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The Great Provincial Divide

Asif Punjwani on 1, Feb 2012 | 32 Comments | in Category: Insight

Asif Punjwani

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There have been recent talks about creating a new province for better administration “for the Saraiki-speaking citizens”. Apparently, dividing citizens of a country based on language would serve better administrative purpose. Let’s accept this argument for the sake of simplicity and step back into the time when Pakistan was created. Upon creation, Pakistan was divided into four provinces, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the NWFP. The creation was based on race and language. Sixty-five years have passed since creation and Pakistan has yet to reconcile its racial identity. Has the Government not learnt anything?

It absolutely has. Politicians are born with the instinct to rule, no-matter what the cost. Divide and rule always comes in handy. If a government which thrives on feudalism, can be divided on race and language for 65 years, there’s no better way to expand the already proven policy of divide and rule.

If the government is truly interested in addressing administrative efficiencies and wants to ‘unite’ Pakistan, here’s a solution to address both these issues within the same policy framework: Consolidate all four language based provinces under the Federal Charter and divide all the land in Pakistan into 1 square mile grids. Now, simply add up the grids till the population headcount reaches 100,000. Make that collection of grids, with 100,000 headcounts, a ‘municipality’. Each municipality should have its own court, police, school, water and fire department and a sales tax code for revenue generation to fund services to its citizens. These municipalities would hold their own elections and those elected officials would then be available to answer to the needs and concerns of the citizens of those municipalities. This same municipality would also tie into the federal voting process. No longer would a federal government be responsible for keeping a count of all the citizens in the whole country. Every municipality would be responsible for keeping a track on headcounts within its municipality.

This is one of the many practical solutions available to Pakistan. The problem isn’t the lack of solutions. Instead, the problem is lack of trust in leadership and political capital. It’s not enough to elect a leader with a vision but to stay focused and remain involved. Most of the time, it’s the voters that turn against the very leader they have elected because too many voters benefit from the existing system in place.

If western countries can absorb immigrants of all different backgrounds, why does Pakistan seem to have a problem consolidating identity in its citizens? As long as the Pakistani identity remains divided, reforms in education, economy and healthcare are pointless.

Pakistani citizens should demand these mandates from their elected representatives. Teachers should teach their students of ideas beyond what the syllabus covers. Maybe not today, but lets plan for tomorrow, if we want to see a tomorrow.

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S80408040

Great Article. I agree with you.We should say yes of the Division of Provinces on the Basis of Administration and We should say No to the Division on the Basis of Race, Language or Colour because it will serve to the opportunistic Political leaders who want to have a Policy of Divide and Rule.
The solutions given here could be a foundation stone for new provinces in Pakistan.

Anonymous

I am NOT advocating for creation of any province. I am trying to depoliticize governance from race and culture. Leave the Provinces intact but make Municipalities with its own local voting system, small courts, water, school and fire departments. Lahore will remain in Punjab. No provincial border will be touched. This is what I advocated.

Naz_o_niaz

In Pakistan, there are no need of further Provinces, already two Provinces are going in loss day by and are being destroyed by lavish lewd & ruffians politically, swallowing all Public Funds and Aids given by Center. In Saraikee Belt, mostly Balacochs,Wadeere, Feudal Lords are ruling roughly,they have no interest in their poor people,all having huge Huts at Lahore,Karachi and Islamabad,they can not survive without these big cities,their ladies never like Multani warmer & hot season. It is further stated that they will occupied lands of those persons who are settled there. they Feudal Lords are ruling there since the Pakistan come into being.Its thanks of Allah, that the Punjab is being survive by the kindness of Lahore, they pay tax and all Punjabi eats it. Punjab is actually Pakistan, if the PUNJAB IS STRONG THAN Pakistan IS STRONG,no value of other Provinces.If one Province come into being, a provincial assembly, enhancement of National Assembly seats and 10 senators, would be liability on the shoulders of poor saraikee. this is true un-justice with them.In my opinion, only two Provinces
are enough for Pakistan. one Punjab+Sindh and second NWFP+Balochista. ok. Allah Hafiz. NAZ MALIK, MUSA KHEL.

salman khan

we never in the favor of more provinces in Pakistan…
if issue took on KPK so we will try and strikes for a province here in Karachi…
Haider

Brother how can we expect anything good from these so called leaders who are involved in no less than 1300 billion rupees corruption annually. Our dear Quaid Jinnah Sahib called provincilism a poison during his speech in Oct 1948 and asked the Millat to get rid of it at all coat…

Anonymous

Exactly. Like I said in my article, the Govt is not there to serve you. Its purpose is to find out how to make you serve Govt’s needs.

Bilal

Why is every one talking about the government that “has the government not learn anything” either people who say such things about governemnt are crazy or dumb enogh to not understand that this government is NOT IN HERE TO SERVE THE PAKISTANI NATION but only to loot and steal.

kindly do not use such words as this governemnt has no intension of doing any good for people of Pakistan or Pakistan as a Country.
Haider shaikh

in fact creating new provinces on linguistic and ethnic basis is like playing with fire. Even some political parties suggest creating new provinces on administrative basis. It’s has also its own repercussions. i think we need to consolidate provinces more and make them sovereign units. Plus, we need to focus on good governance.
M.Saeed

Why multiply Governors and their paraphernalia of ill-governance-mills of Ministers , Advisers and their own armies of millers?

Pakistan was created not on ethnicity but, the vast Muslim majority areas. The only binding force that made the movement for Independence a huge success was the lingua franca called “Urdu” the mother of all Indian languages that made the fight against colonial masters, a success.

Quaid-e-Azam clearly told the nation that, it must make Urdu the National Language. Urdu is not a language of any Province of Pakistan but, is well understood by all and is the only natural mode of communication between them.

We need to understand that, what made our Independence from British possible, can equally Unite the country and put it on the road to success.
Sajid ali

really i appriciate this approach, we have to think in a sensible manner.
Imran A Khan

Totally disagree with the article. In 65 years we have learnt that no one listens to the voices of minorities in Pakistan and when they get fed up of the racial injustice they pick up arms to defend themselves and die in battle against the Northern Punjab/Pakhtoon majority army. we have seen this in the case of the Baluchis who after giving Pakistan so much get nothing in return, we have seen this in the case of the Hindku speaking people who being part of the (old) NWFP can not get admission in Peshawar University and we have seen this in the case on Urdu speakers who represent 8% of the total population of Pakistan but have a Quota of 2% in Education and Government jobs. Just drive a long drive across the GT road spells out the difference between North and South Punjab, where the seraiki live. we as a nation only remember that the minorities are also Pakistani when they pick up arms and start calling them traitors. But when the injustice is going on we forget that they are Pakistanis as well. Again when the rights of Urdu Speakers were violated we did not remember that they are like us Pakistanis but soon as they got together as a force we called them traitors and killed 15,000 of them and still do not shed a tear at their losses. the violation of rights of a Baluchis is so common now that we are not even bothered about it any more.

May be a smaller provinces and there autonomy will raise a sense of competition and politician will be asked question why one province is doing better then the other.

There is nothing wrong with being different, but we should respect each other. And in this comment I havent even touched the Non-muslims in our Pak land who are represented by the white section of our Flag.

Anonymous

But I never advocated creating any province. I advocated making Municipalities per 100,000 headcount.
Umairsafdar

but who is responsible more for this mess…. WE ARE ,people of pakistan WE awam ….why we do not make our polititions to change their decisions ,how many times we have raised voices for balouchies for pathans for punjabies being killed in balouchistan ,people being killed in karachi on basis of majhir and sindhis ,
we even did not raise our voices for our beloved hero DR AQ KHAN when he was kept in house arrest ,we are a third class crowd not a nation .these type of things looks good when we behave like a nation

Imran A Khan

you are absolutely right, where was the nation when all of this was happening, why did we not speak up. well my dear brother, some people did speak up, unfortunately there are 800 missing reporters in Pakistan on record who tried to report these things and 4000 missing persons altogether. when a terrorist is killed or caught the Pak Army makes it apoint to bring him in front of the media and brag about how proud they are of this achievement. The 4000 and 800 and those were innocent and they have either been killed or God knows where they are. This is the main reason we never speak up. because we have families. and we are also confused about the intentions of our defenders eho bring in corrupt governments for us.

tariq mian

The politicians have made it a habit of making issues out of non-issues in utter disregard of wishes of the late Father of Nation.
Warning about the dangers of provincialism and sectionalism, on March 21, 1948, at a public meeting, Mr. Jinnah said: —“So what is the use of saying, ‘We are Bengalis, or Sindhis, or Pathans, or Punjabis.’ No, we are Muslims. Islam has taught us this, and I think you will agree with me, that whatever else you may be and whatever you are, you are a Muslim. You belong to a nation now; you have now carved out a territory, vast territory, it is all yours; it does not belong to Punjabis or a Sindhi, or a Pathan, or a Bengali; it is your….Provincialism has been one of the curses; and so is sectionalism — Shia, Sunni, etc…Now I ask you to get rid of this provincialism, because as long as you allow this poison to remain in the body politics of Pakistan, believe me, you will never be a strong nation, and you will never be able to achieve what I wish we could achieve.” —

In order to camouflage their mis-governance, the foolish talk about dividing Punjab province is a non sense. Ironically, MQM pleads for the same silliness, yet when there comes a demand for cutting Sindh in to smaller provinces, they are really irked–isn’t that a hypocrisy?
Best solution is no more provinces- Just one Pakistan composed of Commissionerates headed by Divisional commissioners, so that financial burden eases significantly in the best interest of Pakistan.
I believe that Presidential form of government is suitable here.
Shaqadire

i m agree jitny zida suby ongy otna e molk or mazboot oga or awam ko relif mely gi main samjta hon baluchistan ko 3 sobo main sind ko 2 sobo main panjab ko 3 sobo main or khebar pahkton kowa ko 3 sobo main convert karna chiye is se bohat se masail door ojaingy.
Rana zaeem

The idea of new provinces should only be taken up as an administrative measure and not on the linguistic or racisim basis. That would be horribly disasterous for the country’s ideological base. Because…….. the idea of seraiki province is being projected by PPP (to have seraiki card) and quite misleading for seraiki people as well. The Seraikis have been ruling Pakistan for long, Farooq Leghari, Mr Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Yousuf Raza Gillani, Makhdoom Sajjad Hussain Qureshi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sikandar Hayay Boson and a lot others. Why these big guns didn’t change the status of their people??? Because these are feudals and nothing would change if a new seraiki proinve comes into being. Only it would further weaken the bindings in between. Administratively a province can be created for every 10M people or 2 Lac sq kilometer (which ever is suitable), 12 to 13 provinces could be established while being in the same circle of idealogy of pakistan.

http://tariqmian.blogspot.com/ tariq mian

Then who will bear the insurmountable cost of 13 provincial cabinets, 13 governors, 13 Chief ministers, and a large army of ministers and provincial chief secretaries and other staffing overflowing the available resources?
Isn’t that a another nightmare for the oppressed and the starving people of Pakistan?
Imran A Khan

The sirayiki leaders that you have mentioned were brought into power by The army, ISI, administration or what ever you would like to call them, not By the seraiki people. and any ways while discussing all of this provincial issues we must not only look at the future but also learn from our past, that has clearly shown us that unless there is autonomy in every province, Punjab will always have the majority seats in the national parliament and will utilize that majority power for its own use

Umairsafdar

new provinces debate is only initiated by PPP and Qleague PPP PM gilani wants his son to become CM of Sarikestan and same for Chaudries.
but i think all issues will be resolved if people of pakistan will stop playing in the hands of our corrupt and racial polititions on the basis of this language or colour aor provinnce or land this is the easiest way to divide people and create hatered among them on the basis of provincelism by the way most of our rulers are from sariki areas so why didnt they change their area,
it is just for political gains and we the ‘ so called AWAM’ are victim to it .PPP threat to separate sindh when they are asked about their corruption etc
ANP wants greater pakhoonistan and to unite it with Afghanistan
MQM want a separate province containing karachi and hayderabad
Hazara movement and list goes onn ….but unfortunately people of pakistan only knows one thing well ROTI khao or so jao ,jis din nai milay ge to daikhay gai …
may GOd help us
Shahida_qureshi

Only the politicians take advantage of the GREAT PROVINCIAL DIVIDE. The people have nothing to gain and indeed nothing to lose.They will be just as poor and deprived no matter how many small bits the country is divided into. The only person who will profit is the politician because he will then become the EMPEROR of a mini state!!! It better not to lose sight of the fact that we need to reform our institutions and increase productivity in the bureaucracy. And most of all rid ourselves of THE DREADED CANCER OF CORRUPTION.
Anonymous

What an irony that local government was promoted during a military dictator with rubber stamp parliament’s aid but the ‘democracy is the best revenge’ parliament has returned to more centralisation (federal ir provincial) despite 18th amendment and no local elections. Would not have been better to fix any flaws in Musharaff’s local government act?!
Anonymous

The majority will obviously be against it. They dont want to understand the reason why it is to everyone’s advantage when we create more provinces, it will be easier to govern them and the people of the area will get more empowerment. Big cities like Lahore and Rawalpindi and Sialkot and Multan have more development than smaller cities and towns. it is difficult to govern a large state. People should not feel afraid that they will lose control. if progress has to be made, tough decisions will have to be taken.
Taj Ahmad

All 50+ Division in Pakistan, should be declared as new province of Pakistan
and each new province should have under full authority a new Mayor and
his small cabinet to run the province, there should be no Chief Minister or
Governor in this new province.
Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and
Syria have 15 to 30 provinces in their respective countries, why Pakistan
cannot have it?
Khaidri

pakistan was not devided into four provinces at the time of creation…countries are not graph papers so you can devide into square centimeters (so called practical solution)
http://profile.yahoo.com/DPG5B3VT2TW6QSFYFVVMMVGHU4 Hikmat

I don’t agree with the idea of making new provinces, because the fact of dividing the country in new provinces is still behind the scene. Pakistan has four provinces still they are not in unity… many leaders of the provinces disagree on many issues, lets take the matter of two days weekend in a week, which is only carried out in those Ministries, departments, Institutes which are under Federal authority and none of four provinces have agreed to this matter>>> which shows that there is no coordination & lack of unity. if suppose Pakistan is divided into further provinces can any one guarantee that Pakistan will lead to prosperity??? i think no! because there will be a lot of problem as some of the party leaders do not agree which will lead to further problems in county… I agree administratively a province can be created for every 10M people or 2 Lac sq kilometer (which ever is suitable). Furthermore, Pakistan is a Muslim country and Islam teaches us the lesson of brotherhood & unity…I think this is a useless issue taken up by the leaders of every party. We should concentrate towards country betterment like economy, livelihood, prosperity, education, health, peace and other more fields which can make a successful country.
Salman Khan

Totally Disagree with the article. Pakistan was founded on 1940 resolution which says “No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities”

If you read it gives rights to all the nations(Ethnicities, Baloch, Punjabi, Pashtun, Sindhis) to have their cultural rights, they have right to implement their languages and so on. You cannot impose Urdu of Lucknow on Baloch or Pashtuns. You have same mindset of British colony to suppress them by changing their geography and divide each of them. These ethnicities joined to make Pakistan, Pakistan did not make them. Give me some sensible argument. In the name of Administrative unit, don’t divide these nations which are proud of their history, that is not racism and all around the world, it is respected and they have their right. You want administration? We already have district, cities, want to divide more, call it mini-cities. You cannot fool people by the word administrative.
Tanveer Shahid

Division of provinces should be on the basis of equality. Population, resources, problems and their solution. My opinion is that provinces should be the divide if the population is more 25 million so the division may be as followed:

1. karachi
2. Remaining Sind
3. Multan, including DGK and BWR Divisions
4. Lahore, including FSD, GRW & Sahiwal divsion
5. Rawalpindi, including Hazara division and sargodha division
6. Pakhtonkha includuing FATA area
7. Balochistan, it may divide into two province after establishing new two/three cities

This division is based on equal population, resources and others problems. After this equally establish the international airport, universities, medical colleges and other basic facilities.

Further discussion may be comments can be adjusted.
thanks
zulfiqar khan

The current government should be dismissed by supreme court and all polition
should be hanged till death.
Zam_mengal

Mr. Asif please correct your first paragraph of article just study history of Baluchistan, at time of freedom of Pakistan Balochistan not part of sub continent, Balochistan had its own Independent status.
Shahbaz

think about Pakistan first and then be a Pakistanis. Politicians wants to divide us for their mini state to rule. Politicians are the main beneficiary and will always if we shall not change. We have to change ourselves our system for better and prosper Pakista. Pakistan Zindabad
S Nasrullah

The crux of the matter, Mr Ayaz is what you stated logically: ” The problem isn’t the lack of solutions. Instead, the problem is lack of trust in leadership and political capital. It’s not enough to elect a leader with a vision but to stay focused and remain involved”. Gen Ayub played with the idea of One Unit and how the country suffered from the unwilling stakeholder – the Muslim Bengal.

It is but a known fact that people migrating to foreign countries never confronted the pains or pangs of racial concerns. There the rewards of their labor, skill or expertise was enough to spell a life of comfort and convenience. It is deprivation or economic injustices that propel people to ventilate their grievances in whatever form or fancy. Our neighbors, gotten their freedom a day after ours, made herculean efforts to weld the various nationalities and ethnicity into one mold – Hindustani First and all other identities later. Even in USA, a popular President JFK had to evoke national sentiments by entreating his countrymen to “Ask not what USA can do for you; ask yourself what you could do for the country”.

An elected Representative, whether MPA or MNA, represents a broad spectrum of constituents comprised of various stripes of nationalities and diverse cultures and if the people repose faith on that one individual to truly reflect their aims and aspirations, without the differentials of language and the lifestyle, how come that an Administrative Unit based on specific nationality ever find crucial equilibrium on vital matters of the State, dealing with other Units of varying nationalities. The Partition of the Sub Continent was based on Hindu and Muslim majority areas; and we should have marched ahead of that milestone long long ago.

We have had the Leadership deficit that made no sense of our objectives or goals as a nation. We have had Demagogues but No National leader. The algebra of sect, race, language and culture posed insurmountable obstacle and tended to stall the dynamics of progress by pull and push of National Policies in multiple directions – often opposite – and the progress and prosperity we sought, eluded when we found ourselves chained to the ground at the starting point.

The Great Provincial Divide

Asif Punjwani

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