Khawaja Asif Backs 12 Provinces for PakistanPakistan

According to a report in the Dawn newspaper, Mr Asif said the proposal to establish new provinces had been under discussion for the past two months. He said the idea of creating additional provinces had been put forward by his cabinet colleague Mohsin Naqvi. He also argued that power should move down from provincial capitals to local institutions, and he floated the country’s existing 36 administrative divisions as one possible basis for a new map.

Reporting on the debate describes a possible map that would split Punjab into four provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into three, Balochistan into three and Sindh into two, making 12 provinces in total. Some headlines have described the idea as 12 new provinces, but the map described in the reporting totals 12 provinces overall, up from the present four, and no official map exists.

The reactions split along familiar lines. The MQM-P, which represents much of urban Sindh, supports new units and has renewed its demand, saying people in cities like Karachi are deprived under the present system. The PPP, which governs Sindh and is a partner in the federal coalition, firmly opposes dividing Sindh. The Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution on September 3 rejecting any split of the province.

Mr Asif accused the PPP of a double standard, saying it had supported or shown a soft corner for the demand for a Saraiki province whenever the issue was raised in Punjab, but raised the Sindhudesh issue when broader administrative restructuring was discussed. He said he believed there was something else behind what he described as the party’s contradictory position, and that he would explain what he believed was behind it at some point, while stressing that we are Pakistanis, first and last.

The constitutional road is steep, and it runs through the provinces themselves. Under Article 239(4) of the constitution, an amendment that changes a province’s boundaries cannot be sent to the president for approval unless that province’s own assembly has first passed it by two thirds of its total membership. A constitutional amendment also needs two thirds majorities in both the National Assembly and the Senate, so in practice the Sindh Assembly holds a veto over any change to Sindh.

For now, there is no draft law, no official map and no timetable. A senior adviser to the prime minister, Rana Sanaullah, said recently that the government had not formulated any plan on new provinces. According to a report by journalist Ansar Abbasi, a nationwide referendum is being considered before a possible 28th Constitutional Amendment, with preparatory work potentially beginning in early 2027, but none of that has been confirmed officially.

The idea also has a history of going nowhere. Resolutions for South Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces were passed in 2012 and never took effect. What changed this week is that a sitting defence minister has put the government’s name behind the debate itself.