Government not in a position to create new provinces: experts

The PPP-led coalition government does not have the required 2/3rd majority in the Parliament and the Punjab Assembly for creation of a new province, political and constitutional experts told Business Recorder here on Monday. They were commenting on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent statement that Seraiki province would be created within the regime of PPP government.
Clarifying the legal position Advocate Supreme Court Muqtedir Akhtar Shabir said that under Article 239 of the Constitution no new province can be created or limit of any province shall be allowed without a constitution amendment of 2/3 majority of both the houses plus approval for new provinces from the concerned province shall be made by 2/3 majority of the total membership of that province. This is a pre-condition before creating any new provinces out of the already existing provinces.
He said clause (4) of Article 239 clearly says "a bill to amend the constitution - approved by two houses of parliament by two third majority-which would have the affect of altering the limits of a province shall not be presented to the President for assent unless it has been passed by the Provincial Assembly of that province by the votes of not less than two thirds of its total membership.
ASC Shabir said that for the province of Bahawalpur or Seraiki province or any other province from within any existing province, a constitution amendment will be required along with the resolution of the concerned assembly. Commenting on the Prime Minister's statement Punjab Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan said here on Monday that PML(N) does not want creation of new provinces on linguistic basis. He said that the resolution of MQM in the National Assembly is a warning for the people of Sindh as the first step of MQM for creation of new provinces in Punjab while its second step would be division of Sindh.
Analysts say that Awami National Party (ANP) is also against establishment of Hazara province as it would loose major source of its revenue, ie, Tarbela Dam Hydel Power Royalty. Therefore, it was unlikely that KPK Assembly would ever adopt a resolution to this affect with a 2/3d majority. They recalled that Balochistan Chief Minister Raisani has also strongly opposed creation of new provinces in the country for it would open doors for demand of 50 percent Pashtun population of the province for a new Pashtun majority province in Balochistan.
Political and defence analyst Air Commodore Khalid Iqbal(Retd) said if the process of creating new provinces gets triggered in an arbitrary way, no matter from where we may start and how we proceed, within a decade Pakistan will end up with a dozen plus provinces.
'Issue of new provinces has become a hotly debated one. It has started with Punjab but may not begin or end there. While supporting the creation of new provinces may appear an easy way out for the politicians, it is going to be a difficult task to actually carve them out", he added.
He warned that like creation of new districts, addition of provinces would become a political appeasement tool in a run-up to each election. At the end of the day, country is likely to end up having a provincial map very close to an existing administrative entity called 'Division'.
He said with general elections nearing there would be more demands for new provinces as political parties consider it a tool to gain popularity among the people. Weaker parties in each province are expected to play the new province card to fascinate the voters among minority ethnic groups; He maintained that the 1973 Constitution is the only consensus document binding the federation. It neither recognises nor foresees the further division of Pakistan into more provinces.