KARACHI: Academics have reignited discussions on creating new provinces across the country, arguing that the existing system has stalled progress, fuelled underdevelopment, produced unemployable graduates, and entrenched poverty.
The call came on Tuesday during an interactive session titled “Imagine Pakistan 2030: Challenges, Opportunities & the Way Forward,” featuring Chairman of the Association of Private Sector Universities of Pakistan Prof Dr Chaudhry Abdul Rehman and Chairman of the Pakistan Broadcasters Association Mian Amer Mehmood.
Both speakers stressed the need for an academic review of the country’s developmental shortcomings and potential solutions.
Opening the discussion, Prof Dr Chaudhry Abdul Rehman said Pakistan had fallen behind nations that advanced through integrity, discipline, skills, and consistent effort. He voiced concern over Pakistan’s decline on United Nations development indexes.
He questioned the strength of character among young graduates, noting that many struggle to compete internationally and often lose opportunities to candidates from other countries, including India. He said the academia had been reduced to a tuition-driven system that needed real reform, guided by the principles taught by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Prof Dr Abdul Rehman argued that graduates lacked character because they mirrored a teaching faculty that he described as uninspiring, dishonest, and unfair. He added that Pakistani students fail to learn responsibility, commitment to work, punctuality, and professional discipline, while being more inclined toward quick financial gains without meaningful effort.
He said graduates lacked key attributes such as politeness, stewardship, competence, integrity, and decency. Private universities, he emphasised, must evolve beyond tuition centers and provide genuine role models to students so the country can secure a stronger future.
Criticising poor governance for depriving Pakistan of its potential, he pointed to Karachi’s past as an example of effective development, saying the megacity is now in disrepair. He urged political parties to collaborate on practical plans to restore Karachi’s lost stature.
Addressing the session, Mian Amer Mehmood echoed the concerns and said that new provinces based on administrative needs could help resolve many national issues. He said the debate on creating additional administrative units should start within academic institutions.
He noted that the bulk of Pakistan’s population is concentrated in three provinces, while Balochistan remains sparsely populated. Punjab, he added, has significantly higher population numbers than the other provinces. Under these conditions, he argued, an efficient governance system is necessary to provide citizens with basic services.
Mian Amer said that provincial capital cities, and Islamabad, have progressed to a point where residents receive essential facilities, unlike many other regions. He said large populations become difficult to manage and cited examples from various countries where establishing more provinces helped deliver better public services.
He said Pakistan continues to grapple with health, education, and employment challenges, adding that widespread malnutrition, an under-skilled youth population, and other persistent problems have placed the country far behind others.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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