Encountering Challenges to the Creation of New Provinces in Pakistan

Abstract

A dichotomy prevails between pro and anti-new province creation supporters for a long time. The article supports the latter, because creation of new provinces is more beneficial than administrative separation or merger. Therefore, this paper deals with two questions, why Pakistan have not met the demand of craving new provinces besides inflexible provisions in the constitution of 1973, how this challenge can be encountered, and second; how to deal with the political as well as financial strains that may come with the creation of new provincial setups. After the separation of East Pakistan leadership gave total control to provinces abouttheir boundary adjustments in the 1973 constitution thus making any demand for creation of a new province impossible. While demand exists in both Punjab and Sind. Political parties demand it during every general election. Other factors have provided a strong requirement to reorganize provincial boundaries. Indian state creation on the base of language, provided that an increased number of states has not only strengthened the Indian federation, but also has improved governance. In Pakistan administrative separation has been used as an alternative to the Saraiki province. Analysis provided that creation of new provinces was possible at the time of the merger of FATA in 2018, and concluded that acceptance of the demand for regional identity within the federation would not only strengthen the state, but also increase the quality of governance and economic development, along with a politically satisfied public.