Sindh and Quetta residents back new provinces as only solution

Residents of Sindh and Quetta have told Express News that creating new provinces is the only way to resolve administrative problems and corruption, according to reports the channel aired this week.

In Sindh, citizens interviewed by the channel said smaller provinces would bring government closer to the people and make it easier to address local grievances. A separate report from Quetta quoted residents as saying new provinces were the only solution to their problems and to corruption.

The Quetta report's standfirst said each smaller province would have its own chief minister and inspector general of police, which the channel said would help make administrative oversight more effective. Residents argued that a single provincial administration covering a large population and a vast area could not respond to local complaints, and that resources were not being distributed fairly.

According to the Quetta standfirst, having a separate chief minister and inspector general in each smaller province would strengthen administrative supervision. The channel quoted citizens as saying that corruption and unresolved complaints were a direct result of the existing provincial setup.

Express News did not say how many people were interviewed or which proposed provinces were under discussion. The reports available to Skardu Times also did not name any government official or political party, and did not carry any response from the federal or provincial governments, making it unclear whether the views represented a structured survey or the opinions of a small number of residents. No representative of the Election Commission or any provincial assembly was named.

Both reports presented street reactions rather than official positions. The Sindh report was carried by UrduPoint and the Quetta report by the Express website. The reports did not include details of proposed boundaries or timelines for creating new provinces.

The demand for smaller provinces has been raised in several parts of Pakistan in recent years, but no formal constitutional proposal was mentioned in the coverage. Skardu Times could not independently verify the residents' statements.

The full text of both reports was not available to Skardu Times; this story is based on the headlines and standfirsts carried by the outlets. Express News did not include the views of opponents of the proposal in the reports seen by Skardu Times.