ISLAMABAD: The Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has questioned the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) position on the creation of new provinces and administrative units, alleging that the party has adopted different positions on the issue.
Asif said the PPP appeared to support calls for a separate Saraiki province in Punjab but raised the issue of Sindhudesh when broader administrative restructuring was discussed.
The defence minister questioned the reasoning behind what he described as a contradictory position, saying he believed there was “something else” behind it. He added that he would explain his concerns at an appropriate time.
Asif also stressed that Pakistan’s national identity should remain central to the debate.
“We are Pakistanis, first and last,” he said, while calling for meaningful implementation of the devolution framework introduced through the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
According to the minister, the amendment established the principle of transferring authority, but significant powers remain concentrated at higher levels of government. He argued that genuine devolution was necessary to strengthen democracy at the grassroots level and improve public access to government services.
Asif suggested that Pakistan’s existing 36 divisions could potentially provide a basis for reorganising the administrative structure. However, he said other geographical models could also be examined.
He maintained that transferring greater authority to lower administrative levels was ultimately unavoidable if governance was to become more effective and responsive.
The comments come as political debate over Pakistan’s provincial and administrative structure has intensified.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi recently called for fundamental administrative reforms and advocated dividing the provinces into smaller units to improve governance and accelerate development.
The PPP, however, opposed taking the debate further without a concrete proposal being formally presented.
Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal has separately called for a national debate and suggested that Pakistan could consider creating between 12 and 15 provinces. He has also proposed examining the possibility of establishing around 160 empowered district governments.
The broader debate now centres on two possible approaches: creating additional provinces by changing existing boundaries or strengthening local governments through greater political and administrative devolution.
ALSO READ: Administrative Reset via New Provinces urged : Sources
Iqbal has argued that excessive centralisation within the existing provinces has limited the effectiveness of devolution. He has warned that demands for new provinces could continue to grow unless meaningful authority is transferred to districts and local governments.
