Rethinking governance in Pakistan
Have power, resources and decision-making been devolved enough to serve citizens effectively?
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EVERY few years, Pakistan revisits the debate on creating new provinces. The interior minister’s recent proposal to establish smaller administrative units has again raised an important question. Yet the real issue is not how many provinces Pakistan should have. It is whether government is close enough to serve its citizens effectively. Administrative boundaries matter only because they influence how quickly people receive education, healthcare, justice, infrastructure and disaster relief. If governance remains distant and unresponsive, merely redrawing maps won’t improve lives.