{"id":1600,"date":"2026-09-08T06:19:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southasianchronicle.com\/?p=1600"},"modified":"2026-09-08T06:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T06:19:21","slug":"bringing-state-closer-to-citizen-new-provinces-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southasianchronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/bringing-state-closer-to-citizen-new-provinces-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing the State Closer to the Citizen | Pakistan Governance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bringing the State Closer to the Citizen<\/h1>\n

MINAR<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0A. Rehman Patel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes a state\u2019s greatest problem is not that it lacks authority.<\/p>\n

The problem is that authority is too far away from the citizen.<\/p>\n

A person falls seriously ill and must travel hundreds of miles for specialized treatment. Someone seeking access to a higher court must travel to the provincial capital. For education, employment, business or an important government decision, the road often leads to the same major city.<\/p>\n

Gradually, the capital ceases to be merely a capital. It becomes the center of hospitals, courts, universities, employment and investment.<\/p>\n

And the other cities keep looking toward it.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is why Pakistan\u2019s current debate over creating new provinces should not be viewed only through the lenses of politics, language or territorial division.<\/p>\n

The more fundamental question is:<\/p>\n

How far can a state be from its citizens and still remain an effective state?<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s first census was conducted in 1951. The population of what is now Pakistan, then West Pakistan, was approximately 33.7 million.<\/p>\n

By the 2023 census, it had grown to approximately 246.5 million.<\/p>\n

The population increased more than sevenfold. Cities expanded, the economy changed and public needs became far more complex, yet our basic provincial structure has remained largely unchanged.<\/p>\n

Punjab alone now has a population of approximately 127.7 million, while Sindh has about 55.7 million.<\/p>\n

The question is not about breaking provinces.<\/p>\n

The question is whether an administrative unit can become so large that governing it effectively becomes increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s experience is worth examining.<\/p>\n

Its population was approximately 361 million in 1951. Today it is close to 1.46 billion. Yet India did not treat its internal administrative map as something that could never be changed.<\/p>\n

A major reorganization of states took place in 1956. New states continued to be created in later decades. Today India has 28 states and eight Union Territories.<\/p>\n

In 1966, Punjab was reorganized. Haryana was created, Chandigarh became a Union Territory and serves as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana.<\/p>\n

Punjab did not disappear.<\/p>\n

Its history did not disappear.<\/p>\n

Its language and culture did not disappear.<\/p>\n

Only its administrative map changed.<\/p>\n

Love for one\u2019s land and administrative reform do not have to be enemies.<\/p>\n

Bangladesh offers another interesting example. Its population was approximately 71.5 million in 1974 and has since grown beyond 160 million. Over time, it expanded its higher administrative divisions and today has eight divisions and 64 districts.<\/p>\n

Even a geographically compact country recognized the need to adapt its administrative structure as its population grew.<\/p>\n

Pakistan faces a similar question.<\/p>\n

If a citizen from a distant part of northern Sindh must travel to Karachi for specialized healthcare, major judicial matters or important government services, or if Lahore feels like a distant administrative world to someone in southern Punjab, this is not merely a transportation problem.<\/p>\n

It is a question of access to the state.<\/p>\n

When a province has more than 120 million people, how effectively can one chief minister, one central provincial secretariat and one provincial level police leadership provide equal attention across such a vast population and geography?<\/p>\n

Authority on a map and effective presence on the ground are two different things.<\/p>\n

When administration is closer, oversight and accountability can improve. When courts are closer, access to justice becomes easier. When government is closer, the state no longer feels like a distant building in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta or Islamabad.<\/p>\n

But an important caution is necessary.<\/p>\n

Creating new provinces alone is not reform.<\/p>\n

If one large center is replaced by four smaller centers while authority remains concentrated inside the new provincial capitals, government has not truly been brought closer to the people.<\/p>\n

We have simply created more capitals.<\/p>\n

The real objective must be decentralization of authority.<\/p>\n

If new provinces are created, districts should become stronger. Cities and local governments should be empowered. Local accountability in administration and policing should improve, while education, healthcare and justice should move closer to citizens.<\/p>\n

Then a new administrative center brings more than an assembly and a secretariat.<\/p>\n

Where institutions go, jobs follow. Where jobs go, people and investment follow. Businesses, housing, universities, hospitals, hotels and infrastructure begin to develop.<\/p>\n

Development can then spread across several centers instead of remaining concentrated in one dominant city.<\/p>\n

If every young person must move to Lahore or Karachi for education, employment, healthcare and a better future, we will continue making our largest cities even larger while leaving smaller cities increasingly dependent upon them.<\/p>\n

Historical identity and emotional attachment to a province must, of course, be respected.<\/p>\n

But another question deserves equal attention:<\/p>\n

How easy is life for the people who actually live on that land?<\/p>\n

Maps are created for the convenience of people.<\/p>\n

People are not born for the convenience of maps.<\/p>\n

Changing an administrative boundary does not erase centuries of history, language, culture or ancestry.<\/p>\n

But it can change the distance between a citizen and the government.<\/p>\n

Pakistan does not need to decide today whether it should have eight provinces, twelve or sixteen.<\/p>\n

First, we need to agree on principles.<\/p>\n

What should be the reasonable population and geographical size of an administrative unit? What should determine its economic viability? How easily should a citizen be able to reach courts, police, healthcare, education and government?<\/p>\n

And most importantly:<\/p>\n

Will a new administrative unit genuinely bring authority closer to the people, or will it merely create a new political elite?<\/p>\n

Once we begin asking these questions, the debate can move from emotion toward reason.<\/p>\n

States do not become weak simply because administrative boundaries change.<\/p>\n

They can also become weak when citizens begin to feel that the capital is too far away.<\/p>\n

The court is too far away.<\/p>\n

The hospital is too far away.<\/p>\n

Authority is too far away.<\/p>\n

And gradually, the state itself begins to feel too far away.<\/p>\n

A good state is not necessarily one with a very powerful capital.<\/p>\n

A good state is one whose citizens need the capital as little as possible.<\/p>\n

That is why the real debate over new provinces should not be about dividing land.<\/p>\n

It should be about bringing the state closer to the citizen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bringing the State Closer to the Citizen MINAR \u00a0A. Rehman Patel Sometimes a state\u2019s greatest problem is not that it lacks authority. The problem is that authority is too far away from the citizen. A person falls seriously ill and must travel hundreds of miles for specialized treatment. Someone seeking access to a higher court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"yoast_head":"\nBringing the State Closer to the Citizen | Pakistan Governance - South Asian Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pakistan\u2019s debate over new provinces is ultimately about governance, decentralization and bringing courts, healthcare, education and government closer to citizens.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southasianchronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/bringing-state-closer-to-citizen-new-provinces-pakistan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing the State Closer to the Citizen | Pakistan Governance - 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