ISLAMABAD: New provinces in Pakistan could bring the government closer to communities and improve public-service delivery.
For expanding the country’s four-province structure to six or eight units. He said population growth had left provincial administrations too large or too remote to distribute healthcare, education and infrastructure evenly.
Pakistan’s 2023 digital census counted 241,499,431 people, up 16.26% from 2017, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. It classified 61.12% of the population as rural and 38.88% as urban.
However, the official National Counter Terrorism Authority framework lists 14 points in the revised 2021 plan. It distributes implementation across federal ministries, provincial governments, law enforcement agencies and other institutions. Therefore, NACTA does not describe all remaining points as the Interior Ministry’s exclusive responsibility.
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However, several provincial shares cited in the opinion differ from official census data. Punjab recorded 127.69 million residents, or about 52.9% of Pakistan’s population, rather than 59%.
Meanwhile, Balochistan recorded 14.89 million residents, or about 6.2% of the national population, rather than 11% to 12%. Its 347,190-square-kilometre area represents about 43.6% of the country’s official land area, not 48%.
Punjab’s population and Balochistan’s geographic spread created different administrative challenges. He also linked centralised governance to rural migration, service gaps and disputes over resource distribution.
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The column proposed dividing large provinces instead of adding funding formulas to the existing structure. However, it represented a policy recommendation rather than an announced government plan.
Creating a province would require a constitutional amendment. Article 239 requires two-thirds approval in both houses of Parliament and the assembly of any province whose boundaries would change.
