ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Wednesday opposed proposals to create new provinces on administrative grounds, arguing that Pakistan’s governance challenges stem from constitutional and institutional failures rather than the country’s existing federal structure.
In a statement, Rabbani said the failure of the system of governance, if any, was not a consequence of Pakistan having four provinces but was the result of repeated derailment of the democratic process, shrinking political space for elected representatives, centralization of powers in Islamabad and weakening of constitutional institutions.
He said governance had also suffered due to constitutional amendments introduced by military rulers, experimentation with multiple systems of governance since 1947, policymaking outside Parliament, failure to hold free, fair and transparent elections, violations of the Constitution, disregard for the separation of powers, rule by law instead of the rule of law and denial of provincial autonomy.
Calling these issues “just the tip of the iceberg,” Rabbani said Pakistan was created as a federation through the unanimous accession of its federating units and that the country’s strength lay in its ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity.
He maintained that provinces established on historical and constitutional realities could not be divided on the basis of administrative considerations, warning that reopening such a debate at the current juncture could deepen existing internal fault lines.
The former Senate chairman said any move to bifurcate the federating units could strengthen militant movements in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country, encourage extreme nationalist forces, sharpen linguistic and ethnic divisions and raise disputes over the distribution of natural resources.
Instead of creating new provinces, Rabbani called for strict adherence to the Constitution, including upholding its supremacy, ensuring the rule of law, implementing provincial autonomy, respecting the constitutional separation of powers and devolving political, administrative and financial authority to elected local governments in accordance with Article 140-A of the Constitution.
He warned that pursuing the path of dividing federating units could engulf the federation in further political instability and aggravate existing security and governance challenges.
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