MQM-P turns up the heat for new province, says urban Sindh case ‘strongest’

MQM-P leaders call for new provinces on administrative grounds, Khuhro says only PA can consent to split

The MQM-P has renewed its push for new provinces, declaring that the case for a separate administrative unit in urban Sindh is stronger than anywhere else in the country and warning that a transparent census and corrected voter lists could force the PPP to confront the demand itself.

Speaking at a seminar titled “National Dialogue” organised by the MQM-P Graduate Forum Pakistan at a local hotel on Saturday, party chairman and Federal Education Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the demand for new provinces dated back to the APMSO era, well before the formation of the MQM.

“Pakistan is our motherland, while provinces are merely administrative units,” Siddiqui said, arguing that provinces should be divided on the basis of population to improve governance and facilitate development.

Read: Parliament to decide on creating new provinces: Sanaullah

He maintained that although the existing provinces had been formed largely along linguistic lines, the MQM-P was seeking new provinces on administrative grounds. Of all demands for new provinces across the country, he said, the case of urban Sindh was “the strongest and most justified” because the region carried a major share of Pakistan’s economic burden while continuing to face deprivation.

Siddiqui further claimed that if an honest and transparent census were conducted in Sindh and voter lists were properly corrected, the PPP itself would be compelled to demand the creation of a new province.

Senior MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar said the country’s four provinces were effectively controlled by a handful of families, while the status quo had survived despite the devolution of powers to provinces under the 18th Amendment.

He said provincial powers had failed to trickle down to the grassroots and announced that the MQM-P had already submitted a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly seeking to empower local governments under Article 140-A.

Sattar also called for a public referendum on the creation of new provinces under Article 48(6), urging people from different walks of life to unite for what he described as a historic rally on Sharae Faisal in support of their survival and development.

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Rehan Hanif, trader leader Atiq Mir and former bureaucrat Barrister Shahab Imam also spoke in favour of new administrative units and an empowered local government system, saying Karachi’s economic infrastructure had deteriorated and that restrictions on hiring local residents in public institutions, coupled with the appointment of non-local personnel, had aggravated a sense of injustice.