More provinces?

The MQM-P's call for new provinces cannot be shrugged off as a political ploy. Likewise, demanding that Karachi become a separate province by dividing Sindh has merit on administrative and governance grounds. For some time, many have also canvassed for the country's biggest metropolitan city, which generates roughly 60% of national revenue, to become a federal subject. These proposals share a common denominator: ensuring decentralisation for the collective good. The fact is that the lopsided centralisation currently in vogue has bred discontent, as past experiments like the One-Unit scheme failed, and even the current structure of four federating units has been unable to address genuine local grievances or empower the masses.

It is a recognised feature of anthropology and societal evolution that sovereign states create more administrative units based on demographic shifts and the distribution of resources. India is a case in point, having created 15 new states through parliamentary reorganisation since 1947. Thus, the demand for more administrative units or provinces is a fair proposition. Demarcating new provinces or administrative units, nonetheless, should be done on the basis of indigenous provision of adequate resources. These changes should not burden the national exchequer by creating new sets of ministries and layers of bureaucracy. Recently, the proposition to devolve into 14 provinces along with a few federal subjects has necessitated an "upside-down pyramid" debate and carefully choreographed legislation.

The MQM-P has a point when it says that the urban population, especially in Karachi, was discriminated against in the 2023 census. It also rightly claims that Karachi received less than 3% of resources despite contributing more than 90% of the province's revenue. Such discrepancies need to be addressed, and the further devolution of the province along urban-rural lines is a plausible solution. Thus, the argument that southern Punjab, urban Sindh, Makran, Hazara, and other such regions be carved out as autonomous units is worth considering, and perhaps even inevitable.