**22 provinces proposed for better governance **
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 25: The Tehreek Shehree Hukoomat (TSH) has reiterated the need to create 22 provinces from present unbalanced four provinces and Northern Areas including Malakand division for good governance.
TSH chief Mirza Jawad Baig addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Friday termed smaller provinces panacea of all malaise being faced by the country time to time.
Suggesting that all four provinces of the country, which were disproportionate by their population and area, should be bifurcated into 20 administrative units by dividing each province into five and declaring Malakand and northern areas as two other provinces. He said, “If we continue to keep the present set up intact, all efforts to establish deep rooted democracy in the country are bound to fail.”
Mr Baig regretted that even after 57 years of independence political leaders were governing the people in the same imperialistic fashion without any changes in political, administrative and socio-economic structure of pre-partition days.
He said that smaller provinces would encourage interdependent entities which would lead to a sense of national integration and the federal government would have far better coordination in a peaceful atmosphere.
“Small units will increase public participation in government affairs and the elected representatives will be more responsive to the needs of their constituents and will be open to greater accountability,” he added. He said that the proposed provinces would also help check the influx trend of population from under developed interior towards big cities.
According to his worked-out scheme, the 22 provinces could be Makran, Lasbela, Kalat, Sibi, Quetta, Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Bhawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Hazara, Malakand and Northern Areas.
He said that the average population of each proposed province would be around 7,990,000, which was more than the population of 56 independent countries, including Denmark, Ireland, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, New Zealand and Norway.
According to him, the population of Punjab at present exceeds the population of every independent country except 10 countries while Balochistan’s area exceeds the areas of 108 independent countries of the world while present population of Sindh exceeds the population of 102 independent countries.
He said that the re-organization would entail stability to the system by removing all feelings of neglect, mistrust, and deprivation and the evil of corruption and lawlessness would be minimized and enhanced economic activities would generate manifold employment opportunities.