Parliamentary debate on new provinces to be held next month, says minister

• No NA or Senate sessions scheduled for September: minister.
• Parliament right forum for new provinces debate, says minister.
• “Islamabad to adopt new model, not separate provincial status.”

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry announced Thursday that parliamentary debate on the creation of new provinces would be held in October.

In a statement, the minister said that the National Assembly and Senate sessions scheduled for that month would provide the appropriate forum for the discussion.

He said no sessions of the National Assembly or Senate were being held in September, but that October sessions would facilitate the debate. “The real place for the debate on new provinces is Parliament House,” he said.

Clarifying a separate but related matter, Tariq Fazal said Islamabad was not going to become a new province, but was instead moving toward adopting a new governance model. “There has been no talk of making Islamabad a separate province,” he said.

Earlier on Sept 6, Truth Wire — citing sources — reported that a high-level committee had presented Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with a draft proposal to establish a 27-member elected assembly for Islamabad Capital Territory, complete with a chief executive and 27 administrative departments.

The announcement came amid a growing political debate over Pakistan’s governance structure, with ruling allies Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appearing divided over the creation of new administrative units or provinces.

The debate was ignited in July by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who said the country’s governance system had “collapsed” and called for fundamental reforms, arguing Pakistan should move toward new administrative units with greater powers devolved to lower levels.

He later stood by his assessment that the system had been “completely destroyed”, while clarifying he was referring to its deterioration over the past 80 years rather than any particular government.

On September 5, Naqvi said the creation of new administrative units should be based on the people’s wishes, describing the moment as requiring a system reset.

“Reset does not mean breaking down the system. Reset means making wrongs right,” he said, adding that work on new administrative units would only proceed if backed by the people of Pakistan.

The debate subsequently widened when Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal called for a national discussion on Pakistan’s administrative structure and proposed 12 to 15 provinces.

He said an administrative reforms committee should examine possible changes and stressed that any new provinces would require political consensus.

Iqbal argued that Pakistan’s four provinces had become overly centralised despite devolution under the 18th Amendment, and proposed around 160 empowered district governments as an alternative. He warned that demands for new provinces would grow if meaningful devolution to districts and local governments was not achieved.

The PPP, for its part, opposed taking the proposal further, saying no concrete plan for administrative restructuring had been presented to the party.

The debate has consequently centred on two competing approaches — redrawing Pakistan’s provincial map or transferring greater powers to districts and local governments within the existing framework.