Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Saturday called for the creation of new provinces on an administrative basis, arguing that the existing provincial structure has failed to ensure equitable distribution of political power, resources and development.

Speaking at a national dialogue organised by the Graduate Forum Pakistan, Dr Siddiqui said that the demand for a separate province existed even before the formation of the MQM, and was a part of political discourse when the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation was established. "The only motherland is Pakistan, and all provinces are a part of it," he said, adding that provinces are merely administrative units and should not be treated as permanent entities.

He stated that existing provinces were largely formed on linguistic bases, while his party wants provinces to be constituted on an administrative basis. "Among all the demands for new provinces across the country, the demand of urban Sindh is the oldest and strongest," he said, claiming that no other part of the country has faced as much exploitation and injustice as the urban areas of Sindh.

He described Sindh as being divided between those who generate revenue and fill the public exchequer, and those who spend it. Noting that new provinces should have been created by now, he remarked that no resolution for the creation of new provinces can be brought in the Sindh Assembly under the present circumstances, particularly while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in power in the province.

"If an honest census is conducted in Sindh, the PPP itself will be demanding new provinces," he claimed, adding that Karachi's population had been reduced to around 14 million in a previous census, while the MQM's struggle resulted in the city's population being counted at over 20 million. He pointed out that Pakistan's population has now reached 260 million.

Referring to the migration of his forefathers, he said they had migrated to the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but were subsequently pushed into "Bhutto's Pakistan". He maintained that the demand is for a province comprising the urban areas of Sindh, and not for the division of Sindh as a whole. "Sindh has already been divided. Have the past 60 years not been enough to tell the story of our destruction?" he stressed, claiming that urban areas account for 65pc of Sindh's population.

He said the MQM-P would take the dialogue to other provinces and engage people across the country on the question of new administrative units. Senior MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar concluded that the debate is fundamentally tied to the failure of the current political and administrative system in delivering meaningful autonomy and representation to citizens.