23 provinces? Pakistan needs debate before division

We, the natives of the Indian sub-continent, more specifically those of the Indo-Pak, probably believe in the famous quote of Friedrich Nietzsche, that “a creator must first be a destroyer”, and further, we, Pakistanis, treat it more religiously, may be for the reason that this was once endorsed by Sir Allama Iqbal also by saying, “Har nayi tameer ko lazim hai takhreeb-e-tamam”, although many of Iqbal scholars argue that Allama does not mean it so, and that his such thoughts were misunderstood. Nevertheless, we have experienced this concept many times in the history of Pakistan and yet, it is in progress, the latest episode thereof being the debate on the splitting of the provinces for creating new provinces up to 23 or more.

We started such experiments first on the Constitution, and those are yet underway. We experimented one-unit theory; separation of the East Pakistan; local bodies’ creation, destruction and then reconstruction; curtailing powers of the district bureaucracy through separation of executive & judiciary and then reverting to old model, slowly; building and deconstructing the financial systems of the Country, many times, the last being the NFC award system which has remained under discussion since its application and it is probably, the main reason behind the new provinces debate.

The question is that whether we do some research before starting any such experiments or just rely on the personal thoughts of the individuals, who actually may be delusionary or pseudo-intellectuals. And whether we have ever tried to learn from these experiments, that why they fail in the course of the time. The present debate on new provinces has apparently started on the basis of the individuals’ thoughts of someone. However, does it not require national level deliberations at all forums, be it political forums, within and outside the parliament; civil and military establishments; economic and / or financial platforms, bureaucratic arenas; economists; thinkers; scholars; writers; and many more. This subject is something that will affect the whole of the Country’s geographical, political and economic structures; and we are listening just few people, consistently.

India also reorganized and established numerous new states and union territories since its independence in 1947, like Andhra-Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and many more. However, they did not do it, as we are planning to do, although their Constitution also allowed them to do so. They formed a number of commissions to consider and review this subject. The Dhar Commission of 1948 thoroughly reviewed that what should be the basis of establishing new states / provinces, whether on linguistic basis or on the basis administrative convenience, financial self-sufficiency, and geographical contiguity. Another Committee, the JVP Committee re-evaluated the subject matter. Another Commission, the States Re-organization Commission of 1953–1955 reviewed public agitation in regards to Telugu-majority state. Why we cannot do it.

The economists would definitely examine and review its impact on the economy and its financial aspects, but the general public simply looks on plain structure of the public revenue and expenditure side. If we consider it for the debate, the situation would be quite glaring. A recent Report the World Bank Group, titled “Strengthening Fiscal Federalism in Pakistan” refers that even with only 4 provinces, over 75% to 82% of provincial budgets are consumed by current expenditures (salaries, operational costs, and pensions) rather than public development. If this is the situation, then splitting the Country into 23 units would redirect almost the entirety of public funds into feeding bureaucratic machinery, starving actual development projects. It would mean establishing new provincial assemblies, governor houses, chief minister secretariats, high courts, lower judiciary structures, new district administration set-ups, and lot more. Then there would be hiring hundreds of thousands of new personnel for the ministries for each province. The existing provinces receive 57.5% of the total revenue pool of the Country, in terms of 7th NFC Award. This revenue will split in the new provinces and one can imagine that what share each of the new province will get and how the provinces will be able to meet their expenses. Needless to refer that the said revenue will not automatically grow and instead, every province will get same pie sliced into twenty-three. Furthermore, there are many regions especially in Baluchistan, Southern Punjab and Ruras Sindh that do not generate much internal revenue and we need to consider that how these areas, if become provinces, will meet the provincial expenses, while their share of the NFC would be completely eaten up by the new governor’s and bureaucracy’s salaries, before anything goes to the welfare of the general public.

If the actual purpose behind this issue is really administrative convenience, financial self-sufficiency, etc then there is available a well organized and world recognized local bodies system, which can be trusted upon; and if there are certain deficiencies in the said system, it can be improved, instead of deconstruction of the whole system and constructing it a fresh, through new experiment.

The crux is that if we want to continue push this process, we may be trapped in permanent issues. Therefore, before we dismantle the existing maps, our real intellectual, scholars, unbiased politicians, and everyone having interest in the welfare of the country sit together and try to figure out, what actually is required and is suitable for us and our next generations.