THE debate over administrative units in the countryhas once againrearedits head, and understandably so. Pal(istan’s more than 240 million people are spread across avast and geographically diverse territory, but the governance patterns remains concentrated in only four provinces, each responsible for more than 60 million people.
This makes provincial administration distant and overburdened, particularly in Punjab, where more than half of the population is governed from Lahore despite the massive distance separating it from cities like, say, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur and Sialkot.
People in the remote regions often face long, costly journeys to provincial capitals for documentation, land-based disputes, specialised healthcare and other services; people in Chitral struggle to reach Peshawar, while coastal communities in Balochistan travel hundreds of miles to Quetta. Linguistic and cultural barriers make things worse. Such administrative distance creates perceptions ofneglect and unequal resource distribution, leaving peripheral communities without adequate water, schools, healthcare and many other services.
The most pragmatic approach today is to upgrade existing administrative divisions into provinces, using their established headquarters, government offices, police, courts and development institutions as the foundational pillars of new provincial governments. This would reduce financial pressure, minimise disruption and allow authority to move closer to citizens.
However, such restructuring must be accompanied by comprehensive governance reforms because corruption and financial leal(ages can undermine the project. Audit findings have demonstrated the seriousness of the problem.
The creation of proposed provinces shouldbe guided strictly by the national interest, with population size and geographical contiguity as the principal criteria rather than language, ethnicity, tribe or sect, so that administrative reforms strengthen Pal(istan rather than leaving it fragmented.
New provinces should be diverse, pluralistic and inclusive administrative and development units viewed as branches of one national state rather than separate homelands. Political parties should treat provincial reforms as a national structural necessityratherthan an electoral bargaining tool, because past governments have repeatedly used the issue to reward supporters, punish opponents, gain votes or avoid sharing power structures.
The proposed reforms require political statesmanship that puts citizens’ interests above partisan calculations. The people themselves, including communities in Hazara, Serail(i-speal(ing southern Punjab, Bahawalpur, and parts of Balochistan, are seeking greater administrative representation, financial resources, autonomy and participation.
The creation of new provinces is not a luxury thatthe countrycan afford to postpone. The current structure is a relic of the past, a colonial-era administrative convenience that is truly unable to address the rather complex challenges of the nation.
Abdul Basit Alvi Muzaffarabad