Pakistan Could Get 12 Provinces: What Khawaja Asif’s Proposal Means and Why It Faces a Tough Road

Pakistan could one day have 12 provinces instead of four. That is the idea now being openly discussed at the top of the federal government, after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said he supports creating new provinces — even 12 of them — as long as they are drawn on administrative grounds, not on the basis of language, ethnicity or politics.

Speaking to Geo News in Sialkot on Sunday, Asif said the proposal had been under discussion for about two months. His comments came as media reports described a plan to reorganise the country into 12 provinces through a possible 28th Constitutional Amendment, with a nationwide referendum also being considered.

Nothing has been decided yet. There is no draft amendment, no agreed map and no timetable. But the fact that a senior federal minister is backing the idea in public — and that the debate has now run for two months — means it is worth understanding properly. Here is what has been proposed, why supporters want it, and why turning it into reality would be one of the hardest political jobs in Pakistan.

What exactly has been proposed?

According to a report published in The News, the plan under discussion would divide Pakistan’s four provinces into 12. Punjab, the largest province, would be split into four. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan would each be divided into three. Sindh would be split into two.

Sources familiar with the proposal told The News that a constitutional amendment could be considered in the first half of 2027, with preparatory work possibly beginning in the first quarter of next year. A nationwide referendum has also been discussed as part of the process, ahead of a possible 28th Constitutional Amendment.

Both Dawn and Geo News stress the same point: the proposal remains under consideration, and no final decision has been taken on provincial boundaries, administrative structures or the constitutional process.

Khawaja Asif himself was careful to frame his support as conditional. “If there is a proposal for 12 provinces, then make it 12, but they should not be created on the basis of language, ethnicity or political interests,” he said.

Dawn reports that the suggestion was first put forward by his cabinet colleague, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. Naqvi’s remarks on the subject in recent months set off the current round of debate.

Why supporters say Pakistan needs more provinces

The core argument is about size. Pakistan’s population has grown far beyond what its four provinces were designed to govern.

The 2023 census — the country’s first digital census — counted 241.49 million people across the four provinces and Islamabad. Punjab alone had 127.69 million people, or 52.9 percent of the total. Sindh had 55.69 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 40.86 million, Balochistan 14.89 million, and Islamabad 2.36 million. The population was growing at 2.55 percent a year.

Supporters of new provinces argue that a single provincial government cannot effectively serve 127 million people. Punjab, on its own, has more people than most countries in the world. Its government sits in Lahore, hundreds of kilometres from its southern districts, where many people feel their problems are ignored.

Asif made exactly this point. He said Pakistan’s growing population required smaller administrative units capable of delivering public services more effectively, and that decision-making should not be confined to the provincial capitals — Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

He also criticised how money flows through the system. Funds transferred from the federal government, he said, remained largely under the control of provincial administrations instead of reaching local government institutions. Local bodies, which were supposed to benefit from these resources, continued to depend on provincial governments for funds and authority.

His message to politicians was blunt. “We politicians want to exercise all the power ourselves,” he said, adding that political leaders must recognise that power was a trust bestowed upon them by the people.

The idea, in short, is to bring government closer to the people: smaller provinces, more local capitals, and administrative power that does not all sit in four big cities.

The constitutional mountain

Wanting new provinces is one thing. Creating them is another — and the Constitution makes it deliberately hard.

Under Article 239(4) of the 1973 Constitution, a bill to amend the Constitution that would change the limits of a province cannot be presented to the President for assent unless it has first been passed by that province’s own assembly, by at least two-thirds of its total membership. Only after that can the bill go through the National Assembly and the Senate, where it also needs a two-thirds majority in each house.

In practice, that means the 12-province plan would need two-thirds votes in all four provincial assemblies, plus two-thirds in both houses of Parliament. The numbers are steep: 248 of 371 seats in the Punjab Assembly, 112 of 168 in Sindh, 97 of 145 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 44 of 65 in Balochistan, on top of 224 of 336 in the National Assembly and 64 of 96 in the Senate.

That gives every affected province a veto. If one provincial assembly refuses, the process stops there.

This is also why the talk of a referendum needs careful reading. Under Article 48(6) of the Constitution, the prime minister can refer a matter of national importance to a joint sitting of Parliament, which can approve putting it to a public vote. A referendum could show public support for new provinces. But legal experts point out that a referendum cannot replace the assembly votes required by Article 239. A “yes” vote in a referendum would add political pressure — it would not change the vote count in any assembly.

History shows how hard this is. On 3 May 2012, the National Assembly passed a resolution in favour of creating a Janoobi Punjab province from the existing province of Punjab, and formed a parliamentary commission. The initiative stalled because it needed a two-thirds majority in the Punjab Assembly, which never came.

More recently, MQM-P legislators tabled a bill in the National Assembly seeking to remove the Article 239(4) condition altogether, arguing that it blocked Parliament’s powers. That bill did not succeed either.

No single political party currently holds a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, the Senate or the provincial assemblies, which means any new-provinces plan would need broad political consensus — the hardest currency in Pakistani politics.

The biggest obstacle may be Sindh. The two-thirds bar there is 112 of the assembly’s 168 seats, and the PPP — which has long resisted calls to divide the province — controls the Sindh government. Winning Sindh’s consent would require the PPP’s support, and the party has shown no sign of giving it.

This debate is not new

The argument over new provinces has been running, on and off, for decades. Understanding that history helps explain why it keeps coming back — and why it keeps stalling.

In the 1950s, Pakistan went in the opposite direction. Under the One Unit scheme, all the provinces of West Pakistan were merged into a single administrative unit. The arrangement was deeply unpopular and was eventually abolished in 1970, restoring the provinces. Asif referred to this history in his remarks, noting that the country’s provinces had previously been merged before the decision was reversed.

Since then, demands for new provinces have usually come from regions that feel neglected by their provincial capitals. In Punjab, there has been a long-running demand for a South Punjab or Saraiki province, covering Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan. Bahawalpur, which was a princely state before joining Pakistan, has its own separate demand for provincial status. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there has been a demand for a Hazara province. In Sindh, the MQM-P has demanded new administrative units for urban Sindh for years.

The MQM-P renewed that demand again on Sunday. At a high-level meeting of the party’s political and administrative leadership, chaired by convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui at its Bahadurabad headquarters in Karachi, the party vowed to mobilise its entire organisation for the upcoming local government elections while renewing its call for new administrative units in Sindh.

The party said new units were essential to empower people at the grassroots level and ensure the fair provision of basic municipal services. Dr Siddiqui said ending the deprivation of urban Sindh, establishing new administrative units and winning the local government elections were among the party’s foremost priorities.

Asif also pointed to Afghanistan as an example of administrative restructuring, saying the number of its provinces had increased from around eight or 10 to more than 30. Afghanistan today has 34 provinces.

What would 12 provinces actually change?

If the plan ever happened, the practical changes would be enormous — and so would the costs.

Each new province would need its own assembly, chief minister, cabinet, secretariat and bureaucracy. It would need seats in the National Assembly and the Senate, which would have to be reallocated. The distribution of federal money between provinces — decided under the National Finance Commission award — would have to be renegotiated.

Critics warn about the recurring cost of running eight extra provincial governments, with new assemblies, secretariats and departments. Supporters answer that the cost of bad governance — services that never reach people in far-flung districts — is higher.

There are also questions nobody has answered yet. Where would the new provincial capitals be? How would districts be divided? What would happen to provincial civil servants, police structures and courts? How would water and resource disputes between the new units be handled? None of this has been worked out in public, because there is no draft plan yet.

For now, even the government does not speak with one voice on the issue. Reports in late October quoted the planning minister as saying the government was not drafting an amendment to create new provinces. That underlines how far this idea still is from becoming law.

What happens next?

The reported timeline gives a sense of the pace: preparatory work possibly in the first quarter of 2027, and a constitutional amendment possibly considered in the first half of 2027. That is months away, and it assumes the political groundwork goes smoothly — which, given the two-thirds requirements, is a large assumption.

What to watch for in the coming months:

• Whether a draft amendment or a formal proposal appears, and what it says about provincial boundaries.
• Whether the government touches Article 239(4) itself — the clause that gives provincial assemblies their veto. Any attempt to change it would almost certainly end up in court.
• Whether the PPP, the PML-N and the other major parties take a formal position. Without them, the numbers do not add up.
• Whether the referendum idea moves forward, and how it is framed.
• Whether the debate stays about administration, as Asif insists it should, or slides into the ethnic and linguistic arguments he warned against.

For ordinary Pakistanis, the question is simpler: would smaller provinces mean better schools, hospitals, roads and water in their district — or just more politicians and more offices? That is the promise behind the proposal, and the test any plan will eventually have to pass.

Frequently asked questions

How many provinces does Pakistan have now?

Pakistan has four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. There are also the Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, which have different constitutional arrangements.

What is the 12-province proposal?

Media reports describe a plan to reorganise Pakistan into 12 provinces: Punjab divided into four, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan into three each, and Sindh into two. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has publicly backed the idea. No final decision has been taken.

What is the 28th Constitutional Amendment?

It is the name being used in media reports for the constitutional change that would be needed to create new provinces. No such amendment has been drafted or tabled. Changing provincial boundaries requires a constitutional amendment under Article 239.

Can a referendum create new provinces?

Not on its own. Under Article 48(6), the prime minister can refer a matter of national importance to a joint sitting of Parliament, which can approve a referendum. But legal experts say a referendum cannot replace the two-thirds votes required in each affected provincial assembly under Article 239(4), and two-thirds votes in the National Assembly and Senate.

Why did earlier attempts to create new provinces fail?

The most serious attempt came in 2012, when the National Assembly passed a resolution for a Janoobi Punjab province. It stalled because creating a province requires a two-thirds majority in the concerned provincial assembly, and that support never materialised.

When could this happen?

Reports suggest preparatory work could begin in the first quarter of 2027, with an amendment possibly considered in the first half of 2027. But with no draft, no agreed boundaries and no political consensus yet, that timeline is uncertain.

Conclusion

Khawaja Asif’s backing for 12 provinces has put one of Pakistan’s oldest debates back on the national agenda. The argument for it is straightforward: a country of more than 241 million people, with one province alone holding 127 million, is too big to govern from four capitals. The argument against it is equally straightforward: the Constitution gives every province a veto, the politics are deeply divided, and the costs would be enormous.

Between those two arguments sits a long road — a referendum, a constitutional amendment, and two-thirds majorities in six different legislatures. The debate has been running for two months. The hard part has not even begun.

Sources

• Dawn, “Minister supports creation of up to 12 provinces”, 9 November 2026: https://www.dawn.com/news/2043163
• Geo News, “Khawaja Asif backs creation of new provinces, says even 12 could be considered”, 8 November 2026 (updated 9 November 2026): https://www.geo.tv/latest/690273-khawaja-asif-backs-creation-of-new-provinces-says-even-12-could-be-considered
• The Express Tribune, “Referendum to decide creation of new provinces”, 6 September 2026: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2627661/referendum-to-decide-creation-of-new-provinces?amp=1
• Pakistan Today, “The History of Provincial Protection and Article 239(4): Revisiting the New Provinces Debate”: https://pakistanstoday.com.pk/articles/the-history-of-provincial-protection-and-article-2394-revisiting-the-new-provinces-debate/
• The Pulse Paper, “Twelve provinces need 112 votes in Sindh, not a referendum”: https://www.thepulsepaper.com/signals/twelve-provinces-referendum
• 2023 Pakistani census population figures (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, via Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Pakistani_census

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.