PAKISTAN, with about 240 million population and having only four provinces, is not governable in line with modern-day needs. In any case, the country has been facing serious governance issues from the very beginning, and, therefore, more provinces with reforms and provincial autonomy are some elements that we must focus on.
By creating more provinces, no particular group or ethnicity will be affected. All of them will have the required basic amenities and job opportunities in an organised, facilitated manner. Likewise, Karachi, the economic hub of the country, if declared a separate province, will have more resources, power and authority to manage its problems, like pollution, garbage, governance, infrastructure and law and order in a more effective manner.
The same logic applies to Lahore, Faisalabad and southern Punjab as well. No one except people who have been governing their cities for years will govern the newly-formed provinces. After all, they are the ones who are the real owners of their respective provinces.
As far as Balochistan is concerned, indeed, carving out more provinces out of it despite having a limited but scattered population will benefit its people. How can a chief minister residing in Quetta, the provincial capital, manage a province having an area of 397,190 square kilometres? This is not humanly possible.
Owing to its vast area, even to date, no chief minister has ever visited every district of the province. That being the case, how can one solve the issues of the areas which one has never even visited? How will he bring effective and efficient policies and programmes in those areas? Creating more provinces in the country seems to be a logical argument.
Such a measure will benefit every locality. Take, for instance, the case of Dera Bugti, one of the most backward districts of Balochistan, where there is no university campus, no medical college and no facility for girls’ education.
The district does not even have a proper metalled road and no health infrastructure even though every month we see numerous cases of stillbirth owing to pregnancy complications. Is this the life that defines our existence in the 21st century?
Taking all this into account, new provinces are bound to help Pakistan grow at a faster pace, as every part of the land will be governed by administrators having more resources and decision-making powers at their disposal. The earlier it is done, the better it will be.
Ali Haider Bugti
Dera Bugti
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2023
