THE people of Balochistan, Sindh and even Khyber Pakhtunkhwa feel uncomfortable with the existing pattern of the federation.

Punjab by itself has so much representation in the Parliament that any political party having a simple majority in the Punjab can also form government in the Centre and control the resources and policy-making of the country. This is the prime reason for the separation of East Pakistan.

The USA has 50 states while India has over 29 states and seven union territories. Even the UAE is made up of seven states and Afghanistan next door has 34 provinces while our other neighbor, Iran is made up of 31 provinces.

In the interest of good governance, Pakistan should also be divided in more provinces. However, the vested interests of some politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats and some other quarters do not want more provinces. One family has been ruling Sindh for nearly half a century, while another family has been dominating the politics of Punjab for over three decades.

The realisation of having more provinces is increasing and the voices making this demand growing. The people of Hazara, Bahawalpur and the southern districts of Punjab are demanding separate provinces.

If the tribal areas are to be incorporated and given the status corresponding with the rest of the country, there would be a need to redraw the boundaries of the existing provinces.

Dividing the country into 12 to 15 provinces would make them easily governable and there is likely to be more or less equal development in all areas and provinces. More importantly the feeling of one province or people dominating the other provinces will be put to rest.

Maj (r) Mumtaz Bashir

Lahore

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015