Formation of new provinces in Pakistan

Formation of new provinces in Pakistan

By

Waqar Abro

Should new provinces in Pakistan be created or not and what formula should be applied for their creation?

Since creation of Pakistan we have always taken decisions before bringing consequences of our steps into account and later on regretted that this or that policy should not have been brought. Presently, Pakistan is not at the stage of any experiment. Before initiating any step pertaining to creation of new provinces ground realities should be given a focused view. They must be debated at all forums and a constructive outcome should be considered as final decision.

Reason of creation of new provinces should mainly be administrative in nature and political in practice.

Otherwise, all the tribal based communities will put forward their demands for separate provinces that would not be financially problematic for state but also create chaos across the country.

Hence, there should be a referendum in the Hazara and Siraki belt of the Punjab for separate provinces. Though without bringing amendment in the constitution (Article 239) separation of provinces is not possible yet role of all stake holders is also important in this regard.

All stake holders should be summoned in a meeting being called upon by Prime Minister and demand of separate provinces be accepted on the basis of ground realities which are economy and administration division.

Making provinces on lingual basis will create state of callousness and anarchy for the state however this factor should not be followed otherwise Brohi, jatoi,mahar,kakars and many other communities will ask for their separate provinces later on.

What should be nature of demand?

Demand for creation of new provinces should not be political in nature. For the sake of augmenting seats in Majis e shura provinces should not be created and good governance factor should be given paramount importance.

At the time of beginning, Nigeria had only 4 provinces and there had been tribal clashes and bad governance issues. Later on president of Nigeria brought reforms and made 7 new provinces just to harmonize administration. Today, it has more than 17 provinces and most of them were created just to make governance efficient and effective.

Same has been followed in Egypt and India.

Hence, before creating new provinces we must take a look on our neighbor and Muslim countries stance on this issue and if we find it quite effective then it should be implemented in Pakistan.

The following challenges will Pakistan face after creation of new provinces;

1.       Expenses of new administration

2.       Conflict on resource distribution

3.       Formation of new groups which will later on demand for their separate province on lingual basis

4.       There would also be administration personnel and Para military forces issue

5.       Political forces will also create problems for maintaining their hegemony over each other in newly made provinces.

6.       Development projects can also be affected to an extent.

7.       There can be emergence of turf war.

What is the role of Political Parties?

Political forces of Pakistan are not apparently serious with the new provinces issue. Each party wants to gain sympathy of the people just for its political interests. Same has been observed in MQM recent resolutions. Though MQM is largely considered as Provincial based political force yet it speaks of bringing reforms in KP where it does not have representation.  

                                “If FATA demands for new provinces, MQM will support it”      

                                                                (Altaf Hussain)

Presently role of PPPP and MQM on the demand of Siraki province is to break strength of PML N and PMLQ.  Although, there are many issues concerned to administration yet Siraki province issue has been completely politicized.

What is the role of media?

Media is taking this issue for the purpose of commercialization not for the betterment of governance in the country.

So far talk shows are observed as biased and immature. It can have played its better role by suggesting or pointing International norms to the government on new provinces issue but it has further politicized it.

Perception of individuals

Most of the Pakistanis consider this issue as politically motivated however they do not favor creation of new provinces. But there are also many other people who hold the view that if provinces are created for harmonizing administration of the country and execution of service at lower level then this issue should be resolved and new provinces should be created.

Conclusion

Hence, it can be concluded as Pakistan is economically fragile and politically weak.  If it is further experimented then situation in country can be worsen. Therefore, all stake holders should be summoned in a meeting being called upon by Prime Minister and creation of new provinces issue should be resolved on the view that they will be created solely for administrative purpose.