Khawaja Asif backs 12 provinces, rejects ethnic basis for new units

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has backed the creation of new provinces in Pakistan and said the country could consider as many as 12, as long as the units are drawn for administrative reasons and not on language, ethnicity or political interest.

He spoke to Geo News in Sialkot on Sunday. "If there is a proposal for 12 provinces, then make it 12, but they should not be created on the basis of language, ethnicity or political interests," Asif said, according to Geo News.

The minister said the proposal had been under discussion for about two months, with opinions coming from across the country. He argued that a growing population needed smaller administrative units to deliver public services.

Power, he said, should not stay concentrated in provincial capitals. He named Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar and called for administrative authority to be shifted to smaller units.

Asif also questioned how money is distributed. Funds transferred by the federal government remain at the discretion of provincial governments, he said, although they are meant for the local government institutions that provide public services and which themselves depend on provincial authorities.

He asked politicians to reconsider how they use authority. "We politicians want to exercise all the power ourselves," he said, adding that power was a trust given to them by the people.

He cited the One Unit scheme, under which Pakistan's provinces were merged and the arrangement later reversed, and Afghanistan, where he said the number of provinces rose from around eight or 10 to more than 30.

The remarks come amid reports that a plan to reorganise the country into 12 provinces is under consideration. According to a report in The News cited by Geo News, Punjab would be divided into four provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan into three each and Sindh into two, with a nationwide referendum envisaged ahead of a possible 28th Constitutional Amendment.

Sources familiar with the proposal told Geo News the amendment could be considered in the first half of 2027, with preparatory steps possibly beginning in the first quarter of that year. No decision has been taken.

The Daily Times reported that provincial boundaries, administrative arrangements and the constitutional process have not been finalised.