New provinces should be created where population requires them: Khalid Maqbool

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has called for the creation of new provinces in areas where population size and administrative requirements justify such a move.

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has called for the creation of new provinces in areas where population size and administrative requirements justify such a move.

Addressing a general workers’ meeting in Karachi Siddiqui said new provinces should be established wherever there was a demand for them and where population-based needs made them necessary.

He argued that urban areas of Sindh had one of the strongest cases for provincial restructuring in Pakistan describing the demand as an important administrative and public need.

Siddiqui also questioned the effectiveness of a democratic system that failed to deliver its benefits to ordinary citizens. He said democracy should produce meaningful improvements in people’s lives rather than remain limited to political institutions.

Speaking about the demand for new administrative units the MQM-P chief said his party intended to pursue the issue through constitutional and legal channels before taking it to the public.

Responding to those who question where a proposed province would be established Siddiqui said his party believed it had a historical claim to its share of land. He also referred to properties left behind by non-Muslims after Partition, arguing that these were legally owned by his community.

The MQM-P leader further called for unity among disadvantaged groups against what he described as oppressive forces. He said society was increasingly divided between those who benefited from the system and those who suffered its consequences.

Siddiqui maintained that efforts to protect Pakistan required collective political action. He also criticised hereditary politics and what he termed feudal-style democracy saying the country did not need a political system dominated by family-based power structures and influential landowners.

His remarks have once again brought the debate over provincial restructuring administrative representation and the demands of Sindh’s urban population into the political spotlight.