THE Government has brought sanity to the ongoing public debate on the issue of new provinces by declaring in unequivocal terms that the issue will be placed before Parliament for discussion in its October session. In a video statement, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry underlined that parliament was the “proper forum” for debating the issue of creating new provinces, adding that the debate would definitely be initiated. He elaborated that the discussion on forming new provinces or federating units was not a debate about “inheriting fortunes”, while advising political parties against taking an emotional stance on the issue.
The issue was unduly polluting the political environment ever since a fiery debate started following remarks made by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in July who called for creation of new provinces or administrative units as, according to him, the current system has collapsed. There was an impression in some circles that a solution was being imposed bypassing the Constitutional procedure for creation of new federating units, which envisages the active role of the provincial assemblies concerned and the national parliament. PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a few days back, had challenged the Interior Minister to bring the issue to parliament and the announcement of the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs will surely satisfy his party. However, it should not be a debate for the sake of debate and must lead to a satisfactory solution to the issue of governance. There is no denying the fact that a majority of the society stands alienated because of non-transparent governance and accumulation of civic problems in the absence of an effective local government system. It is justifiably pointed out that both the Federal and provincial governments are not willing to allow local governments to play any worthwhile role and even their elections are delayed on flimsy grounds, whereas they have the demonstrated ability to solve day-to-day problems of the people. Both supporters and opponents of the issue of creation of new provinces might have legitimate and tangible arguments, which should form the basis of parliamentary debate and there should be no emotional approach or blackmailing tactics. Political parties of the country also need to shun duplicity in their policies as some of them frequently demand and initiate abortive moves to weaken Punjab by way of creation of new provinces on ethnic basis while ignoring ethnic factors in Sindh, KP and Balochistan that could necessitate a similar division. There should be healthy and constructive debate leading to the resolution of governance issues.
