KARACHI: Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Mohammad Afridi suggests the formation of nine new provinces, one of which includes Karachi, Dawn.com reported.

Mr Afridi was seen making this suggestion in an interview on Dawn News show Doosra Rukh, where he actively advocated making Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s tribal areas (formlery Fata), and the Hazara district independent provinces, adding that Punjab and Balochistan should also be divided into three provinces each.

“Look at Balochistan, how vast its area is. There should be three provinces formed in Balochistan as well as three separate ones in Punjab,” Mr Afridi said, adding the more provinces Pakistan has, the better it will be to manage and run the country.

He was asked about the objections raised by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) when Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) demanded that Karachi be made a province, to which Mr Afridi replied, “The 18th Amendment was made [and] NFC (National Finance Commission) award was done, right? When [new] provinces will be formed, the NFC award will be shared in the same way.” He also explained how said provinces will continue to receive their share of the fiscal budget under the NFC award.

Senate deputy chairman comes up with suggestion in Doosra Rukh show

He was also asked about whether the decision of merging Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a good one, to which he responded, “We should have obtained a commitment on the promises [made].” He said the promises the government made to people of tribal areas were not fulfilled, due to which difficulties still exist.

Mr Afridi’s statement has come at a time when conversations regarding forming new provinces in National Assembly are already going on for some months. Back in March, the matter of forming new provinces resurfaced when PML-N senators moved two bills, seeking the creation of South Punjab and Hazara provinces.

The bill seeking the creation of the south Punjab province was proposed by Senator Rana Mehmoodul Hassan as a private member’s bill while the one for Hazara was proposed by PML-N Senator Pir Sabir Shah.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2023