THE renewed national discussion about new provinces is a healthy, necessary and long overdue democratic debate. Pakistan has spent too long treating any review of provincial boundaries as a threat to national unity. It is nothing of the sort. Provincial borders are constitutional and administrative arrangements, not sacred lines or ancestral property. A functioning federation should be able to review its internal structure as its population, economy and administrative needs change. The figures are compelling. According to the final results of the 2023 census released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan’s population reached 241.49 million, with an average annual growth rate of 2.55pc. Yet the country continues to operate through only four main provinces. Punjab alone has about 127.7m people, nearly 53pc of the national population. It is more populous than every member state of the European Union, but remains governed as a single unit from Lahore. Balochistan has only 14.9m people but covers nearly 44pc of Pakistan’s landmass. The existing provinces differ greatly in population, territory and administrative manageability.

This imbalance has practical consequences. Provincial authority, public institutions, government employment and development spending remain concentrated in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta. Residents of Rajanpur, Chaghi or Torghar may spend an entire working day reaching a specialised hospital, university, higher court or senior provincial department. Provincial decision makers are equally distant. This amounts to........

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