04/08/2026
Pakistan's Real Challenge: Governance Reform, Not Administrative Division
# # A Policy Perspective on Strengthening Governance, Accountability, and Public Service Delivery
The ongoing debate on the creation of new provinces deserves careful, objective, and evidence-based consideration. While administrative restructuring may appear to offer solutions to regional disparities, Pakistan's most pressing challenge is not its geographical or administrative configuration. The real issue lies in the country's governance system, characterized by weak institutions, overlapping mandates, limited transparency, inadequate accountability, and ineffective public service delivery.
Throughout Pakistan's administrative history, institutional failure has too often been addressed by creating new organizations with similar functions rather than reforming existing ones. Multiple institutions frequently operate with overlapping mandates, unclear jurisdictions, and fragmented responsibilities. This duplication increases public expenditure, creates institutional confusion, and weakens accountability. Unfortunately, there remains no effective system of reward for high-performing institutions or meaningful consequences for persistent underperformance.
As a result, corruption has become deeply embedded across many sectors of governance. While corruption is widely recognized as a national challenge, accountability mechanisms often remain selective, inconsistent, or ineffective. The absence of transparent monitoring and independent institutional oversight has significantly weakened public confidence in governance.
# # Governance Determines National Success
International experience clearly demonstrates that the success of a nation is determined not by the number or size of its administrative units, but by the quality of its governance.
Many federal countries have provinces or states considerably larger than entire Pakistan. Examples include Alaska in the United States, Uttar Pradesh in India, as well as provinces and territories in Canada and states in Australia. These administrative units function effectively because they are supported by strong institutions, clearly defined constitutional responsibilities, the rule of law, professional civil services, transparent financial management, and effective systems of accountability.
If the number of provinces were the determining factor in national development, countries with dozens of states or provinces would never have achieved economic prosperity and institutional stability. The international evidence demonstrates the opposite. Good governance, not administrative multiplication, is the foundation of sustainable development.
# # The Financial Cost of Creating New Provinces
The establishment of new provinces would require enormous public investment.
Each new province would require:
* A Governor's Secretariat
* A Chief Minister's Office
* A Provincial Assembly
* New provincial ministries and departments
* Secretariats
* Inspector General of Police offices
* Provincial judicial infrastructure
* Additional civil service establishments
* Official residences
* Government fleets
* Security arrangements
* Administrative buildings
* Staff recruitment
* Operational and maintenance budgets
These recurring expenditures would impose billions of rupees in additional financial obligations on the national exchequer every year.
Rather than creating another expensive administrative layer, these resources could be invested directly in education, healthcare, climate resilience, water management, agriculture, disaster risk reduction, infrastructure, tourism, and local economic development.
# # Strengthen Local Governments Instead
Instead of expanding provincial bureaucracy, Pakistan should empower democratically elected local governments.
One practical example already exists within Pakistan. The local government system introduced during General Pervez Musharraf's reforms after 2002 significantly decentralized decision-making and brought development resources closer to local communities. Although no governance system is perfect, decentralization substantially improved administrative responsiveness, public participation, and local service delivery in many parts of the country.
If even half of the financial resources required for establishing new provinces were transferred directly to constitutionally empowered local governments, the benefits for citizens would be immediate and measurable.
Development priorities would reflect local needs rather than centralized political preferences.
# # Development Funds Should Be Managed Through Local Governments
A fundamental governance reform should ensure that Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), Members of Provincial Assemblies (MPAs), and Senators are not responsible for executing development projects or controlling discretionary development funds.
The constitutional role of legislators is to legislate, oversee government performance, and represent citizens, not to function as development administrators.
Development planning and implementation should be undertaken through transparent, professionally managed, and accountable local government institutions, supported by independent auditing and citizen oversight mechanisms.
Such reforms would reduce political influence over development spending while increasing efficiency, transparency, and equity.
# # A Practical Example from Chitral
The administrative restructuring of Chitral provides an important case study.
Previously, the district was administered by one Deputy Commissioner and one Assistant Commissioner, supported by a relatively lean administrative structure with modest operational costs.
Following the division into Upper and Lower Chitral, the number of senior administrative offices expanded significantly, including two Deputy Commissioners, numerous Additional Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, and Assistant Commissioners (Revenue), together with expanded protocol staff, official residences, security personnel, government vehicles, rented office buildings, and substantially increased utility and operational expenditures.
A legitimate policy question therefore arises:
Has the increase in administrative expenditure produced proportionate improvements in public service delivery, governance quality, poverty reduction, or infrastructure development?
If the combined recurring administrative costs exceed or substantially reduce the development resources available for local communities, then the overall effectiveness of such restructuring deserves careful, independent evaluation.
Administrative expansion should never become an objective in itself. Its success should be measured solely by improved outcomes for citizens.
# # Rule of Law Must Replace Personal Influence
One of Pakistan's most serious governance challenges is that institutional decisions are too often influenced by personalities rather than principles.
The rule of law is frequently compromised by political considerations, administrative discretion, and unequal application of legal standards.
This weakens institutional credibility, discourages merit, undermines investment, and erodes public trust.
Corruption gradually weakens every pillar of national security, including economic stability, social cohesion, environmental sustainability, institutional resilience, and ultimately national defence.
Without institutional integrity, no administrative restructuring can produce sustainable development.
# # Unequal Development Reflects Governance Failure
Within the same province, some districts continue to experience significant development while others remain deprived of basic infrastructure, quality education, healthcare, clean drinking water, roads, digital connectivity, and employment opportunities.
These disparities clearly indicate that the problem is not provincial boundaries but the unequal allocation of public resources, weak planning, inadequate oversight, and ineffective governance.
Creating additional provinces without addressing these structural deficiencies would merely replicate existing problems under new administrative names.
# # Public Resources Must Be Used Responsibly
Recent decisions granting expanded privileges, financial benefits, and administrative facilities to elected representatives have also raised legitimate public questions regarding fiscal responsibility, transparency, and equity.
At a time when Pakistan faces serious economic pressures, every public expenditure should satisfy internationally accepted principles of necessity, public interest, financial prudence, transparency, and accountability.
Public office should remain a responsibility of service rather than a source of privilege.
# # The Way Forward
Pakistan requires comprehensive governance reform rather than administrative proliferation.
National priorities should include:
* Strengthening constitutional institutions.
* Ensuring equal application of the rule of law.
* Establishing transparent and independent accountability systems.
* Eliminating overlapping institutional mandates.
* Introducing measurable performance evaluation for all public institutions.
* Rewarding institutional excellence and addressing persistent underperformance.
* Empowering constitutionally protected local governments.
* Depoliticizing development financing.
* Digitizing public financial management.
* Strengthening citizen participation and social accountability.
* Ensuring equitable distribution of national resources across all regions.
# # Conclusion
The debate over new provinces should not distract from Pakistan's real governance challenge.
Changing administrative boundaries cannot, by itself, eliminate corruption, improve institutional performance, strengthen accountability, or deliver justice.
Pakistan needs a governance model founded on constitutionalism, transparency, integrity, merit, institutional independence, and the rule of law.
If the proposal for creating additional provinces is genuinely intended to improve governance and public welfare, it should first be supported by comprehensive constitutional, administrative, financial, and institutional reforms. Without such reforms, new provinces risk becoming additional layers of bureaucracy that increase public expenditure without improving the lives of citizens.
Pakistan's future depends not on drawing new maps, but on building stronger institutions. Good governance is the true foundation of national unity, economic prosperity, social justice, and sustainable development for more than 250 million citizens.
Syed Harir Shah
Development and Disaster/Climate Risk Practitioner, and Regenerative Tourism professional See less
