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🇵🇰 Pakistan /Elections & Politics

Could a referendum decide the creation of new provinces?

From The Express Tribune · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the people could ultimately decide whether Pakistan creates new provinces or administrative units, prompting a constitutional debate.
  • Experts said a referendum might provide democratic backing but could not itself replace the constitutional process for changing provincial boundaries.
  • A proposed constitutional amendment could alter about two dozen articles, while opposition to dividing Sindh remains strong.

A referendum could show public support for new provinces in Pakistan, but constitutional experts say it could not create one on its own.

This procedure contains within it a second implied command: that this is the only way to alter the limits of a province.

· Abdul Moiz JaferiiThe advocate argued that Article 239(4) sets the exclusive constitutional process for changing provincial boundaries.

The debate followed remarks by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi that the creation of provinces or new administrative units would ultimately be decided by the people. His comments came as the government considers a constitutional amendment that could change around two dozen articles as part of a broader restructuring of the system.

Article 48(6) allows the prime minister, if he considers a referendum necessary on a matter of national importance, to refer the question to a joint sitting of Parliament. If the joint sitting approves it, the question may be put to voters in a yes-or-no format.

Also, when the federation can achieve its desired goal of more effective and localised administration through the empowerment of local government through adding flesh to the already existing Article 140A, it is hard to understand what they’re actually after here.

· Abdul Moiz JaferiiHe questioned the need to divide provinces when local government could be strengthened.

Lawyers cited a separate constitutional requirement for altering provincial boundaries. Advocate Abdul Moiz Jaferii said Article 239(4) requires an amendment affecting a province’s limits to secure a two-thirds majority in the relevant provincial assembly before it can go to the president for assent. He argued that the referendum provision could not substitute for that specific procedure.

minefield

· Abdul Moiz JaferiiHe used the term to describe the political and constitutional difficulty of dividing Sindh.

Jaferii said stronger local government under Article 140A could deliver more effective and localised administration without dividing provinces. He described any attempt to split Sindh as a “minefield,” saying the province’s people reject changing a boundary they view with pride and familial belonging. The debate has intensified after resistance from the Pakistan Peoples Party to dividing Sindh and to proposals that would reconsider provincial autonomy.

The PPP will be the least of their problems. It is the people of Sindh that reject the division of a boundary more ancient than our country, and one they look upon with pride and familial belonging. You disrespect this at your own peril.

· Abdul Moiz JaferiiHe warned that opposition from Sindh’s people would pose a greater obstacle than resistance from the PPP.
About this summary

Originally published by The Express Tribune in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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