New provinces Aleem Khan backs Hazara, South Punjab and Bahawalpur demands

New provinces should be created to meet the country’s changing administrative and demographic needs, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) President Abdul Aleem Khan said on Saturday, backing demands for Hazara, South Punjab and Bahawalpur.

Aleem Khan, who also serves as federal communications minister, said his party would support the creation of new provinces and raise the issue at every forum.

He said the demand for a separate Hazara province had remained active in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2010, with several major political parties supporting it.

“The IPP stands with the demand for the Hazara province,” Aleem said.

He also backed separate provinces for South Punjab and Bahawalpur, noting that calls for administrative restructuring had emerged in Punjab and Sindh as well.

Aleem argued that there was no reason to rule out dividing each of Pakistan’s four provinces into four administrative units. He said changing circumstances required the country to consider a new administrative structure.

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He urged politicians to take responsibility for the issue instead of protecting political interests and local power bases.

“Instead of protecting their dominance, they will have to think about the problems of the people,” he said.

Aleem described the creation of new provinces as a national issue that should not become a victim of political expediency. He said the IPP would continue to advocate for administrative reform.

The debate gained momentum after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi recently criticised Pakistan’s governance system and called for administrative reforms, including the creation of new units.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan also supported the idea, saying Pakistan needed new provinces but any decision would require broad political consensus and a two-thirds majority in the relevant assemblies.

Speaking on Geo News programme Capital Talk, Gohar said the existing system could not resolve the country’s problems and that fundamental reforms were necessary.

Naqvi later clarified his remarks, saying he had not criticised the current government because he was part of it. He said the existing constitutional system would remain in place and complete its five-year term.

He explained that his criticism concerned the deterioration of Pakistan’s governance institutions over the past 80 years rather than the performance of the present administration.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah said the government had not prepared any plan to create new provinces.

Speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan, Sanaullah said politicians had proposed different numbers of provinces, ranging from 12 to 32, but no concrete plan had emerged.

He questioned whether provinces could be created simply through public statements and media discussions without a detailed proposal.

Sanaullah said Mustafa Kamal’s proposal for administrative restructuring focused on Karachi. He added that the PML-N leadership had not recently discussed creating new provinces.

He said the government’s priority was to resolve people’s problems at their doorstep rather than pursue an undefined restructuring plan.

The Pakistan Peoples Party has rejected the proposal, while Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Sanaullah have also expressed reservations about the idea.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has strongly opposed any division of Sindh. He said the Constitution already provides a mechanism for creating new provinces, requiring a two-thirds majority in the relevant provincial assembly.

Shah said the Sindh Assembly had repeatedly passed unanimous resolutions against dividing the province and suggested there was currently no reason to reconsider that position.

Sanaullah has also distanced the government from Naqvi’s earlier remarks, saying the interior minister’s comments represented his personal views rather than an official government policy.