August 20, 2026
By Aitzaz Ibrahim
LAHORE
Political leaders and civil society representatives on Thursday, August 20, called for strengthening district governments and stressed that any proposal to create new provinces must be pursued through the constitutional process.
The speakers expressed these views at a seminar titled “Further Province or Empowered District Government” held at the SAFMA Auditorium in Lahore. The event was organized by the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation in collaboration with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and was attended by PPP workers, lawyers and civil society representatives.
Senior politician Aitzaz Ahsan, South Asian Free Media Association Secretary General Imtiaz Alam, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Ameer Buhadar Hoti, PPP leader Shahzad Saeed Cheema and Barrister Aamir Hasan addressed the gathering.
Speaking at the seminar, Imtiaz Alam criticized the changing positions over the creation of provinces and said, “One Unit was created on the basis that there should be no provinces. Sometimes they say there should be provinces. They have turned it into a monkey show. They will have to decide whether the people will govern or these three-star generals will.”
Alam also questioned the financial feasibility of creating more provinces, saying, “If you create 20 provinces instead of four, where will you get the budget for schools and hospitals?”
He further said, “This is simply not economically possible. This whole matter is about diverting attention from the problems of the people.”
ANP leader Ameer Buhadar Hoti said the creation of provinces should not be based on prejudice. “Provinces should not be created on the basis of prejudice; they should be created on the basis of social justice,” he said.
Hoti also called for strengthening the existing local government system, saying, “Strengthen district governments; new provinces should not be created without strengthening them.”
Barrister Aamir Hasan said the country was facing a struggle for powers among institutions and stressed the importance of following the Constitution.
“There is a struggle for powers among institutions in the country. The procedure for creating provinces is present in the Constitution. If anyone wants to create a province, it should be done through the constitutional procedure,” he said.
Hasan added, “The division of provinces is not a child’s play. Blood has been shed during the division of provinces.”
He also stressed the need for institutional boundaries, saying, “Every institution will have to remain within its limits.”
Senior politician Aitzaz Ahsan criticized the continuation of the administrative system inherited from British rule. Comparing the period before and after independence, he said, “There is no difference between the Pakistan of August 13 and August 14, 1947.”
Ahsan added, “Apart from lowering the British flag on August 13 and raising Pakistan’s flag on August 14, nothing changed.”
He said the administrative structure inherited from the British had remained largely unchanged since independence. “We have made no change in the British system from August 14 until today,” Ahsan said.
He also highlighted the scale of the administrative machinery required to run the country, saying that officials had to perform duties across the country, from federal secretariats to different regions.
Ahsan called for a non-partisan discussion on local governments and said, “There should be a discussion without party discrimination that no political party has made an effort to hold local government elections.”
The seminar focused on the debate over creating additional provinces versus empowering existing district governments, with speakers discussing the constitutional, financial and administrative implications of provincial reorganisation and the need to strengthen local governance.