What's stopping Pakistan from creating new provinces?

[_Khawaja]

What's stopping the Pakistani government from creating new provinces? What provinces do you suggest should be created?

 

[Talwar e Pakistan]

we're a federation based off of 5 different cultures and (to an extent) ethnicities. Making more provinces would cause tensions.

 

[xyxmt]

1. Greed and Selfishness of politicians we call our "leaders", bigger the pie bigger the take
2. ignorance of our population who think dividing provinces will lead to their extinction, which is mainly caused by people in line 1.

 

[_Khawaja]

we're a federation based off of 5 different cultures and (to an extent) ethnicities. Making more provinces would cause tensions.

We have more than 5 ethnicities, I think we need to redraw provincial boundaries especially in Balochistan and KP.

 

[JamD]

we're a federation based off of 5 different cultures and (to an extent) ethnicities. Making more provinces would cause tensions.

I think that fear is what is precisely stopping us. To make new provinces you would need country-wide consensus (or less ideally a dictator with an iron-will).

That being said, I do see quite a lot of benefits that may be seen with new provinces. It would shake up the electoral structure in a good way. I think this is one of those things Pakistan needs, but is unlikely to get. Like Kalabagh damn (dam* Freudian slip) lol.

 

[_Khawaja]

I don't think Quetta should be part of Balochistan, their capital should be Qalat.

 

[Hyde]

I like this formula for more provinces in Pakistan

In my opinion they should have provinces with maximum geographical boundary of 50,000 square km. Thats large enough area to be maintained by 1 Chief Minister. Something similar to India did in Punjab region of India by dividing each region to about 50,000 square km to carve out Haryana and Arunchal Pradesh out of Punjab

There should be 14-18 provinces carved out of current 4 provinces and 3 territories of Pakistan and additional 3-4 provinces shown and officially recognised for Indian held Kashmir until or unless the resolution has been made and land boundaries are permanently defined

I don't understand if India in almost every newspaper claims to have border with Afghanistan and often counts the territories of Pakistan as her then why don't we do the same.

So basically 18 provinces from the existing geography of about 883,000 square kilometres and 3-4 provinces as held Kashmir.

Ps: I am aware of the legal reasons for not declaring AJK and GB as provinces of Pakistan but India has done the same, there should be clear stance about it and everybody should get equal rights in Pakistan

 

[_Khawaja]

I think Chitral should either be made a seperate province from KP or merged with Gilgit.

 

[Talwar e Pakistan]

We have more than 5 ethnicities, I think we need to redraw provincial boundaries especially in Balochistan and KP.

That would give excuses for ethno-nationalist parties like ANP to say something like this "Punjabis and Mohajirs are dividing Pashtuns to make us weak" or some shit like that.

It's best we wait; as the population becomes more educated, aware and open-minded then we can think of something like this. As you can see, most people are dropping their 'ethnic identities' especially the youth and the populists. Eventually ethno-cultural lines will fade away.

 

[_Khawaja]

Chitral is quite big, they have a distinct culture and ethnicity and royal family, I think they'd make a good candidate for provincehood. It would also protect them from the dominant conservative culture of the current province.

That would give excuses for ethno-nationalist parties like ANP to say something like this "Punjabis and Mohajirs are dividing Pashtuns to make us weak" or some shit like that.

It's best we wait; as the population becomes more educated, aware and open-minded then we can think of something like this. As you can see, most people are dropping their 'ethnic identities' especially the youth and the populists. Eventually ethno-cultural lines will fade away.

But Chitralis are Dardic people, they don't even vote for Pashtun parties.

 

[JamD]

I like this formula for more provinces in Pakistan

In my opinion they should have provinces with maximum geographical boundary of 50,000 square km. Thats large enough area to be maintained by 1 Chief Minister. Something similar to India did in Punjab region of India by dividing each region to about 50,000 square km to carve out Haryana and Arunchal Pradesh out of Punjab

There should be 14-18 provinces carved out of current 4 provinces and 3 territories of Pakistan and additional 3-4 provinces shown and officially recognised for Indian held Kashmir until or unless the resolution has been made and land boundaries are permanently defined

I don't understand if India in almost every newspaper claims to have border with Afghanistan and often counts the territories of Pakistan as her then why don't we do the same.

So basically 18 provinces from the existing geography of about 883,000 square kilometres and 3-4 provinces as held Kashmir.

Ps: I am aware of the legal reasons for not declaring AJK and GB as provinces of Pakistan but India has done the same, there should be clear stance about it and everybody should get equal rights in Pakistan

The creation of provinces will also force the creation of new large and planned cities, which is something we desperately lack. There is no incentive to distribute wealth/population across geographic regions and everything is either in Karachi or Lahore (wealth, population and focus). These cities are buckling under the pressure, especially Karachi.

But of course, who will make these provinces. The people at the top have no incentives to do so. Whenever we think of ideas for Pakistan's prosperity I think we should also think about how to give the people at the top their cut so we incentivize prosperity. It's foolish to hope they will go against their economic interests.

 

[Hyde]

The creation of provinces will also force the creation of new large and planned cities, which is something we desperately lack. There is no incentive to distribute wealth/population across geographic regions and everything is either in Karachi or Lahore (wealth, population and focus). These cities are buckling under the pressure, especially Karachi.

But of course, who will make these provinces. The people at the top have no incentives to do so. Whenever we think of ideas for Pakistan's prosperity I think we should also think about how to give the people at the top their cut so we incentivize prosperity. It's foolish to hope they will go against their economic interests.

If you look at the maps of East Asian and South Asian countries... you realise the fact that most of the major cities are either inhabited or industrialised along the coastal areas. Pakistan is probabaly the only country out of many which only have 1 city along the coastal area that unsurprisingly is also the biggest city of Pakistan.

India have Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu upto West Bengal where most of the industrial outout is situated. Even in Bangladesh they have Chittagong along the coastal areas and look at China where over 80% population is living along the coastal areas and same is true for Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore which is a tiny Island anyway

The point i am trying to make is, Pakistan envisioned master plan of Gwadar to be the second planned city in Pakistan after Islamabad with population of about 3 million but it is not enough and we need to resettle some of the population along the coastal areas and possibly create new cities in Jivani, Gwadar, Ormara and Keti Bandar. If each city have population of 3-5 million, its likely to be some of the most developed cities in Pakistan as it will open various opportunities for common man such as new ports and ship building industry will thrive. Then you guys can have Makran Coastal Railway and enhanced tourism from rest of Pakistan and the world

 

[Imad.Khan]

I am in the process of drafting a suggestion for an alternate political system for Pakistan. I will detail a proposal for new provinces and new districts in it.

 

[JamD]

If you look at the maps of East Asian and South Asian countries... you realise the fsct that most of the major cities are either inhabited or industrialised along the coastal areas. Pakistan is probabaly the only country out of many which only have 1 city along the coastal area that unsurprisingly is also the biggest city of Pakistan.

India have Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu up t0o West Bengal where most of the industrial outout is situated. Even in Bangladesh they have Chittagong along the coastal areas aand look at China where over 80% population is living along the coastal areas and same is true for Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore which is a tiny Island anyway

The point i am trying to make is, Pakistan envisioned master plan of Gwadar to be the second planned city in Pakistan after Islamabad with population of about 3 million but it is not enough and we need to resettle some of the population along the coastal areas and possible create new cities in Jivani, Gwadar, Ormara and Keti Bandar. If each city have population of 3-5 million, its likely to be some of the most developed cities in Pakistan as it will open varioud opportunitied for common man such as new ports and ship building industry will thrive. Then you guys can have Makran Coastal Railway and enhanced tourism from rest of Pakistan and the world

You've spoken my mind! The layout of Pakistan's cities is still like we are in prepartition India. The problem is especially bad in the case of Karachi. It is the only big city within a 600 700 km radius. The problem isn't so bad up north where there are more big cities. But again some of the big cities need to be near the coast and Karachi needs other cities to take some of the population and resource pressures. We desperately need other population centers. We can't just build roads and expect magic to happen. There has to be a conscious decision to develop new planned cities.

Also from an article on CPEC on Dawn today:
"For investments to yield economic benefits, it seems a necessary, if not a sufficient, condition for them to either generate employment or to connect populated locations at relatively comparable levels of economic development. The historical evidence suggests that routing corridors through sparsely populated territory even with associated investments that create very few jobs is unlikely to be transformative. And linking disproportionately developed areas without prior complementary investments may just accelerate a drain of people and resources from the less developed regions."
SOURCE:http://www.dawn.com/news/1308873/cpec-lessons-from-history

 

[LA se Karachi]

I think Chitral should either be made a seperate province from KP or merged with Gilgit.

Ideally it would be. But because of legal reasons regarding the disputed territory of Kashmir, it is still a part of KPK. If the issue was ever resolved (a big if), then I suspect that it would indeed be merged with Gilgit-Baltistan.