Parliament to Debate Creation of New Provinces in October: Tariq Fazal Chaudhry
- The National Assembly and Senate will debate the creation of new provinces during their October sessions.
- The government has ruled out converting Islamabad into a province, saying the capital is moving toward a new governance model.
- Ahsan Iqbal has proposed reorganising Pakistan into 15 provinces but says any change would require broad political consensus.
The National Assembly and Senate are expected to hold formal debates on the proposed creation of new provinces when both houses meet in October, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry has said.
Speaking to the media, the minister said neither house of Parliament would hold a session in September. He added that the issue of new provinces would be taken up after parliamentary proceedings resume the following month.
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Chaudhry noted that the proposal was already being widely discussed in the media and among intellectuals, political stakeholders and representatives of the business community. However, he stressed that Parliament remained the most appropriate forum for a structured national debate on the matter.
He also rejected speculation that Islamabad could be converted into a separate province. According to the minister, the federal capital is instead moving toward the adoption of a new governance model, and no proposal to grant it provincial status is under consideration.
The debate gained momentum after Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal proposed dividing each of Pakistan’s four existing provinces into three administrative units. Under his proposal, the country would eventually have a total of 15 provinces.
Iqbal argued that the existing administrative structure was failing to deliver effectively and called for the establishment of a review committee to examine the proposal. He also urged political parties and other stakeholders to begin a comprehensive national discussion on administrative restructuring.
The planning minister said the debate had gathered further attention following Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s remarks about shortcomings in the current system.
