New provinces?

Pakistan's centralised governance system has bred discontent. From the tales of One Unit to four federating units, the populace have longed for empowerment. Thus, the debate that creation of more provinces will solve many of the pestering ailments is an argument, which can only be substantiated with credible muscles of socioeconomic tangibles. 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 Center and the provinces. So is the case with NFC award that is indexed on population bulge, discriminating against smaller provinces on their due share in development.

The demand from 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 provision of adequate resources indigenously and empowering people with due legislations, 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, 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.