KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party has warned the federal government against attempts to alter Sindh’s constitutional status or boundaries, escalating a political dispute over proposals to create additional provinces and administrative units in Pakistan.
The warning came at a meeting of the PPP’s Sindh leadership chaired by provincial party president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, as senior federal ministers continued to advocate restructuring Pakistan’s existing administrative system.
The PPP maintains that creating or altering provinces cannot be decided unilaterally by the federal government and requires the consent of the people and assemblies of the provinces concerned.
Senior PPP leader Raza Rabbani said the issue was fundamentally one for the provinces rather than the Centre and called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to restrain federal ministers making statements on the subject.
The dispute has intensified after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said new administrative units would eventually have to be created because Pakistan’s growing population could no longer be effectively governed through the existing structure. He stressed, however, that changes should occur through constitutional procedures, political consensus and the wishes of the public.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has separately described greater devolution as “inevitable” while accusing the PPP of adopting contradictory positions by supporting proposals for a Seraiki province in Punjab but resisting discussion of additional units in Sindh.