The cry for the creation of new provinces is not a new one as we have been, time and again, experiencing it for a long time. The demand for the Hazara province raised during the 80s and 90s and still goes on. Bahawalpur and Multan too were princely states in united India and the latter have gird up its lions for long to declare as a separate province. The demand for the Jinnahpur province has also succeeded in securing its place in the race for the formation of the new provinces.
The formation of new provinces can get nod only if they are initiated and invoked by the genuine demands: administration, population, area and the division being on the basis of resources. The cry for new provinces surfaces in order to ease the administrative conundrum or to make the distanced area short so as to accomplish the needs of the people easily.
Contrary to the above, the demands for the establishment of the new provinces in Pakistan are triggered by the ethno-lingual forces. The demand for the Saraiki province is totally based on language and ethnicity. The cry for the formation of the Jinnahpur province is on air for the motive of the promotion of Urdu Speakers. The people of the Hazara community are raising their voices for the formation of the Hazara province just because they were not mentioned anywhere in the amended name of KPK. Their demand for a new province is not based on deprivation and injustices as Hazara is comparatively more developed than the southern KP. The demand for the Bahawalpur province is prompted by the narrative that southern Punjab has been exploited by central Punjab.
The law of the land (Constitution) prescribes the formation of the new provinces under its Article 239[4] which states that any alteration to the boundary of a province would be allowed and permitted only after the passage of a bill with a two-thirds majority of the provincial members of the concerned province and then the bill would be referred to the governor to refer it further to the president who would send it to the federal legislature for further deliberation and for the final voting.
The formation of new provinces is not even a herculean task. Nigeria moved to almost 17 provinces from its, just, four provinces. Similarly, the Indian states’ tool surged to 29. Afghanistan has almost 34 states. All these are most probably for easing the business of administration.
Therefore, if making new provinces is not a hard nut to crack, then why Pakistan fails in doing away with it is because of various reasons. The politically oriented hurdle hinders the way to the formation of new provinces. The major party(s,ies) in Punjab is not in favour of making new provinces out of Punjab. The logic behind this is that Punjab secures almost 141 seats in the Lower House of the Parliament which means that if to command a majority in Punjab, you are in a better position to form the government. Moreover, the party system in Punjab is deplorable which pushes the strong electable ahead who can easily be manipulated by the cunning politicians. Similarly, the major party in Sindh-PPP- puts the demand for the creation of new provinces to death or aside as it will reinvigorate the demand for the Jinnahpur province. This was the main reason for dint of which it deliberately set aside somewhere at the committee stage the bill for the formation of the Janoobi Punjab as a new province in 2012. Likewise, the major political party of KP(PTI) too, is not backing the demand for the new provinces as it will reinforce and resurface the demand for the Hazara province.
Apart from the said political hurdles, the cry for the establishment of new provinces is also being curbed by the opposition of the establishment which would stand by it only if it is based on the administrative basis rather than being instigated by the ethno-lingual factors which are primes inter pares in bringing about the national disintegration. Adding to the said, the demand has lost the nod of the establishment because of its huge financial implication under which the poverty-stricken country like Pakistan cannot hold its breath up.
The next factor which is a hindrance in the way to the new provinces is the opposition of the civil bureaucracy. It despises the notion of the creation of the new provinces on account of its basis not being laid on the administrative purpose but on the ethno-lingual motive. The establishment of the new provinces will split the powers of the chief secretaries which would not hold water for the bureaucrats.
Another question that may surge here is whether Pakistan is able to come across this new establishment. Although the formation of the new units may ease the doing of administration, yet the capacity of the maker must be taken into account. Pakistan is facing a bulk of challenges now ranging from its deteriorating economy to the new pandemic- coronavirus. It must be made clear here that the enactment of the new provinces may cost enough stretching from the building up of the different buildings to the transmission of the records.
In a nutshell, the formation of the new provinces is suggested only on the basis of the administrative objectives instead of ethno-lingual bases. “It will be in the best interest of Pakistan and its national integration if democratic concerns like economic growth, social development, welfare and good governance are given priority rather than the religious, ethnic, linguistic, caste to be the valid bases for conceding the demands for new provinces”.
The writer has done his Master of Arts in English Literature & Linguistics. He can be reached at [email protected]