Khawaja Asif predicts new provinces deal and new system by new year

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the plan for new administrative units has made substantial progress and that a shape of it could emerge before the new year, with political parties expected to reach agreement within weeks.

Speaking on a private television channel's programme, Asif said new provinces were no threat to anyone and that all provinces were being taken on board. He said he expected the Pakistan Peoples Party's reservations to be resolved within one or two weeks, and offered the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf its agreement on the plan. If a little room had to be given on the matter, he said, it would be given.

Aaj News reported that Asif said PTI founder Imran Khan could get a chance to return to mainstream politics if that agreement came through. He also said that putting everything at stake around one person could not be called politics.

Asked about the timing, Asif said some shape of the new system would be visible by the end of this year. His personal opinion, he said, was that the new system would be seen in the new year.

The remarks come during an ongoing debate on creating new provinces and on proposals to settle the question through a referendum. On Sunday, MQM-P leader and federal health minister Mustafa Kamal repeated his support for a referendum, saying December was an important month and might be the month of the referendum.

Speaking in Karachi, Kamal said the decision-making powers had spoken to all relevant parties, and that if political parties did not agree to the amendment, a referendum would be held. He accused opponents of the new provinces of wanting to set people against each other on linguistic lines, and claimed the PPP would change its position on the issue. He said the PTI should not let the opportunity slip and should do this work unconditionally.

Federal minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, speaking in Chiniot, called new provinces inevitable and backed a referendum. He said political parties were hesitant, so public opinion should be sought through a vote. Punjab has grown into one of the world's largest regions by population, he said, and powers and resources should not be confined to one chief minister; every district should get equal rights. The present system, he said, benefits the ruling class rather than the ordinary citizen.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has earlier called a referendum the best solution on new provinces, saying the decision should rest on public opinion and that all parties should be taken into confidence. Asif has also previously backed new provinces on an administrative basis and said a proposal for 12 provinces could be considered.