ISLAMABAD: Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) President and Federal Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan on Aug. 15 backed the creation of four administrative units in each province and urged political parties to support nationwide restructuring.
Khan said that the IPP supported demands for separate provinces of Hazara, South Punjab and Bahawalpur. He pledged to raise the issue at every political forum.
The minister said calls for Hazara province had persisted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly since 2010. He described administrative restructuring as a national issue that should not be blocked by political interests.
The debate intensified after Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Pakistan’s governance system could no longer address the country’s challenges and called for new administrative units.
Read: Mohsin Naqvi Says Pakistan’s Political System Has Failed
Naqvi later said the comments reflected long-term institutional deterioration, not an indictment of the current federal government.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan also supported creating more provinces but said the change required broad political consensus and constitutionally mandated majorities.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rejected the proposal. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the Sindh Assembly had repeatedly adopted unanimous resolutions opposing the province’s division.
Read: New Provinces in Pakistan Urged to Improve Governance
Under Article 239 of the Constitution, an amendment affecting provincial boundaries must secure at least two-thirds of the total membership of each house of Parliament and the affected provincial assembly.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Barrister Danyal Chaudhry separately said administrative reforms.
Stronger local governments and a five- to 10-year financial assessment should precede any decision to create provinces.
