Legal debate intensifies over new provinces

As some senior government functionaries strongly advocate creating new provinces to improve governance, a debate intensifies among legal experts and political leaders over the constitutional procedure required to establish new administrative units. Former additional attorney general Waqar Rana said the Constitution of Pakistan contains no express provision for creating new provinces. "The Constitution of India, on the other hand, specifically provides for establishing new states under Articles 2 and 3.

Article 239(4) of the Constitution of Pakistan caters only to the limited issue of altering the limits of a province," Rana said. He explained that Section 2 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, stipulated that Pakistan comprised certain provinces and areas, expressly referring to the existing provinces. According to Rana, the proper legal course would be to amend the Constitution by first inserting an express provision for creating new provinces and then proceeding accordingly.

"For such an amendment, resolutions passed by a two-thirds majority of every provincial assembly would be required. Some legal experts have wrongly suggested relying on Article 1, which has nothing to do with creating new provinces," he said. Rana said the federal government could seek an advisory opinion by filing a presidential reference before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), but cautioned against relying on such a mechanism.

"A question of such great importance and far-reaching consequences must not hinge on an advisory opinion of the FCC," he said, adding that the issue was fundamentally political and the courts should avoid entering the political arena. He also argued that concentrating political power could only be addressed by empowering people through education and economic development. "Uttar Pradesh has a larger population than Punjab, so population alone cannot justify creating new provinces.

Pakistan's economic problems have nothing to do with the number of provinces; they stem from the misuse of public funds," he added. Pakistan Bar Council member Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed said the proposal appeared politically unfeasible given the strong public sentiments surrounding it. He said, under Article 239 of the Constitution, creating new provinces would necessarily alter the boundaries of existing provinces.

Therefore, it would require a two-thirds majority in the rel…