Sindh at a Crossroads: Ethnic Identity, Political Resistance and the Case for Smaller Administrative Units
Opinion
This is written by Erzah Ather.
Every dishonesty goes unaddressed in Sindh - a province that is beset by all the dishonesties. It's because Sindh is neglected as a child and yet has a population of about 55.7 million people, and yet it never complained, and now it's time for Sindh to speak up for its rights. Sindh is one of the most populous and economically significant provinces, comprised of 6 administrative divisions and 30 districts with 53.97% of its people living in urban areas. Karachi is as big as Balochistan alone. Karachi division alone has 20,382,881 people i.e. about 37% of Sindh’s people on about 2.5% on its land.
These statistics help to put in perspective the relationship between population growth and administration, local presentation, and public service delivery. The debate on smaller administrative units and greater autonomy for local governments is about how institutions can operate and be effective in providing services and responding to local needs in geographically dispersed communities.
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Now the issue of administrative authority and ill performance of local government in Sindh comes up whether it is the fault of weak local government or not. Government form locally plays an important part of Pakistan’s constitutional structure. Article 140A of the constitution stipulates the establishment of elected local governments in the provinces and the delegation of political, administrative and financial rights to the provinces. In 2021, Supreme court ruled that the elected local governments now have priority over conflicting provincial laws and agencies and ordered the province to harmonize its laws. Local bodies in Karachi received Rs34 billion from the budget, while the rest of the amount was distributed among other local bodies, which amounted to approximately 5% of the budget in FY25 (Rs160 billion). The Local government Amendment Bill 2026 was approved by the Sindh Assembly in September 2026 and some opposition parties declared that they would take it to court. Proposals that have been put forward for the 28th Constitutional Amendment involve making provinces liable for disbursing money to local government.
The question still revolves around Sindh people if they are receiving all the services they deserve? Service delivery in a mega city is no doubt a large-scale task as Karachi generates over 14,800 tonnes of solid waste a day, which is more than Mumbai, Delhi or Dhaka, according to the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board. The estimated water supply is 550 – 650 million gallons per day, which is against an assumed water demand of approximately 1,200 million gallons per day. Road maintenance, waste collection, sanitation, drinking-water distribution, street lighting and local transport are the issues to address to services involving municipal and district-level responsibilities. Education provides another important measure of service needs. In July 2026, a provincial education official reported that approximately 7.6 million children in Sindh were out of school.
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The demand for additional administrative units in Sindh has a long history. The MQM has called for new units since at least 2013, and in the 2024 elections MQM-P won 15 of Karachi's 22 National Assembly seats and 27 of its 47 provincial seats, a clear democratic mandate from the province's largest city. The PPP's position is that Sindh cannot be divided without the approval of its provincial assembly. PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro restated this on 11 October 2026. Sindhi nationalist parties have also opposed division. Some commentators suggest the strongest form of this position is that division requires the clear consent of the province's people. Supporters of smaller units accept this principle and argue that a transparent, constitutional process is the proper way to establish that consent. The wider debate involves linguistic identity, administrative necessity, resource distribution and territorial unity, and smaller administrative units offer a practical way to address all four: bringing governance closer to citizens, improving service delivery and allocating resources according to local needs.
One of the biggest obstacles in creating smaller administrative provinces in Sindh is ethnic pride and nationalist identity. Any possible thought to split province in the smaller administrative units is seen as an attack on ethnic identity as there is a deep fear that dividing Sindh could turn population into political minorities with urban areas. This won’t be a lie if we say Smaller administrative units may offer possible path towards betterment. Some say Sindh position is not only about feelings. Sindh division proposals often create strong emotional and political reactions, but Sindh problems cannot be resolved by having the emotional connection but with better governance and quality of services reaching ordinary people.
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This article has been shared by Erzah Ather.
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