By Noor Khan
One can thinkof small farmer living in a far village in southern part of Balochistan or a small vendor working in southern Punjab. When a big problem sparks with a local government hospital, a central supply road, or a complex land dispute, they often have to travel hundreds of kilo-meters just toapproach their provincial capital. They spend valuable time, hard earned money, and face endless administrative delays. This is an important question for our country, how close government is to the people if a citizen must spend days to even be heard by the institutions serving them. Today, Pakistan is attempting to manage over two hundred and forty million people using an administrative setup of just four main provinces. This basic structure was created decades ago when our total population was much smaller and society far more simple.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics census, Punjab is home to over half of the total population: over one hundred and twenty-seven million people living in one single sub national unit of administration. On the other hand, Balochistan covers around forty-four percent of the country’s total land area but holds only about six percent of the population. Having such huge and unequal administrative units results in serious governance problems. When a single provincial government is responsible for tens of millions of people or vast stretches of difficult territory, the distance between state officials and the common citizen is far too great. Making smaller and well-managed provinces can bring the state to the doorstep of ordinary people. When administrative units are smaller, regional leaders and civil servants can see local problems much more quickly and take immediate action. If it is fixing a village road, providingpure drinking water to far area villages, fixing a primary school, or improving a local health clinic, a closer government can act swiftly. A single uniform policy made in a far-off capital is ineffective in every region as each has unique geography, economy and social conditions. Smaller provinces allow local decision makers to focus on region specific development rather than a rigid one size fits all approach. Looking at international examples, we see how creating smaller subnational units can significantly improve public administration and service delivery. India has taken new state of Telangana in 2014 by cutting it from the bigger areas of Andhra-Pradesh. Official government database from Telangana highlights that the state started its focus on local water management projects, regional infrastructure and local economic growth. Earlier in the year two thousand, India created three new states which were Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. Official documents from the India Ministry of Home Affairs stated that these states were created to give special attention to the social and economic development of hill and tribal populations who were previously ignored by distant state capitals. Another very strong comparative example comes from South Africa. When South Africa moved to full democracy in the nineteen-nineties, they completely reorganized their internal administrative structure from four old provinces into nine new ones. According to South African government records, this was specifically to move service-delivery structures closer to the public and reallocate public staff and resources to areas that needed them most.
Each new province had its own legislature, premier and executive council to manage local affairs more efficiently than before. The need for closer administration is apparent when looking at Balochistan as a direct case study. Balochistan is geographically vast with small populations across huge distances and tough terrain. A citizen living in Gwadar, Turbat or Chagai currently has to travel vast distances over long hours to even reach the provincial capital in Quetta. Due to the vastness of its land and the spread out settlements, the creating of basic infrastructure such as colleges, teaching hospitals and paved highways is very difficult from a distant administrative centre. Creating smaller administrative units in such large regions can set up new administrative capitals, making public officers, courts, education boards and health directors much more accessible to local communities. Minor provinces can also build the regional economies and broaden the opportunities for local populations. Different regions of Pakistan have completely different economic strengths and natural resources. Some places are very rich in minerals while some have great possibility for coastal trade, deep sea fishing, farming, livestock, energy or historical tourism. When regional leaders govern a smaller and focused area, they can design special economic policies to attract targeted investment, build local markets and promote regional tourism. Setting up new provincial capitals also creates administrative jobs, new department offices and better road connectivity. In the long term, this economic activity will foster private, market, technical, and university opportunities that will create jobs for younger people in their own districts instead of forcing them to move towards highly populated mega-cities like Karachi or Lahore. This decrease in the administrative unit will also raise accountability, and transparency. A smaller provincial system will make life easier for average citizens, community leaders, journalists, and civil society organizations; they can keep a closer watch on the activities of elected officials, and it will be harder for these officials to ignore or evade public scrutiny and mis-use state funds since it is easier for everybody to reach provincial government offices and ask for explanations. However, we must be intellectually honest about the real administrative challenges. Creating a new province is not a magic wand that solves every social and political problem overnight. If we merely draw new lines on a map without planning, it can lead to higher government expenditure, unnecessary duplication of government departments, political friction and administrative confusion. International research from the OECD shows that decentralization brings great potential benefits such as better public services and increased citizen participation but these are contingent upon how the system is designed and managed. The OECD notes that there is no single best size for a region so what is most important is administrative capacity, proper financial resources and good management practices. Therefore, the creation of new provinces must be backed by a clear and realistic solution and transition plan. A new province needs guaranteed financial resources under the National Finance Commission award, trained and competent civil servants, transparent resource distribution rules and strong empowered local government setups at the district level. Without real fiscal decentralisation, proper institutional capacity and honest management, smaller provinces will result in more expensive government offices and salaries but not improve the daily lives of ordinary citizens. It is vital to understand the constitutional process required in Pakistan. A new province cannot be created overnight by a simple administrative notice or executive order. According to Article two hundred and thirty-nine of the Constitution of Pakistan, any constitutional amendment to change the geographical boundaries of a province requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the National Assembly and the Senate, as well as a two-thirds majority vote in the provincial assembly of the affected province. This ensures that new provinces can only be created via proper democratic agreement and consensus, strengthening our federal system rather than weakening national unity. In the end, the main aim of creating new provinces should not be to create more political seats, minister offices or administrative titles for politicians. The real aim must be to bring the government closer to the citizens, make public service delivery more swift and reliable, and give every distinct region a fair opportunity to develop. When decision making is close to the people it serves, government becomes much more responsive, public trust in state institutions increases and Pakistan as a whole, becomes stronger, stable and prosperous.
