LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Tuesday urged the government to abandon the debate over creating new provinces and concentrate instead on inflation, unemployment and high electricity and petrol prices, arguing that genuine administrative reform lies in devolving power to local governments.
Speaking at a press conference at the Central Punjab Secretariatof the PPP, party General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza said the PPP stood for the Constitution and democracy, and that national decisions must follow constitutional, legal and democratic procedures rather than the wishes of any individual or group.
He was flanked by party leaders Ayesha Nawaz Chaudhry, Shahida Jabeen, Rana Jawad, Chaudhry Riaz, Usman Saleem Malik and Imran Khokhar.
Murtaza announced that the PPP would step up organisational activity in the province under PPP Women Wing President Faryal Talpur. She will hold direct meetings with workers and office-bearers during a five-day visit to Lahore, which ends on November 16, hearing their concerns, suggestions and complaints.
She will spend most of her time at the party secretariat, and political figures are expected to join the party during the visit.
The meetings will extend to other districts and, where possible, tehsil-level units.
The party is also considering having Faryal Talpur sit at the Punjab Secretariat two to three days a month to meet delegations from different divisions and districts.
Representatives of the People’s Lawyers Forum, People’s Youth, People’s Students Federation, and the labour and women’s wings will take part.
Murtaza stressed that the exercise was not meant to create a parallel structure, and that any proposed changes would go to the party chairman for approval under the party constitution.
On new provinces, Murtaza said the PPP had already presented its case with arguments and offered alternatives rather than simply opposing the idea. He questioned why the government was raising the issue when it had not fixed the shortcomings of the existing system.
He said the 18th Amendment envisaged transferring powers from the federation to the provinces, but the process had stalled at the local level. Provincial governments, he argued, had concentrated authority instead of passing it to districts through Provincial Finance Commission awards.
He claimed development funds were often distributed on political grounds, even for basic works such as streets and drainage, and questioned whether smaller districts were getting their rightful resources.
Holding local government elections and devolving powers was a core commitment in the written agreement between the PPP and the government, he said, yet no meaningful progress had been made despite repeated demands.
Local bodies, student unions and labour unions, he added, were vital for nurturing new leadership among youth and working-class communities.
He asked how new provinces would reduce fuel and power prices, curb unemployment and inflation, or improve law and order. Pointing to Islamabad, where top political leadership and bureaucracy are concentrated yet healthcare remains weak, he asked whether additional administrative units would do anything other than raise public spending.
Murtaza said the Constitution lays down a clear procedure for any referendum on new provinces: the prime minister must place the matter before a joint sitting of Parliament, followed by parliamentary approval and presidential action. Provisions on territorial changes and the rights of federating units, he said, cannot be bypassed through political demands.
On the PPP’s federal role, he said the party was raising public issues in the Senate, the National Assembly and other forums through issue-based politics.
It supported political stability and did not want a deadlock, he said, but that did not mean abandoning its duty to criticise policies that failed the public.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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