Pakistan Prepares Referendum on Creating New Provinces
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi proposed a nationwide referendum to decide if Pakistan should reorganize into 10 to 12 provinces to facilitate the devolution of power.
The federal government of Pakistan has completed preparations to hold a nationwide referendum on the creation of new provinces if it cannot secure political support for a constitutional amendment. Mohsin Naqvi, the Interior Minister, proposed the vote to address a system he described as collapsed and to facilitate the devolution of power. The government is considering a plan to increase the number of provinces to between 10 and 12, which would involve dividing Punjab into four units and splitting Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan into two each.
The proposal is a priority ahead of the March 2027 Senate elections and may be implemented via a 28th Constitutional Amendment. If parliamentary consensus fails, the government may seek authorization under Article 48 of the Constitution through a joint session of parliament to proceed with the vote. Naqvi stated that public opinion should guide the decision and pledged to respect the verdict even if it rejects the restructuring.
Political reactions remain divided. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif supports the move on administrative grounds, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supports new provinces but has not confirmed its backing for the amendment. Conversely, the Pakistan Peoples Party strongly opposes new provinces in Sindh, with Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari calling for a political reset instead. Naqvi noted that while he and Bhutto-Zardari agree on the need for a system reset, any restructuring requires consensus among coalition partners, including the PPP and PML-N.
