Fawad Chaudhry Predicts New Provinces as 28th Amendment Debate Heats Up

Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has predicted that a new constitutional amendment will be introduced before December 15, paving the way for the creation of new provinces in Pakistan. Speaking in Lahore on Tuesday, he said the proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment could lead to 15 to 17 provinces, redrawing a map that has had four provinces since 1970.
The claim has fuelled a wider debate that has been building since Parliament passed the 27th Amendment. Prime Minister's Adviser Rana Sanaullah has confirmed that work on the 28th Amendment is under way, though no official draft has been published and the details remain speculative. Analysts say the amendment could focus on administrative restructuring, stronger local governments and the devolution of powers — while some reports suggest it could also touch the Election Commission and the National Finance Commission framework.
The politics are delicate. The PPP has opposed new administrative units in Sindh while supporting provincial status for South Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appears open to discussion, though the PML-N has no clear position yet. The Constitution itself sets a high bar: under Article 239(4), changing a province's boundaries needs the approval of that province's assembly by a two-thirds majority — and the Sindh Assembly already passed a unanimous resolution in September rejecting any change to its territorial limits.
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