THE Federally Administered Tribal Areas have merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The people of Hazara division have been demanding a separate province. The people of south Punjab and Bahawalpur division are also demanding provinces for themselves. There is even a demand for a Potohar province.

The Pakistan Peoples’ Party supports the demand of each of these groups for separate provinces. However, whenever a demand is made to create more provinces in Sindh for better administration, the PPP leadership rejects the idea vociferously.

It seems everyone wants Punjab divided into smaller provinces on the plea of smaller administrative units. However, the same logic is rejected when applied to Sindh and Balochistan.

In my opinion there are two solutions to this issue: 1) more provinces should be created out of the existing set-up. The idea being this would bring the people closer and further integrate the country.

2) Let us shelf this idea for five years with the aim of providing people better facilities and building a modern infrastructure. At the end of this period hold a referendum across the country about new provinces.

Mian Muhammad Ramzan

Lahore

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2019