AN intense debate on the need for smaller provinces has gripped the country. Is it a vote of no confidence in the current system, or the search for better governance? Let the facts speak. The UN’s Human Development Index places Pakistan in the low category, with persistent deprivation in health, education, and living standards. Over 88 million Pakistani citizens have no formal education. The infant mortality rate is 48 deaths per 1,000 live births against a global average of 18. Half the population lacks internet access. The current system may benefit some, but certainly not the majority of Pakistan’s 240m people. From this perspective, the current system of governance needs an overhaul. Pakistanis deserve good governance whether through smaller provinces or administrative units, or empowered local governments (LGs). The objective is to ensure public resources are used fairly, transparently, and in an accountable manner, and devolved to the lowest level of governance.

Defenders of the present system argue that the smaller provinces should only be created in accordance with constitutional provisions. This demand is valid. However, a question arises: why aren’t the provinces following another clear injunction of the same Constitution, ie, Article 140A, which directs them to set up empowered LG systems and devolve financial, political, and administrative authority for local development and services? If the provinces had strengthened grassroots democracy in the spirit of the Constitution, this debate would not have been necessary.

Status quo proponents claim to be the defenders of democracy, which is defined as a system of governance where power rests with the people, who exercise it through their elected representatives. If so, why aren’t provincial governments holding regular elections to establish LGs? Provincial finance commissions do not meet regularly. Instead, administrative authorities led by bureaucrats have been given LG functions. The current system lets provincial governments concentrate wealth in their own hands and keep it from reaching the grassroots, which runs counter to the essence of democracy.

The present system seems to be a victim of elite capture.

The present system seems to be a victim of elite capture, while ordinary folk suffer. The 18th Amendment devolved resources to the provinces, which refused to devolve them further to districts and tehsils. As a result, the quality of life for ordinary people in the far reaches of the provinces has not improved. The spirit of the 18th Amendment thus stands defeated. Provincial governments prefer megaprojects that devour resources at the expense of basic needs in the peripheries. MNAs and MPAs collect development funds to create their own patronage networks. This is not citizen-centric governance; it is elite capture.

It follows from all this that governance can improve only if the provinces or administrative units are manageable in size, and empowered LGs are made an integral part of the governance system. This is exactly the case in many well-governed countries. Italy has 110 provinces or administrative units that manage a population of 58.9m. So, the average population that each unit has to administer is a little over half a million. Japan has 47 prefectures, each of which administers an average of 2.6m people. The Netherlands has 12 provinces for a population of only 18m. Germany has 16 states or provinces to manage 83.5m people. Governance in all these countries is better because each citizen gets what he or she needs — right at the lowest level of administration.

Pakistanis rig- htly expect participatory governance mechanisms, with legal frameworks that apply fairly to all citizens. It is time Pakistan created reasonably sized administrative units through the appropriate constitutional amendment, preferably with consensus. Each unit should have an empowered LG that manages police, public safety infrastructure, water, sanitation, waste management, fire protection, education, parks, and libraries.

Several recommendations merit consideration. One, whenever parliament debates this issue, it must look more deeply into the political, constitutional, economic, and administrative aspects. Two, Article 140A of the Constitution should be amended to prohibit the arbitrary dissolution of LGs, ensure regular elections, guarantee fiscal devolution, and standardise LG functions and tenure in all the provinces. Three, Article 7 should explicitly include LGs as a separate tier in the overall state structure, with a share in the divisible pool of federal taxes. Four, MNAs’/ MPAs’ development funds should be reduced, but their power to oversee development work can be enhanced.

The writer is a former foreign secretary. He currently serves as chairman of the Sanober Institute.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2026