Government plans special status and wider boundaries for Islamabad
Under the proposed model a mayor would head the capital's administration with 25 to 30 elected members, and parts of Haripur, Rawalpindi and Murree could be added.
The federal government has prepared a new administrative model for Islamabad that would give the capital special status, make an elected mayor its administrative head and extend its boundaries into Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to government sources cited by ARY News. No final decision has been announced.
Under the proposal the capital's elected body would have between 25 and 30 members, with the mayor heading the administration, ARY News reported. The report said the next local government elections in Islamabad would be held under the new system.
The Nation reported that Islamabad could either be given special status or be developed as a model administrative unit. It said the government has not yet announced a decision on the governance structure or on any change to the existing boundaries.
The land under consideration includes parts of Haripur district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some areas of Rawalpindi district and localities within National Assembly constituency NA-51 in Murree district, according to The Nation and Bloom Pakistan. Any such transfer would need resolutions from the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies and fresh delimitation, Bloom Pakistan reported.
ARY News and Bloom Pakistan both reported that an earlier proposal to bring Gwadar or other port cities under Islamabad's administrative structure has been dropped.
The plan follows recommendations submitted to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in September 2026 by a high-level government committee for an elected Islamabad Capital Territory Assembly of 27 members, Bloom Pakistan reported. That proposal set out 21 directly elected seats, five reserved for women and one for minorities, with the assembly electing a chief executive who could be called chief minister or mayor.
The committee also proposed transferring health, education, environmental affairs and municipal services to the elected administration, while law and order and master planning would stay with the federal government.
The Nation reported that the proposals remain under consideration and would require further government decisions and legal changes before they could be implemented.
How the reports differ
ARY News reported that preparations had been finalised and that the next Islamabad local government elections would be held under the new system, a line neither The Nation nor Bloom Pakistan carried. The Nation led with a government still considering the plan and said no final decision had been announced on the structure or the boundaries. Bloom Pakistan set out the September 2026 committee's 27-member assembly, its split of 21 general, five women and one minority seat and the division of subjects between the elected administration and the federal government.
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