New provinces?

Without local bodies and fiscal fairness, new provinces risk becoming another layer of weak governance

Pakistan's centralised governance system has bred discontent. From the tales of One Unit to four federating units, the populace has longed for empowerment. Thus, the debate that the creation of more provinces will solve many of the pestering ailments is an argument which can only be substantiated with credible measures of socioeconomic indicators. If the guise is good governance, the laboratory of Pakistan is mired in myriad pathologies, inter alia, the non-implementation of the existing devolution structure. The local bodies are still emaciated, and after the 18th amendment, what little is left has been bogged down by the friction between the Centre and the provinces. So is the case with the NFC award that is indexed on population bulge, discriminating against smaller provinces in their due share in development.

The demand from the Istehkam Pakistan Party for subdividing the four provinces into 16 units is a good proposition. The party has clubbed itself with the MQM, and likes, that have long been airing their grievances and want a perpetual settlement on the basis of income generation, ethnicity and population displacement. More provinces would be a welcome change, provided they are people-centric. Moreover, smaller provinces would also be cost-bearing on an already squeezed kitty. Demarcating new provinces or administrative units should, however, be done based on the provision of adequate resources indigenously and empowering people with due legislation, rather than throwing them at the mercy of a cumbersome bureaucracy.

The best way to empower the masses and disseminate democracy is to implement the constitutionally assigned local tiers of government. On this premise, more provinces and administrative units should be set up. The debate that the 31 administrative units, known as divisions, should be restructured as provinces is also an interesting proposition. The good point is that such a demarcation would be purely administrative in essence rather than based on ethnic or lingual identity. It needs to be ensured that any new unit created should be financially viable and politically uncontested.