Why Pakistan needs more provinces

[53fd]

Before you jump the gun on me, I think provinces in Pakistan should be created strictly for administrative purposes (based on urban centers & economic growth), not ethnic or lingual grounds.

Some facts about Pakistan: Punjab contributes about 57%, Sindh contributes about 28%, KPK contributes about 8%, Balochistan about 3%, FATA about 1%, Northern Areas about 1%, & Islamabad capital territory about 2% of Pakistan's GDP.

Karachi itself contributes about 20% of Pakistan's GDP. Lahore contributes about 12% of Pakistan's economy. The third largest city of Pakistan, Faisalabad contributes about 9% of Pakistan's GDP.

These are the main 10 'urban centers/cities' of Pakistan, namely: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Gujranwala/Sialkot.

The three cities; Lahore, Sialkot & Gujranwala are located very close to each other. Faisalabad is located at a 'reasonable distance' from Lahore/Sialkot/Gujranwala, but still, not that far away from them either. In other words, these four cities are found in a pretty concentrated area.

Multan (in central-south Punjab) & Bahwalpur (close to the Punjab-Sindh border) is left isolated from these cities. A huge amount of resources are being spent on Lahore/Sialkot/Gujranwala, but nearly not enough on Multan & Bahwalpur, even though they are very important cities. In other words, South Punjab has been left a bit isolated from the growth of central-North Punjab. The urban centers are confined, & need to be spread out more. A new South Punjab state will help develop Multan & Bahawulpur urban centers even faster. As of now, Multan is being envisioned as a future 'Pearl City', & lots of work is being done to develop it. These efforts should only be increased, & South Punjab needs to be put in perspective.

In Sindh, the two urban centers of Karachi & Hyderabad are located at a reasonable distance, but both are in South Sindh. The urbanization of Bahawalpur in South Punjab close to North Sindh will help urbanization spread into North Sindh as well.

In Balochistan, Quetta is the biggest urban center. But it is also very volatile being close to the Afghan border. Army must make prolonged efforts to make it safe (which will eventually result in prosperous city). Gwadar must be developed & urbanized at a quicker pace so that the Baloch people can reap its benefits. Mining in Zhob is already taking place. But the distance between Quetta & Gwadar is too great, & there should be another urban center in between Quetta & Gwadar.

In my opinion, there must be at least 2-3 urban centers in each province/region, that are reasonably distanced from each other & not confined together, & do not have any safety/security concerns.

Currently:

a) Sindh has Karachi & Hyderabad

b) Punjab has Lahore & Faisalabad

c) Northern Pakistan (KPK & Northern Areas) has Islamabad-Rawalpindi/Abbottabad & Peshawar (a bit unsafe these days)

d) Balochistan has Quetta (very unsafe these days)

e) Azad Kashmir has Muzzaffarabad

Security must be enhanced in Peshawar & (especially) Quetta. Pakistan must give provincial status to South Punjab, Hazaras (maybe), & create more urban centers within the country. Great work is being done in Multan, this must be extended to Bahawalpur, Gwadar & other cities.

 

[alimukhtar]

new provinces for bureaucracy and politicians....... there is no advantage for common one........ pehle bhai ye to sambhal lo phir nay ki sochna...........

 

[53fd]

new provinces for bureaucracy and politicians....... there is no advantage for common one........ pehle bhai ye to sambhal lo phir nay ki sochna...........

That is not true. If provinces are created for the 'right' reasons, administration will become easier, & the advantages will be felt by the common man/woman as well.

 

[livingdead]

new provinces for bureaucracy and politicians....... there is no advantage for common one........ pehle bhai ye to sambhal lo phir nay ki sochna...........

Big and unmanagable provinces should be split into smaller ones. It defintely helps common man, if govt comes near you than you chase your govt.

 

[53fd]

Big and unmanagable provinces should be split into smaller ones. It defintely helps common man, if govt comes near you than you chase your govt.

Well said Sir.

 

[lem34]

Bilalbhai Incredible indians have got a lot of provinces perhaps in this period of friendly relations and mfn status they could be convinced to part with a couple of provinces.

 

[Tangent]

Big and unmanagable provinces should be split into smaller ones. It defintely helps common man, if govt comes near you than you chase your govt.

Right...
India has experimented successfully by making more and manageable states from larger states e.g M.P , U.p. A.P to follow soon.

 

[Jango]

provinces, if made on administrative grounds rather than linguistic and purely cultural grounds, are welcome.

But if you keep on making provinces based on one particular group, then the poorer group will definitely be raising it's voice.

 

[53fd]

provinces, if made on administrative grounds rather than linguistic and purely cultural grounds, are welcome.

But if you keep on making provinces based on one particular group, then the poorer group will definitely be raising it's voice.

I think the development in Pakistan is too concentrated, & needs to be evened out more throughout the country, spread out better. That is why provinces should be made, so that regions are not neglected in terms of development.

 

[jupiter2007]

Pakistan should have 33 provinces.

 

[muse]

Free peoples need greater representation, not less, that is why smaller provinces and locally elected governments will make for greater representation, increase the opportunity for representation, and easier delivery of government services -- but of course all of this will fail if we do not develop a better tax imposition and collection system, in fact people have to be made to understand and accept why they should pay their taxes and what their taxes buys them.

Of course the big political parties and politicians hate the idea - because smaller provinces and locally elected officials and local agreement on taxes will make the business of running the governments more transparent and accountable, and which politicians wants that?

 

[iPhone]

I think the Hazara province might be happening during the next govt's tenure. That would most likely lead to Sindh spliting into two provinces, too.

 

[Karachiite]

Obviously we need more provinces. Punjab is too huge and more provinces should be made out of it for better administration. Same goes for Sindh, Balochistan and KP. Similarily port cities like Gwadar and Karachi should be made into self governing provinces.

 

[nitesh28]

Too much centralization is not good. Let the country loose. I will be good.

 

[qasimalinaqvi]

I agreed with you. We should need to discuss this matter with cool and calmness on every level because there are many areas which are less developed from our big cities and conditions in villages are also not quite well. There are many issues like health, education, human rights on the ground which are totally neglected and we need to build our voice together for a better tomorrow.