Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has said Pakistan could consider expanding from four provinces to as many as 12, a change that would require constitutional support at both the federal and provincial levels.
Under Article 239 of Pakistan’s Constitution, an amendment needs votes from at least two-thirds of the full membership in each house of Parliament. For a boundary change, the affected province’s assembly must also approve it with support from two-thirds of its total membership. Gulf News reported that political disagreement within a province could make that threshold difficult to reach.
Gulf News cited unnamed media reports describing a possible map with four provinces in Punjab, three each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and two in Sindh. That outline is unverified and has not been approved as government policy.
In a report updated Monday, Nov. 9, Gulf News said Asif made his remarks to Geo News on Sunday. Asif argued that any reorganization should be driven by administrative needs, not language, ethnicity or political advantage. Gulf News also said Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had made similar calls.
Supporters argue that smaller provinces could make government services more accessible to people in smaller cities and districts. Gulf News connected the debate to population growth and larger urban centers, saying key decisions and funding remain concentrated in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.
In the Geo News interview, Asif questioned how federal transfers are distributed, saying provincial authorities retain much of the money instead of passing it to local institutions, Gulf News reported. The outlet said the discussion also concerns whether new provinces alone would improve governance or whether local governments need greater financial independence.
Unnamed media accounts cited by Gulf News point to early 2027 for preparatory work and the year’s first half for possible constitutional changes. That timing is unverified. Any proposal would require decisions on boundaries, resource allocation and parliamentary representation, as well as estimates of administrative costs and plans for existing provincial institutions. The government has announced no formal plan or timetable.
