CONSIDERING the advance state of urban decay that affects Karachi, voices are often raised calling for the megacity, and other urban parts of Sindh, to be formed into a separate province. The MQM has been at the forefront of this campaign, and it again raised the issue at a recent seminar. The Bahadurabad faction’s head Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, who is also a federal minister, said that a “a new urban province” in Sindh had become “an unavoidable necessity”. He cited the city’s large population and economic importance as reasons for a new administrative set-up. There can be little argument that Karachi needs urgent civic reform. The Sindh capital regularly tops lists of the world’s most unliveable cities and has transformed over the decades into a chaotic expanse of crime, filth and crumbling infrastructure. The PPP, which has been ruling Sindh since 2008, has played a considerable role in the city’s currently sad plight. But others, such as the MQM itself, as well as the PML-N and PTI, which have led federal governments, have also contributed to Karachi’s decline. It is also true that Sindh’s other cities — Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur — are in equally bad shape, while many of its rural areas suffer from severe underdevelopment. Meanwhile, considering the history of ethnic strife in the province, talk of ‘dividing’ it is sensitive.

As many experts have noted, the key to addressing Karachi’s plight — and that of the rest of Sindh — lies in stronger local government. The PPP in Sindh, and other major parties across Pakistan, have done their level best to ensure that a strong LG system does not take root, lest their patronage networks are challenged by grassroots democracy, and the bureaucracy is deprived of funds and power. For a brief period during the Musharraf era it seemed that LGs were working. Therefore, instead of grandiose designs for new provinces, a better alternative may be to expand on the Constitution’s Article 140-A so that provincial governments are bound to hold LG polls within a stipulated period, while also transferring financial and administrative powers to the third tier. While certain questionable additions have recently been made to the basic document, a constitutional amendment focusing on the role of LGs may clarify matters, and bind all stakeholders under the law to empower the third tier.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026