By 2026, the debate over creating new provinces in Pakistan has reached an unprecedented fever pitch. The discussion was forced into the political mainstream when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called in late July for “resetting” the governance system by establishing new administrative units. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal further escalated the discussion by proposing to split the existing four provinces into 12 to 15 entities, while media reports have floated proposals ranging from 8 to as many as 30 new provinces.
Political forces have aggressively clashed over the issue. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called for new provinces only in areas where consensus exists. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) insists on granting Karachi separate provincial status, while PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan has warned that “hasty decisions” would weaken the federation. Meanwhile, the Sindh Assembly has already passed a resolution firmly opposing any division of the province.
Amongst this disharmony, a fundamental question has been overlooked; What Pakistan truly needs is not a redrawing of the map or the creation of more provinces, but rather making the existing administrative system function effectively, free of corruption, and for the betterment of the people of Pakistan in aspects.
Pakistan is not lacking in administrative tiers. Under the current system, the country possesses a complete administrative chain from the provincial level down to the grassroots; for example; Province ? Division ? District ? Tehsil ? Union Council.
Specifically, Pakistan currently comprises four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan), one federal capital territory, and two administrative territories, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK). Below the provincial level, there are approximately 40 Divisions, about 169 Districts, more than 500 Tehsils/Talukas, and between 5000 to 6000 Union Councils across the country.
This architecture provides ample institutional support for public service delivery and resource distribution. The problem is not a lack of tiers, but that these levels; particularly the grassroots units; have been systematically uncovered of their authority and financial resources for far too long.
Although the call for new provinces is loud, its essence lies in a highly sensitive political agenda rather than a well-considered governance strategy. First, the constitutional process is extraordinarily complex. Under Pakistan’s Constitution, creating a new province requires a two-thirds majority vote in the relevant provincial assembly, followed by a two-thirds majority approval in both houses of Parliament. As PPP leader Nayyar Bokhari has pointed out, drafting the 1973 Constitution took months, and deliberating the 18th Amendment took years-yet the discussion on new provinces has neither been formally vetted by the federal cabinet nor subjected to adequate parliamentary debate. Second, provincial positions are deeply hostile. Sindh firmly opposes any division, while Punjab remains internally divided; the PML-N leadership is widely seen as reluctant to split its province, whereas the PPP has been accused of supporting new provinces in Punjab while opposing them in Sindh. This is very clear example politicized nature of the issue, rather than administratively improving the system. Third, creating new provinces does not, in itself, solve governance problems. As PTI leader Salman Akram Raja rightly observed, if power remains concentrated in provincial capitals and bureaucratic structures, merely redrawing provincial boundaries will not resolve governance failures. As one analyst put it; “If the system is already broken, why assume that drawing new lines on a map will fix it?”.
Beyond the political and constitutional dimensions, there is an economic argument that is almost entirely absent from the current debate; no one is talking about earnings and expenses. Consider a simple analogy. Pakistan today earns one cake. That single cake is currently being consumed by four provinces and three administrative territories. The demand for new provinces is essentially a demand to divide the same cake into more pieces, say for example, 12 to 15 provinces. But making more provinces will not make the cake bigger. It will merely slice the existing cake into smaller portions. And what does that mean in practical terms? It means 12 to 15 Chief Ministers instead of four. It means 12 to 15 Chief Secretaries, 12 to 15 Inspectors General of Police, and a corresponding multiplication of governors, ministers, advisers, bureaucrats, and administrative apparatus. Each new province brings with it a full complement of executive, legislative, and administrative overhead; all funded from the same national treasury.
The result is not better governance or more resources for the people, but a dramatic increase in the cost of governance. More provinces mean more spending on salaries, perks, protocols, buildings, and bureaucracies; while the actual pool of resources remains unchanged. The real challenge for Pakistan is not how to divide the cake into more pieces, but how to bake a larger cake. This requires a serious national conversation about less spending and more earning; expanding the tax base, improving revenue collection, cutting wasteful expenditures, and creating an environment conducive to investment and economic growth. Without a larger cake, any redistribution; whether to new provinces or existing ones; will only result in more people sharing a shrinking slice. In short, the obsession with creating new provinces distracts from the fundamental economic question; How can Pakistan earn more and spend less? Until that question is answered, no amount of administrative redrawing will solve the nation’s problems and Pakistan will be in custody of IMF forever.
In all this discussion, a crucial constitutional fact is frequently ignored: it is the provinces that constitute Pakistan, not the other way around. Provinces created the federation, so logically the entity A (provinces) creates entity B (federation); so how come B (federation) is deciding to dissolve entity A (provinces) in more parts?
Pakistan’s federal structure is built upon the foundation of the four existing provinces. The composition of the National Assembly and Senate, the allocation of national financial resources (via the National Finance Commission-NFC Award), and even national identity itself are indistinguishably linked to the existing provincial framework. As Senator Raza Rabbani has emphasized, the establishment of new provinces is not a matter that the federal government can unilaterally decide. Attempting to redraw provincial boundaries through administrative sanction or political maneuvering may not only be constitutionally unsustainable but could also destabilize the very foundations of the federation. PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan’s warning deserves serious consideration; dividing provinces against the will of the people will “weaken the federation”.
A Realistic Way Forward (Solution)
Rather than expending political capital on a divisive and sensitive new-province agenda, Pakistan should channel its energy into what can genuinely improve governance; substantive fiscal decentralization. The core problem today is that while the 18th Amendment devolved significant powers from the federal government to the provinces, the provinces have failed to further devolve these powers and resources to local governments. Local government finances have deteriorated sharply; their share of total government expenditure plummeted from approximately 10% in 2005 to less than 5% by 2024. Provinces are expected to receive 8.8 trillion rupees from the federal transfer in fiscal year 2026-27, but only a fraction of this amount is projected to be passed down to local governments. This “withholding” effect has created severe regional imbalances. World Bank data reveals that per capita allocations in Lahore are 440% higher than in the rest of Punjab, Peshawar receives 335% more than other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Karachi receives 178% more than the rest of Sindh.
The solution is straightforward. To establish a mechanism to directly allocate the provincial financial share to the Division, District, Tehsil, and Union Council levels. This may be done with a minor change is constitution or may be an administrative order. As the MQM-P has suggested, the National Finance Commission (NFC) could directly disburse funds to districts, bypassing provincial-level withholding. Simultaneously, effective Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) mechanisms must be established to ensure that funds truly reach the grassroots. As one analyst has pointed out, stronger fiscal decentralization could achieve many of the same objectives as creating new provinces; without adding the additional layer of administrative complexity.
Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Defense Minister Khawaja Asif have both noted that the existing Divisions could readily serve as geographical frameworks for devolution. Instead of drawing new provinces on the map, we should empower the existing administrative units with the resources and authority they actually require to function.
Pakistan’s governance crisis is real; public services are lacking, resource distribution is inequitable, and grassroots communities are neglected. During General Pervez Musharraf era several prominent MNAs becomes the District Nazims and this is evident that financial resources were distributed to district levels and so on. International experience shows that redrawing administrative boundaries is often a lengthy, costly, and politically contentious process. Fiscal decentralization and administrative devolution, by contrast, can be advanced relatively swiftly within the existing framework. As Bilawal Bhutto has pointed out, devolution works; after the sales tax collection authority was devolved, provincial collections actually surpassed the federal government’s previous records.
What Pakistan needs is not a politically charged battle over new provinces that risks tearing the federation apart, but a genuine transfer of power and resources downward. Let Divisions become meaningful governance units, let Districts access their fair share of financial resources, and let Tehsils/Taluka and Union Councils respond to the everyday needs of the people and this is the right path forward.
Provinces constitute Pakistan, and Pakistan’s strength depends on the effective functioning of every administrative tier. Rather than exhausting the nation’s energy on the politicized new-province agenda, let us breathe real life into the system we already have.
