SUKKUR/LARKANA: Sindh United Party (SUP) President Syed Zain Shah has rejected proposals for the creation of new provinces, particularly any move to divide Sindh, describing such initiatives and possible constitutional amendments as conspiracies against the province’s historic and geographical unity.

Speaking at a press conference in Sukkur, he said there would be no compromise on Sindh’s unity, provincial autonomy, resources or coastal belt.

Mr Shah said any constitutional amendment or action in the name of creating new provinces or administrative units was contrary to federalism, provincial autonomy and democratic rights. The debate over new provinces, he added, was not an administrative necessity but an attempt to weaken provincial autonomy and the stability of the federation.

Criticising the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, he accused both of exhibiting political double standards. If they were speaking the truth, he said, they should take practical steps and come out on the streets, and millions of people would stand with them. They should not ask for concessions but demand their rights, he said, and urged the PTI likewise to struggle for its rights rather than seek concessions.

Answering questions, Mr Shah called for transparent elections and strict accountability of the local government system. He proposed a commission to investigate alleged corruption involving billions and trillions of rupees from the union council level upwards.

He said his party had launched a political and public outreach campaign to raise issues concerning Sindh’s rights and national affairs, and that the struggle to protect the province’s unity, resources and coastline would continue.

He was accompanied by Roshan Buriro, Advocate Fayyaz Khamisani, Eidan Jagirani, Majid Dhanwar and others.

Separately, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Larkana emir Maulana Nasir Mahmood Soomro and general secretary Mohabbat Ali Khuhro expressed their party’s concern over proposals to create 12 new provinces in Pakistan.

In a press statement issued in Larkana on Tuesday, they said no one would be allowed to tamper with Sindh’s unity, historical identity, geographical position, natural resources and the basic rights of its people in the name of new provinces.

Sindh was not a laboratory for administrative experiments, they said, and the rulers should not keep raising the issue of dividing provinces to divert attention from their political and administrative failures. The public was already grappling with inflation, unemployment, poverty, lawlessness, poor education and healthcare, a lack of clean drinking water, power shortages and other basic problems. Instead of drawing up maps of new provinces, the rulers should provide people with their constitutional rights and basic facilities.

Increasing the number of provinces did not guarantee good governance or prosperity, they said, and new administrative structures, assemblies, government offices and institutions could place an additional financial burden on the national exchequer. What was needed was an end to corruption, a fair distribution of powers, empowered local government institutions and the development of backward areas.

Sindh’s unity was not merely a matter of geographical boundaries but part of its historical, cultural and civilisational identity, they said, and any administrative division imposed without taking the people of Sindh into confidence would be unacceptable.

The JUI-F was not opposed to administrative improvement or public development, they said, but would not allow the unity, autonomy, resources and rights of Sindh to be harmed under the guise of such goals. The constitutional rights of the people of Sindh over their land, coastline, river waters and natural reserves had to be protected, and any constitutional change should be decided on the basis of public opinion, democratic principles and national consensus rather than political interests.

The leaders said the party would play its role on every democratic, constitutional and political forum to protect the rights of the people of Sindh.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2026