Number of provinces: MQM-P all set to introduce bill to NA

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is all set to introduce a bill in the National Assembly for increasing the number of provinces in the country from four to eight.

MQM-P legislator Kishwer Zehra submitted a bill to the NA Secretariat on Friday. It calls for the creation of South Punjab and Bahawalpur provinces within the existing Punjab, as well as two provinces each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

The bill recommends that the existing KP be divided into a Hazara province and KP, while Sindh should be split into Northern Sindh and Southern Sindh. The eight provinces proposed by MQM-P would be Punjab, South Punjab, Bahawalpur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hazara, Northern Sindh, Southern Sindh, and Balochistan.

The bill calls for the total number of general and women's seats in NA to be increased from 332 to 335. It provides a breakdown of NA seats if the changes are implemented: three for Islamabad, nine for Hazara, 20 for Balochistan, 32 for Southern Sindh, 38 for Southern Punjab, 43 for Northern Sindh, 55 for KP, and 117 for Punjab.

The MQM-P has also demanded an increase in Senate seats from 104 to 188, proposing eight seats for FATA, four for Islamabad, and 22 each for the eight provinces.

In January this year, the country's main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had submitted a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly seeking the formation of two more provinces -Bahawalpur and South Punjab - by dividing up the largest province of Punjab.