- Says Pakistan failed to build national unity based on 2-Nation Theory.
- Blames ethnic divisions for fuelling unrest and violence in country.
- Says Pakistan built its economic foundations on foreign borrowing.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has warned against imposing decisions on the creation of new provinces without debate, while accusing successive policies of weakening Pakistan politically and economically.
Addressing a Khatm-e-Nabuwwat conference at the Wahdat Road Cricket Ground in Lahore, Fazl said that September 6, 1965, marked an important episode in protecting Pakistan’s geographical boundaries.
He said the state could only be strong if its people were secure and respected, arguing that political divisions had weakened the country.
“We are not against creating units on principle,” Fazl said, adding that decisions on new provinces should take into account the prevailing “time and circumstances”.
“We are not against provinces, but the time and circumstances must also be considered,” he said, calling for debate rather than unilateral decisions.
Fazl said the provinces controlled mineral resources under the 18th Amendment and political parties needed to play their role in discussions over the issue.
“Do not impose any decision unilaterally; there should be a debate on it,” he said.
Criticising major political parties, Fazl said the Pakistan Peoples Party talked about the issue only in the context of Sindh, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz remained silent.
He accused political and social divisions of preventing Pakistan from developing a unified national identity, saying the country had failed to build one nation based on the Two-Nation Theory and had witnessed violence driven by ethnic divisions.
The JUI-F chief also criticised Pakistan’s economic dependence on foreign lenders, saying the country had built its economic foundations on external borrowing.
“Colonialism has ended, but international institutions decide for our country today,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s dependence on loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
“If they determine our economic policies, then this is another form of colonialism,” he said.
The cleric said Pakistan belonged to its people and that peace and public security were essential to a strong state, warning that the country was instead facing “division upon division”.
He also accused forces of dividing the Muslim world and said JUI-F wanted to provide Pakistan’s poor with a life of dignity.
“The politics of the elite and oppressive politics will not work,” he said, adding that politics based on imposing power on the people would also fail.
Fazl said his party would oppose all movements seeking to repeal Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
Fazl’s remarks come amid a renewed debate over whether Pakistan needs additional provinces or greater decentralisation through new administrative units.
The divide debate
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reignited the debate in July, saying the country’s governance system had “collapsed” and calling for fundamental reforms. He argued that Pakistan should move towards new administrative units, whether called provinces or something else, with greater powers devolved to lower levels.
Naqvi said provinces could be divided on administrative grounds to improve governance and accelerate development. He later stood by his assessment that the system had been “completely destroyed”, while clarifying that he was referring to its deterioration over the past 80 years.
The PPP opposed taking the proposal further, saying no concrete plan for administrative restructuring had been presented to the party.
The debate later widened when Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal called for a national discussion on Pakistan’s administrative structure and proposed 12 to 15 provinces. He said an administrative reforms committee should examine possible changes and stressed that any new provinces would ultimately require political consensus.
Iqbal has also argued that Pakistan’s four provinces have become overly centralised, with authority concentrated in provincial capitals despite devolution under the 18th Amendment.
He proposed around 160 empowered district governments, saying it was not administratively possible to effectively govern Sindh from Karachi, Punjab from Lahore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Peshawar and Balochistan from Quetta.
He warned that demands for new provinces could grow if meaningful devolution to districts and local governments were not achieved.
The debate has consequently centred on two competing approaches: redrawing Pakistan’s provincial boundaries or transferring greater powers to districts and local governments within the existing provinces.
