now, there is no draft law, no official map and no timetable. A senior adviser to the prime minister, Rana Sanaullah, said recently that the government has not formulated any plan on new provinces. The idea also has a history of going nowhere: resolutions for South Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces were passed in 2012 and never took effect. What changed this week is that a sitting defence minister has put the government’s name behind the debate itself.
Transparency note: This explainer is based on reporting by Dawn, the Express Tribune and Pakistan Today of the minister’s remarks and the party statements, and on the text of Article 239(4). The boundary map is as described in that reporting; it is not an official document, and no bill has been introduced.
