Mian Amer Mahmood urges new provinces to empower leadership, improve governance

PESHAWAR (Dunya News) – Dunya Media Group Chairman Mian Amer Mahmood has said that making each division a province will bring forth new leadership, improving national affairs.

Addressing an awareness session titled “Pakistan 2030: Challenges, Opportunities, and New Directions” at CECOS University Peshawar, organised by APSUP on Thursday, Mian Amer Mahmood said that in the past 79 years, many leaders have come and gone, but none have made the significant contributions necessary for Pakistan’s true progress.

He added that transferring leadership to the grassroots level will help solve problems more effectively.

“Pakistan’s institutions are weak and have become breeding grounds for corruption, unable to hold the powerful accountable,” he added.

“Those who founded Pakistan laid strong foundations, and initially, our people even helped other nations progress. But gradually, we fell behind, while China is now emerging as the world’s leading superpower,” he added.

Explaining governance systems, he noted that Pakistan consists of four federating units and that governments are meant to serve the welfare of society, based on seven essential components.

He said that according to a World Bank report, Pakistan’s institutions are weak and must be strengthened. Weak institutions, he added, foster corruption and fail to hold the powerful accountable, leaving the common man, middle class, and the poor as the main victims of injustice.

He remarked that an elite class, comprising just a few thousand people, has gripped Pakistan and dominates every department. “The elite in Pakistan live better lives than those in Switzerland,” he said.

Mian Amer Mahmood stressed that transferring power to the grassroots level is crucial for progress. Pakistan’s four provinces, he noted, are outdated — Punjab alone constitutes 52% of the country, larger than the other three provinces combined. “Nowhere in the world does one federating unit outweigh all others,” he added.

He said that Balochistan’s vast size makes it impossible to govern effectively from Quetta. At independence, Balochistan’s population was only 1.1 million, yet Pakistan has never managed to maintain lasting peace and order there.

Comparing Pakistan to India, he noted that India has expanded from 9 to 39 provinces in 78 years, while Pakistan remains stuck at four.

“We should make every division a province,” he said, arguing that smaller provinces will produce new leadership and improve governance. “Only about 12 countries in the world are larger than Punjab,” he added.

Mian Amer Mahmood highlighted that Punjab’s 60,000 schools cannot be managed effectively from Lahore, just as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 32,000 schools cannot be run from Peshawar.

He revealed that 25 million children in Pakistan are out of school, including 500,000 in Peshawar alone, and that 5,000 schools still lack electricity.

Earlier, Chairman APSUP Chaudhry Abdul Rehman praised Mian Amer Mahmood as a true national hero who has established over 450 colleges and three top universities. He said nations that plan for their future succeed, while Pakistan still struggles with widespread corruption and a poor education system.

Chaudhry Abdul Rehman added that change always begins with the middle class and that Pakistan must collectively reform its governance model.

“We must also improve ourselves individually and follow the path shown by the Holy Prophet (PBUH); only then will Allah’s help be with us,” he said.

He said that only 20 years remain until Pakistan turns 100, and it is now the duty of educated youth to shape the nation’s direction.

“Mian Amer Mahmood is providing a vision that can secure your future,” he concluded.