Senate deputy chairman suggests 9 new provinces be formed

[FOOLS_NIGHTMARE]

Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Mohammad Afridi has suggested the formation of nine new provinces, one of which includes Karachi.

Afridi made the recommendation in an interview on Dawn News’ programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, which will be aired at 7pm today. Afridi, who is himself from the tribal districts, was elected to the Senate as an independent candidate in 2018.

He advocated for making Karachi, the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the Hazara district provinces of their own as well as Punjab and Balochistan being divided into three provinces each.

The Senate deputy chairman said: “Look at Balochistan, how vast its area is. There should be three provinces formed in Balochistan as well as three separate ones in Punjab.”

He urged for Karachi to be made an entirely separate province, adding that: “Fata should be made a separate province and one province should also be formed for Hazara.”

Afridi further said the more provinces Pakistan has, the better it will be.

When asked about the objections raised by the PPP when the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan demands the same for Karachi, Afridi said: “The 18th Amendment was made [and] NFC (National Finance Commission) award was done, right? When [new] provinces will be formed, the NFC award will be shared in the same way.”

He went on to explain that if the said provinces are formed, they will continue receiving their share of the fiscal budget under the NFC award.

At one point during the interview, when asked if the decision of merging Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was made in haste, Afridi responded: “We should have obtained a commitment on the promises [made].”

The Senate deputy chairman lamented that the government did not fulfil its promises made to the erstwhile Fata and that its people face many difficulties even today.

He said he had taken up the matter of funds with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as well and insisted that the problems facing the country will be solved if new provinces are constituted.

Afridi’s statements come months after the matter of forming new provinces resurfaced when in March, PML-N senators moved two bills, seeking the creation of South Punjab and Hazara provinces.

The bill seeking the creation of the south Punjab province had been tabled by PML-N Senator Rana Mehmoodul Hassan as a private member’s bill while the one for Hazara had been moved by PML-N Senator Pir Sabir Shah.

The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice was set to take up the two controversial constitutional amendment bills.

Separately, former prime minister and PPP Vice-Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani said last month that consultations will be held with all political parties in the country to present the bill for the creation of a Seraiki province in the assembly soon.

Senate deputy chairman suggests 9 new provinces be formed

Calls for making Karachi, Fata and Hazara into provinces; says Punjab and Balochistan should each be divided into 3.

www.dawn.com

 

[Meengla]

PPP will never allow the goldmine of Karachi to become a province. But time and again, when given resources, administrators from Karachi from either MQM or Jamaat e Islami or even PPP have done fairly decent job in managing the city--at least by Sindh's standards. Imagine Karachi being a province! It would be great for Pakistan and for Karachiites.

 

[TheSolution]

Karachi even if not becoming it's own province should get some form of exclusive governance capabilities while still being part of Sindh.

I support this to be honest. Hazara division can become it's own province. Northern Balochistan can become it's own province (it's actually populated by Pashtuns) and the other section can be for Brahuis as it's populated by them, coastline areas Balochistan.

Punjab can be Northern Punjab and Southern Punjab.

Land reforms are urgently needed though, India did these a while ago.

 

[RashidKhanTheLegend]

Creating atleast 3-4 provinces of Balochistan would have been a prudent decision... Baloch sardars would have been divided.. states would fight amongst themselves for water river resource etc.

States fighting among themselves is healthy at times.. but stares fighting against centre is much more dangerous..

Dunno why GHQ didnt divide Balochistan..

 

[Fish]

Karachi should most definitely be a separate province. The people have endured enough and being our commercial hub, it needs some serious TLC.

As for PPP goons, there's always the option to crush them like MQM... or perhaps PTI, heh!

Creating atleast 3-4 provinces of Balochistan would have been a prudent decision... Baloch sardars would have been divided.. states would fight amongst themselves for water river resource etc.

States fighting among themselves is healthy at times.. but stares fighting against centre is much more dangerous..

Dunno why GHQ didnt divide Balochistan..

Punjab is the one that needs to be divided. It's just too damn big, and I'm saying this as a Punjabi/Lahori.

As for Baluchistan, things aren't nearly as bad over there as your media make it out to be. Sure, there are pockets of separatist groups, but we can always just roll over 'em!

Zarb-e-Azb was a prime example. It took care of the "Bombathon" that plagued Lahore back in the early 2010s. Now, it's just a couple blasts here and there in Quetta because they know if they blow-up Punjabis, the hammer of Fauj will crush their skulls.

 

[Tamerlane]

Instead of doing things piecemeal I prefer creating 32 provinces in one go, based on the former divisions. Each division has a central city. With a population of 250 million, rising to 350-400 million in a few decades it makes better sense from an administrative point of view to have more provinces. It also allows development to be more evenly spread around rather than being concentrated in a few large cities.

Whatever happens, if Karachi is given administrative independence it will become an engine of growth for the country. Karachi can become an industrial powerhouse and solve half of Pakistan’s economic problems. It can entice overseas Pakistanis to move back and huge investment.

Divisions of Pakistan

Divisions of Pakistan - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Maula Jatt]

As long as they name the new provinces of Punjab as North, South, Central, I don't mind
Don't create fake identities for new provinces

 

[Tamerlane]

Karachi should most definitely be a separate province. The people have endured enough and being our commercial hub, it needs some serious TLC.

As for PPP goons, there's always the option to crush them like MQM... or perhaps PTI, heh!

I’m starting to like you. The army can be quite useful for Pakistan if only the generals become patriotic and start thinking about Pakistan over their personal interests.

Let the generals allow the people of Pakistan to elect honest people and let the army follow the constitution and stay within their legally defined limits. Then we can build a great country together, inshallah.

 

[Baburfromsarmarkand]

Retarded Idea, what we should be doing is caiming more of the Seas as our EEZ, we need to muscle Iran, India and the Arab states like chine is doing to its neighbors claiming the entire South China sea.

 

[Fish]

I’m starting to like you. The army can be quite useful for Pakistan if only the generals become patriotic and start thinking about Pakistan over their personal interests.

Let the generals allow the people of Pakistan to elect honest people and let the army follow the constitution and stay within their legally defined limits. Then we can build a great country together, inshallah.

I'm a glass half empty kind of guy!

Islam teaches us to hope, after all, and despair is akin to committing blasphemy.

Besides, what else powerless people like me can do, if not hope for a brighter future and a peaceful death?!

 

[baqai]

fully support this, we need more provinces specially Karachi.

 

[Neelo]

Hagagagagagagagagagahafafa