Bilawal calls for end to 'new provinces' debate

Says Sindh PA already delivered verdict against division

KARACHI:

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the debate on creating new provinces must stop as the Sindh Assembly has already issued its verdict on the question.

"The discussion on creating new administrative units must stop. The people of Sindh can decide their own destiny," Bilawal said on Tuesday while talking to the media after inaugurating the extension project at the historic Dr Kaikhusrow Nanabhoy Spencer's Eye Hospital.

"The Sindh Assembly has already passed a resolution [against division of Sindh]," he said, adding that the federal government had not approached the PPP with regard to the proposed 28th amendment.

Apparently hitting out at the MQM which is part of the PML-N led federal government, the PPP chief said representatives of the city, despite holding positions in the federal government, had done nothing for the city.

On July 31, Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi while addressing a function in Islamabad claimed that the existing system had failed and needed a "reset" with the creation of new administrative units.

The statement sparked a heated debate with even a number of ministers in the ruling coalition issuing statements both in support and against the idea and even Naqvi.

Later, on September 4, the Sindh Assembly passed a resolution rejecting all attempts to divide the province or create new administrative units, with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah declaring that "there will be no compromise on Sindh's geographical unity."

The house unequivocally rejected any proposal, plan, scheme or constitutional arrangement, by whatever name or description, which sought to divide Sindh, alter its existing territorial limits, or create any new province out of its territory.

However, on September 6, Naqvi renewed his call for a "reset" of Pakistan's governance system, insisting that the country needed to restructure its administrative framework to address decades-old failures in public service delivery and declared that new administrative units had to be made at any cost.

On October 3, Naqvi once again reiterated his stance, stating that the "country's system was about to be reset" and that this move would improve the state of affairs in Pakistan.

"I will not delve into the details right now, but I have been trying, and while we have achieved many things, I can tell you that the system of this country is going to be reset.