The Pakistan government is reportedly considering redrawing the country's provincial borders. According to a report by the Economist, Field Marshal Asim Munir has been pushing to break the country's four provinces into a dozen or more provinces.
Pakistan currently has four administrative provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. The provinces have remained unchanged since 1947.
The most populous province, Punjab, has a population of 128 million, which is slightly over half the national population.
Balochistan, the largest province meanwhile, has just 15 million people, just 6 per cent of the total.
According to the Economist report, Asim Munir is now pushing for the redrawing of the country's map entirely, to introduce about 12 to 15 more provinces.
The report said that while the policy may seem rational, the new provinces would be ruled by elected chiefs, or by provincial or district assemblies, or by nominees of "the government" -- which is essentially the Field Marshal himself.
Munir says the provinces are too big to be well run, and this is why the country is in a dismal state.
The report claimed that reasons for the country’s double-figure debt are in part due to the army itself.
It said that the army takes up the taxpayers' money and owns huge tracts of the country’s valuable land and controls businesses that intimidate their competitors.
The field Marshal is also especially targeting the big provinces, Punjab and Sindh, as they are the strongholds of the two major parties, PML and the PPP.
The report described him as someone who has been "ruthless in consolidating power in his own hands."
According to Pakistani reports, the proposal was considered by a high-level committee set up by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The residents of Islamabad had mixed reactions to the proposal.
Many suggested that the government should instead make the local governments more independent and effective.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had earlier said that the decision to create new provinces should be left to the people.
He later said that Islamabad should be turned into a full province and that the administration should be decentralised to improve governance.
“Let the people decide about new provinces. Let them say what they want,” Naqvi said while responding to questions about the need and credibility of the new system.
The minister, however, did not provide a timeline for the changes. He said that a national consensus and a constitutional process are needed to make it come true. The remarks were met with backlash.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has reportedly been leading the conversation in the country to strengthen local governance.
