Will Dividing Pakistan into Smaller Provinces Solve Unrest, or Just Create More?

Amid mounting political unrest in the country, Pakistan has now decided to carve smaller provinces inside its territory. According to a Geo TV report, Pakistan’s Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan, while addressing worker’s convention, remarked that the smaller provinces will ‘definitely be created’to ensure better governance and efficient service delivery. The Geo TV report also stated that three provinces each would be created out of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

At the time of the creation of the country in 1947, Pakistan had five major provinces namely East Bengal, West Punjab, Sindh, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), and Balochistan. In 1971, after the Liberation War, the province of East Bengal declared independence from Pakistan and became the country of Bangladesh. Ever since Pakistan has had four provinces and while there have been discussions about a territorial re-arrangement, nothing has materialized till date.

But, the current move comes as a response to the intense opposition and calls for independence emerging from the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The implementation of the decision, however, may not be a smooth-sailing process for Sharif-Munir’s ‘hybrid’ government’. The Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan People's Party (PPP), who are a major constituent of Sharif’s government have traditionally opposed the division of Sindh, . Back in November, Murad Ali Shah, the CM of Sindh and PPP leader had remarked that their party ‘won’t accept’any move to split the province. “Stop worrying about rumours of the creation of new provinces and the division of Sindhm, ” Murad had assured dismissing the news of split earlier. 

However, not all political factions in Pakistan are against the move. Among those backing the proposal are several think tanks and key parties in Prime Minister Sharif's coalition, such as the IIP and the MQM-P, which operates primarily in Sindh. MQM-P has previously asserted that they “would use all legal and democratic means to push for new provinces through the 28th Amendment".

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