Provinces in Pakistan: Historical Perspective
By Syed Osman Sher
Mississauga, Canada
These days Pakistan is engulfed in a turmoil on the issue of formation of new provinces. Though it has not assumed a serious proportion, yet it may take an ugly turn any moment. The commotion is more ethnic and political in nature than administrative. The boundaries of administrative regions, however, need not necessarily be fixed within the parameters of linguistic, ethnic and tribal norms, although such considerations may provide a bit of convenience. Its dimension should mainly be determined by optimizing the area and population, and taking care of the aspirations of the people.
Drawing and re-drawing of administrative boundaries, as an affair of State, is not sacrosanct or sacrilegious. Changes in this regard have, in fact, been taking place over time. We may see this process through the perspective of our history as described below that would take us into the antiquity as far back as the dawn of history. According to the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religious texts, in the middle of the 6 th century BC, there were the following sixteen administrative units in the Subcontinent in the form of kingdoms and republics:
1. Anga (East Bihar )
2. Magadha (South Bihar )
3. Kaši (Benaras )
4. Kosala (Oudh )
5. Vrijji or Vajji (North Bihar )
6. Malla (Gorakhpur )
7. Chedi (between Jamuna and Narmada )
8. Vatsa (Allahabad )
9. Kuru (Thaneswar , Meerut and Delhi )
10. Panchala (Bareilly , Budaun and Farrakhabad )
11. Machcha (Jaipur )
12. Šurasena (Mathura )
13. Assaka (on the Godavari )
14. Avanti (Malwa )
15. Gandhara (Peshawar and Rawalpindi )
16. Kamboja ( Kashmir and Kafiristan)
The Subcontinent, however, experienced a new development during this period, i.e., the emergence of Empire. Magadha established for the first time the tradition of a superior kind of kingship or Samrajya , gradually absorbing first the neighboring states, then swallowing up the rest, till at last it laid the foundation of an empire extending east to west from coast to coast, and up to Mysore in the south and to Hindu Kush and Afghanistan in the north-west, beyond the natural frontiers of India. In those days, it was obviously very difficult to govern such a vast territory from the metropolis of Pataliputra . Therefore, references are found in the writings of Megasthenese, the Greek Ambassador at the court of Chandragupta Maurya (320 BC), that the king ruled with the assistance of a Council of Advisers, who “choose Governors, Chiefs of Provinces, Deputy Governors” etc. Chandargupta’s governor, named Pushyagupta , in Surashtra had built the Sudarshana reservoir on Mount Virjayat in Junagadh. There is another reference of Chandergupta’s grandson Prince Asoka (the Great) being appointed the Governor of Taxila during his father’s reign.
Coming to the Mughal Period, Baber writes in his memoir, Babarnama: “The regions from Bhera to Bihar that are currently under my control are worth 52 crores (tankas), as can be seen in the following table.” In this table he mentions 31 administrative units from where the revenues of the state were received. Similarly, a historian, Bakhtawar Khan, writes in Mir-at-i Alam about Emperor Aurangzeb: “Under the management and care of this virtuous monarch, the country of Hindustan teems with population and culture. It is divided into nineteen provinces”.
During the British rule, the boundaries of Provinces continued to be drawn and redrawn. Some interesting facts are as under:
- After the conquest, Sind was made part of Bombay in 1847.
- Bombay was divided in 1936, and Sind became a separate province.
- In 1756 Bihar was made part of Bengal .
- In 1803 Orissa was occupied by the British and was also made part of Bengal.
- In 1912, both Bihar and Orissa were separated from Bengal and a new Province of Bihar and Orissa was created
- In 1936 that province was divided, and Bihar and Orissa became separate provinces.
- Assam Province was separated from Bengal in 1874, and formed as the North-East Frontier non-regulation province.
- In 1905, Bengal was divided.
- In 1905, Assam was incorporated in the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam .
- Assam was made a separate province in 1912.
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands were made a province in 1875.
- Baluchistan was organized into a province in 1887.
- North-West Frontier Province was created in 1901 from the north-western districts of Punjab Province.
- Delhi was separated from Punjab in 1912, when it became the capital of British India.
- Aden was separated from Bombay Presidency to become a province of India in 1932; it was further separated from India and made the Crown Colony of Aden in 1937.
- Panth-Piploda was made a province in 1942, from territories ceded by a native ruler.
At the time of Partition of British India in 1947, there were 14 provinces and 562 Princely States, some as large as Kashmir and Hyderabad, each administering its own territory. Of the 14 Provinces, 5 became the territory of Pakistan and 9 remained in India. India changed the name of ‘Province’ to ‘State’ in the new Constitution of 1950, and now comprises 29 States and 7 Union Territories .
As regards re-drawing provincial boundaries, Pakistan, however, has chosen to stay put. The present composition of Provinces has acquired a sort of sanctity or mini-nationalism such that the people seem to be more deeply ingrained in provincialism than nationalism. Despite administrative inconveniences of maintaining big provinces, and the demand from various sides to have smaller ones, the State is unable to respond properly, because whenever the issue comes up for discussion, it results in a show of political, linguistic, and ethnic fracas.
Undoubtedly, by devolution of powers to smaller units, administration of state affairs may be carried out in a better way. Turkey, whose area is equal to Pakistan at nearly 800,000 square km. is divided into 81 administrative units or Provinces, each headed by a Governor. If one has to believe, Turkish people have the highest possible degree of nationalist sentiments about their country and compatriots. Pakistan too can make its present districts as the biggest administrative units under the Central Government without facing inconveniences; or, at the most, each province may be divided into three or four units.
It is believed that in Pakistan many people are desirous of having smaller provinces. The chief hurdle seems to be the Province of Sindh where, under this arrangement, some parts, per force, would have to be administered by those who probably are deemed to have less right on Sindh and Pakistan. Unfortunately, this feeling has recently been openly expressed by the Chairman of a major political party through his slogan: Marson, marson: Sindh na deson, (we will die and die but will not give Sindh). Is the word ‘deson’ tantamount to ceding a territory to an alien people? What are provinces, but administrative units, but what are those units, small sovereign states?
Ironically, detached from its roots as a separate nation in 1947, Pakistan has still to grow as a nation. For this, Pakistan would have to cast away its garb of petty provincialism. Seven decades have already passed; how many more years would it require?
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