Create new provinces where people want them, not by dividing Sindh: Murad Ali Shah

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said new provinces should be established in provinces whose people want them, while rejecting the division of Sindh. He said Sindh’s residents had not given their approval for dividing the province through their elected representatives.

Shah spoke while attending the urs of Pir Syed Ghulam Jilani Shah Jilani in Makli. Addressing the question of a referendum, he said such a vote was held when there was ambiguity or when an issue was not covered by the Constitution.

A referendum could not take precedence over the Constitution, the chief minister maintained. His position was that new provinces could be created where they were wanted, but Sindh’s elected representatives had not approved such a division.

Shah’s remarks were also detailed in media reports dated 12 November 2026, which placed his conversation with reporters after the urs in Makli on Wednesday evening. He said the Pakistan Peoples Party had no objection to new provinces elsewhere in the country if residents wanted them, but considered Sindh’s division unacceptable both legally and politically. He added that provincial boundaries could not constitutionally be changed without the wishes of the people concerned, and pointed to several Punjab Assembly resolutions seeking new provinces as an example of expressed support for such changes.

Shah had previously ruled out dividing Sindh during an assembly debate described in accounts dated 1 September 2026. The discussion followed an adjournment motion introduced by Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh President and provincial lawmaker Nisar Khuhro, seeking debate on proposals for new provinces and administrative units, including those that could change Sindh’s territorial boundaries. Proceedings began almost two hours late, with both government and opposition members maintaining parliamentary decorum. Shah told the house that authority over Sindh’s territorial future rested with the provincial assembly and insisted the province would remain united.

Shah also argued, in accounts dated 1 September 2026, that decisions about Sindh belonged to elected assembly members rather than businesspeople, political gatherings or television discussions. He challenged supporters of division to introduce a resolution. The party’s lawmakers maintained that additional administrative units did not mean dividing Sindh. Speaking to reporters at the assembly, Taha questioned the PPP for allowing a debate it had previously characterised as unconstitutional and unlawful.