Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Jameel Ahmed Soomro has proposed four mayors and four administrative divisions for Karachi, arguing that the city’s growing population and expanding needs cannot be effectively managed by a single mayor.
Speaking in the Sindh Assembly, Soomro rejected calls for dividing Sindh into new provinces and said that the focus should instead be on creating more administrative units within the province.
“One mayor cannot run Karachi,” Soomro said. “Make four mayors and four divisions in Karachi.”
He said Sindh had previously comprised of four divisions and 20 districts, compared with seven divisions and 29 districts at present, according to figures he cited in the assembly.
Karachi Division now comprises seven districts. Soomro argued that the city’s administrative structure could be further decentralised to make it easier to address the needs of its growing population.
He said more than 5,000 people moved to Karachi every day in search of a livelihood.
“Their problems are also ours,” Soomro said, arguing that the provincial government had a responsibility to address the challenges faced by people settling in the city.
Soomro also referred to administrative changes made during the government of former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf as an example of how districts could be reorganised without creating new provinces.
“During Musharraf’s government, Hyderabad was one district and you made it four,” he said.
“Larkana was one district, you made it two. Dadu was one, you made it two,” he added.
Soomro said similar administrative restructuring could be carried out in Karachi to improve governance without changing Sindh’s provincial boundaries.
He reiterated that no new provinces would be created in Sindh, saying any future restructuring would involve administrative units rather than the creation of separate provinces.
