Punjab alone is home to over 127 million people, Sindh more than 55 million and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over 40 million. These numbers matter beyond being a headcount from a census. They help decide how far the government has to reach, how many people local institutions must serve, how development funds are shared and how fast the state can act.

Yet the spaces where political power, financial decisions and government action are concentrated remain very few. At the national level, Pakistan has only 266 directly elected National Assembly seats for a population of 241.5 million, averaging roughly one directly elected representative for every 908,000 people.

Overtly concentrated

Government is heavily concentrated in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta. Ministries, senior bureaucracies, large hospitals, universities, courts and development authorities gather around provincial capitals. Over time, economic activity follows them, as do jobs, professional services, infrastructure and investment. Such concentration has consequences for regions farther away.

A citizen in southern Punjab experiences provincial government differently from someone in Lahore. The same holds for Hazara in relation to Peshawar, or for distant districts in Sindh and Balochistan. Geography eventually becomes administrative distance. Files move through longer chains, senior decision-makers remain elsewhere and development priorities compete for attention with those of much larger metropolitan centres. This is exactly why the debate over new administrative units deserves to be linked directly with prosperity.

In economics, government exerts a gravitational pull. A centre of administration creates surrounding departments, courts, universities, hospitals, infrastructure, housing, services and jobs, and this draws businesses towards it. It also fosters professional communities; roads are built or improved, land prices rise and new markets form. All these dynamics can be seen across Pakistan around existing provincial capitals. There is, therefore, no real reason to assume that the same institutional pull would not help build additional regional growth centres.

South Punjab is an obvious example of this administrative logic. The establishment of the South Punjab Secretariat in 2020 acknowledged the problem caused by placing all authority in Lahore. One of its stated purposes was to allow people in the area to have their issues resolved closer to where they live. This recognition was important because it accepted that proximity to government has both economic and social value.

Similarly, Hazara has demanded a separate province for many years. In August 2026, proponents again linked the demand with demographic growth, governance and administrative feasibility. Previously, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had adopted resolutions in favour of a separate province of Hazara. Bahawalpur has a similar history of demand for a separate province, and that demand persists. A rally calling for the restoration of the province of Bahawalpur was held in August 2026.

New centres of gravity

Although each of these regions has its own history and political environment, what unites them is the desire for better access to the state’s institutions, greater representation and a greater share of development. Giving these areas their own “economic centre of gravity” would involve creating a new provincial capital with all its attendant institutions: universities would expand and hospitals would gain specialised departments, among other things, providing professional employment opportunities.

As the private sector responds to public investment and the movement of people, a region that relies heavily on a distant provincial capital for the income generated by administrative activity will, over time, begin to develop its own administrative and commercial ecosystems. This is when the issue of prosperity becomes most relevant.

Balanced development is also difficult to achieve where opportunity is spatially concentrated. Young people should not have to migrate to Lahore, Karachi or other large cities for opportunities such as quality education, decent jobs and access to specialist services. Establishing other centres of administration could help spread some of these opportunities.

There is also a simple administrative benefit. Governments can gain a more thorough overview of the people within smaller jurisdictions, attend to needs specific to the district and monitor the progress of schools, hospitals, roads and other such projects. Regional budgets can better reflect such differences in conditions.

Lessons from overseas

Regional experience offers similar examples. India created Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand in 2000 to give greater administrative and development focus to distinct regions, while Bangladesh later created Mymensingh as a separate administrative division.

Another example is Indonesia, which in 2022 created new provinces in Papua, stating that the goals were to shorten administrative reach, improve public services, make development more focused and reduce regional disparities. President Joko Widodo called the division an attempt to make development more equitable across a territory too large to be managed in this way. The comparison is relevant to Pakistan because of its own combination of population growth, geographical distance and differential development.

Local government is especially important. Prosperity spreads more effectively when authority reaches municipalities and districts rather than remaining concentrated at the provincial tier. Provincial restructuring can create the larger framework, while stronger local institutions carry that change into towns and communities.

The process also has to reflect public aspiration. Credible surveys, consultations and economic feasibility work can help establish where demand is strongest and what form people expect restructuring to take. The Constitution already provides a demanding route: Article 239 requires a constitutional amendment to receive two-thirds support in both Houses of Parliament, while an amendment altering a province’s limits also requires two-thirds approval of the affected provincial assembly. That framework gives administrative restructuring the scale of national reform it deserves.

Pakistan’s population will continue to grow. Its secondary cities will expand, regional economies will become more important and pressure on existing provincial centres will increase. Governance structures eventually have to respond to that reality. A more distributed administrative system offers a route towards a more distributed economy as well. More centres of government can mean more centres of education, healthcare, employment, investment and political representation.

For a country seeking broader prosperity, that is a possibility worth examining seriously.

According to officials, the operation lasted approximately 21 hours.

In an official handout, KP police said that eight terrorists were killed in retaliatory action by police and security forces. It said that the operation had concluded, adding that Elite Force commandos, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) teams, and security forces had cleared key areas of the buildings.

According to the statement, KP Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed was present at the scene. It added that the operation was led by the CTD additional IG, the Kohat regional police officer and the Kohat district police officer. It said that the Kohat general officer commanding was also present.

“Law enforcement agencies achieved success following an overnight operation,” it said.

The statement said IG Hameed commended the officers who participated in the operation and announced rewards for them.

“Police, CTD, and security forces fought valiantly; these brave personnel are the pride of the nation,” he said.

“The terrorists’ nefarious designs have been thwarted, and we will ensure their complete elimination,” he said.

Earlier, a CTD statement said that the additional IG was injured in a grenade attack by terrorists during the operation. According to the statement, the terrorists had entered the Special Branch building after the suicide attack on the mosque.

The statement said the CTD additional IG had been on the frontline since Friday afternoon, supervising the ongoing operation against Fitna al-Khawarij along with police personnel.

The state uses the term Fitna al-Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

It said the additional IG sustained a hand injury in a grenade attack carried out by the terrorists during the operation. After receiving first aid, he returned to the frontline to supervise the operation and boost the morale of the personnel, the statement added.

At least 21 people, including 15 police officials, were martyred on Friday and over 100 were wounded when an explosives-laden vehicle detonated near a mosque in Kohat’s old Police Lines, followed by terrorists storming the compound and attacking police facilities.

Among the slain were SP Traffic Akbar Shinwari, head of the paediatric department at DHQ Hospital Dr Israel Orakzai, and Special Branch and CTD officials.

The attack was claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Ittehadul Mujahideen.

The funeral prayers for the 15 martyred police personnel were offered in Kohat on Friday evening, after which their bodies were transported to their native districts of Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Mardan in Rescue 1122 ambulances.

KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi sought a detailed report on the incident, saying the targeting of innocent citizens was “deeply regrettable and unacceptable”, according to a statement issued by his office. He directed authorities to ensure immediate treatment for the injured.

“The nation’s morale cannot be dampened by cowardly acts of terrorism,” he said.

It may be recalled that in 2010, 20 people, mostly relatives of policemen, were killed and more than 90 injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast inside a police colony located just behind the Kohat Police Lines. The explosion had taken place in Ramazan during Iftar.

The operations were conducted under Operation Raddul Fitna 3.

In Panjgur’s Gowargo area, security forces neutralised five terrorists and recovered a large quantity of weapons and ammunition from their possession, according to the report.

Meanwhile, six terrorists were killed during operations in the Aminabad and Siah Chang areas of Chagai district, it added.

A significant cache of arms and explosive material was also seized during the operations.

According to state-run APP, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the security forces for their successful operations against terrorists.

The interior minister said the “security forces had once again thwarted the intentions of terrorists through effective action”.

The actions carried out by the security forces reflected their commitment to safeguarding national security, Naqvi was quoted as saying.

He said the successful operations demonstrated the forces’ resolve to confront threats and maintain stability.

Balochistan has witnessed an increase in terrorist attacks in recent weeks, prompting security forces to intensify counter-terrorism operations.

The number of terrorist attacks in the province increased by seven per cent from 83 in July to 89 in August, according to a monthly assessment by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

On the night of Aug 31-Sept 1, terrorists of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) launched a coordinated attack on the Customs House, located at Ziarat Cross on the N-50 National Highway, in the Pishin district.

In retaliatory action, security forces killed 10 terrorists while two officers were among six martyred in the fire exchange, according to the military’s media affairs wing.

Also on August 31, 11 terrorists belonging to Fitna-al-Hindustan, who had blocked the N-40 Quetta-Taftan highway by establishing an illegal checkpoint for extortion in Chagai’s Nokcha area, were killed following an intense exchange of fire.

On September 2, security forces killed 12 terrorists in the Kalat district during an intelligence-based operation (IBO). Days later, the troops killed 11 terrorists and recovered 2.9 tonnes of explosives during separate IBOs in Kharan and Washuk districts.

Another 36 terrorists were eliminated during multiple “high-tempo” operations conducted in Mastung, Quetta, Kalat and Sibi districts, the Inter-Services Public Relations said on September 4. These also included thwarting an attack on a police station in Sibi’s Bhag area.

On Thursday, seven terrorists were killed by security forces in an IBO in the Badrang area of Balochistan’s Awaran district.

On Friday, security forces killed seven terrorists during two IBOs in the province’s Panjgur and Kachhi districts.

• Sam LaPorta is back: While… [+7576 chars]]]> https://indiannews20.store/nfl-week-2-recap-immediate-fantasy-football-takeaways-from-lions-bills-pff.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:42:40 -0700 none@none.com (Nathan Jahnke) Nathan Jahnke NFL Week 2 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Lions-Bills - PFF https://indiannews20.store/mets-jared-young-stretchered-off-field-after-taking-nolan-mclean-knee-to-head-at-first-base-sny.html https://indiannews20.store/mets-jared-young-stretchered-off-field-after-taking-nolan-mclean-knee-to-head-at-first-base-sny.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:42:30 -0700 none@none.com (Danny AbrianoManager of Editorial Production) Danny AbrianoManager of Editorial Production Mets' Jared Young stretchered off field after taking Nolan McLean knee to head at first base - SNY https://indiannews20.store/nfl-week-2-picks-our-experts-face-off-on-giants-at-rams-bengals-vs-texans-and-more-cbs-sports.html https://indiannews20.store/nfl-week-2-picks-our-experts-face-off-on-giants-at-rams-bengals-vs-texans-and-more-cbs-sports.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:42:13 -0700 none@none.com (Jordan Dajani) Jordan Dajani NFL Week 2 picks: Our experts face off on Giants at Rams, Bengals vs. Texans and more - CBS Sports https://indiannews20.store/emmitt-smith-thinks-derrick-henry-can-break-all-time-rushing-record-nbc-sports.html https://indiannews20.store/emmitt-smith-thinks-derrick-henry-can-break-all-time-rushing-record-nbc-sports.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:42:03 -0700 none@none.com (Mike Florio) Mike Florio Emmitt Smith thinks Derrick Henry can break all-time rushing record - NBC Sports https://indiannews20.store/breaking-eu-urges-rethink-on-us-visa-denials-for-palestinian-officials.html

  BREAKING: The European Union says it regrets Washington's decision to deny visas for the second y...

  September 19, 2026 Reporting: News Desk
  Editorial Note: This article presents verified information from official and reliable sources.
  Original Post:

  "BREAKING: The European Union says it regrets Washington's decision to deny visas for the second year running to Palestinian officials seeking to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, urging a rethink. https://t.co/H4S7dDYhFb"

  @AlArabiya_Eng September 19, 2026
  View on Twitter:

  News Analysis & Summary

  Background

  The European Union (EU) has expressed its regret over the United States' decision to deny visas to Palestinian officials for the second consecutive year. This move has significant implications for the participation of Palestinian representatives in the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York. The decision has reignited concerns regarding the diplomatic engagement of Palestine within international forums and the ongoing complexities of Middle East politics.

  Analysis

  The denial of visas to Palestinian officials reflects broader tensions in U.S.-Palestinian relations, which have been fraught with difficulties, particularly since the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The EU's call for a reconsideration highlights its desire to advocate for Palestinian representation on the global stage, ensuring that their voices are heard in critical discussions affecting their future. Analysts argue that inclusion in such forums is essential for fostering dialogue and promoting peaceful solutions to protracted conflicts.

  International Response

  The EU's stance has found support among various international bodies and governments who view the U.S. decision as detrimental to the peace process. Several nations have echoed the EU's call, emphasizing the importance of Palestinian participation in international dialogues. This perspective is shared by many who believe that isolating Palestinian leadership undermines efforts toward a comprehensive resolution of issues affecting the region.

  Looking Forward

  As discussions continue, the international community is closely monitoring the situation. The EU has taken a proactive stance in advocating for diplomacy and dialogue, and there is hope that reconsideration from the U.S. may lead to a more constructive engagement with Palestinian authorities. Moving forward, it is crucial for global leaders to foster an environment where all parties can contribute to peace-building efforts, ensuring that a balanced approach is taken toward achieving long-term stability in the Middle East.

  

  2026 All rights reserved

  This article is for informational purposes based on official and verified sources

  ]]> https://indiannews20.store/breaking-eu-urges-rethink-on-us-visa-denials-for-palestinian-officials.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:40:14 -0700 none@none.com (News Desk) News Desk BREAKING: EU Urges Rethink on U.S. Visa Denials for Palestinian Officials https://indiannews20.store/gta-6-online-releasing-in-2027-says-twitch-ceo-after-talks-with-rockstar-rockstarintel.html https://indiannews20.store/gta-6-online-releasing-in-2027-says-twitch-ceo-after-talks-with-rockstar-rockstarintel.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:27:52 -0700 none@none.com (Aaron Trueman) Aaron Trueman GTA 6 Online Releasing In 2027 Says Twitch CEO After Talks With Rockstar - RockstarINTEL https://indiannews20.store/get-final-fantasy-vii-remake-intergrade-switch-2-edition-for-under-9-by-following-this-1-easy-step-ign.html https://indiannews20.store/get-final-fantasy-vii-remake-intergrade-switch-2-edition-for-under-9-by-following-this-1-easy-step-ign.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:27:42 -0700 none@none.com (Eric Song) Eric Song Get Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Switch 2 Edition for Under $9 by Following This 1 Easy Step - IGN https://indiannews20.store/apple-ceo-john-ternus-teases-iphone-18-pro-launch-day-macrumors.html https://indiannews20.store/apple-ceo-john-ternus-teases-iphone-18-pro-launch-day-macrumors.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:27:31 -0700 none@none.com (Joe Rossignol) Joe Rossignol Apple CEO John Ternus Teases iPhone 18 Pro Launch Day - MacRumors https://indiannews20.store/ff7-revelation-director-hamaguchi-discusses-the-games-200gb-size-dlc-plans-and-a-new-tifa-detail-video-games-chronicle.html https://indiannews20.store/ff7-revelation-director-hamaguchi-discusses-the-games-200gb-size-dlc-plans-and-a-new-tifa-detail-video-games-chronicle.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:27:18 -0700 none@none.com (Andy Robinson) Andy Robinson FF7 Revelation director Hamaguchi discusses the game’s 200GB size, DLC plans, and a new Tifa detail - Video Games Chronicle https://indiannews20.store/an-attack-on-the-bar-the-re-imprisonment-of-imaan-mazari-and-hadi-chattha.html The re-imprisonment of Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha is an attack on the bar. There is no other way of framing this.

  Two lawyers are being persecuted again and again, to stop them from representing victims of state abuse. To stop them from raising their voices for the most vulnerable. To stop them, most important, from presenting young Pakistanis with an alternative vision: that amid a sea of cushion-warmers, there is still something to be gained from the will to act. That if the young are brave enough, they can still remake the world they find.

  Because seventeen years for tweeting was a travesty. Perhaps the word ‘travesty’ itself was invented for such a sentence. In a place where killers walk free in a day via coerced compromises, and where 14 years is thought good enough for even the most wretched on death row, two human rights fighters posed the most serious threat to society, and – as recent, sinister developments attest – continue to do so.

  What were they in for, before their sentences were suspended? Expressing solidarity with the disappeared. That’s it. The state called it ‘cyber-terrorism’. The fact that UN experts have had to step in to say the obvious – that a lawyer’s freedom of expression cannot be conflated with criminal conduct, what to say of actual terrorism – tells you where we are. Incredibly, Hadi was sent to jail for hitting no more than the retweet button.

  But if nothing is true, everything is permitted: in appeals before the Dogar Court in Islamabad, little came of anything. Watching the grim tableau play out before him, the Supreme Court’s Justice Naeem Akhter Afghan said “it was better not to seek our opinion on the Islamabad High Court’s system” and to let said system be fully exposed. It would be hard to overstate his words: moments after Faisal Siddiqi’s valorous defence saw Justice Afghan suspend Imaan and Hadi’s sentences, they were rearrested.

  Yes, rearrested. Or so we think: Imaan’s mother Shireen Mazari is still unaware where the two were taken last night after the anti-terrorism court; whether they were in Adiala, or whether they ‘have been abducted to some other place’.

  This is an old sadism stretching back at least half a century (a key precedent was the re-internment of Abdus Sattar Khan Niazi under the Bhutto regime): the arrest-bail-rearrest sequence calculated to break the spirit of political prisoners. And the superior courts have protected against said sadism in a near-unbroken line, calling it ‘arrest after arrest…in different blind reports lodged much earlier.’ The most recent flurry of immediate re-jailing has included that of Ali Wazir, Parvez Elahi, and Sheharyar Afridi – in the latter’s case, Justice Babar Sattar dubbed it a ‘fraud on the state and the Constitution’ and ‘malice in law’.

  The sequence is even more bogus when looked at from another angle: Imaan and Hadi sat in Adiala jail for eight months. Each day of that imprisonment was available for this brand-new Kohsar investigation; the FIR had been lodged a year prior, and an accused can be investigated in all registered cases, whether during physical remand or, with leave, during judicial custody. No such thing happened. (In other such instances, the whole game is to keep the prisoner ignorant of the reserve case so they can’t seek bail preemptively.)

  The fact remains that the superior courts have built, case by case since at least 1974, a complete jurisprudence against the revolving door, from Niazi in the ’70s to Raeesa Farooq in the ’90s, to contemporary verdicts named for PTM and PTI leaders Wazir and Afridi.

  Of course, the superior courts themselves are in flux. From the shameful episode of 4:3-3:2 in the 90-days election matter – which began it all – to last night’s reimprisonment of Imaan and Hadi, the Supreme Court is fighting to enforce its writ. For some, its remnant powers are no longer in question: recently, this paper reported that the Attorney-General for Pakistan, while arguing in another case, made the remarkable statement that “after the passage of the 27th Amendment, the SC no longer had the authority to protect fundamental rights.”

  By that logic, fundamental rights are now irrelevant to the Supreme Court when deciding thousands of cases still before it. Of course, it was this same attorney general that thought the 90 days matter had been decided 4:3, that civilians were fit for military trials, and that Islamabad High Court’s finest judges were best packed off to Lahore and Peshawar. What the sum of all this has been for the rule of law in Pakistan is all around us.

  While hearing Imaan and Hadi’s case, Justice Afghan said, “The case may disappear from the system, but we will not.” As of today, the liberty of Pakistan’s two most devoted rights fighters is the central tenet of the Supreme Court’s relevance: it must correct this glaring injustice, and every man and woman from every bar in the country must do whatever all is possible in securing Imaan and Hadi’s release.

  If two lawyers can fight for the lost and left behind so hard, it would be shameful that the rest of us choose to look away.

  Header image: A moment from the 2007 lawyers movement for the restoration of the judiciary. Credit: BBC

  ]]> https://indiannews20.store/an-attack-on-the-bar-the-re-imprisonment-of-imaan-mazari-and-hadi-chattha.html Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:08:13 -0700 none@none.com (Asad Rahim Khan) Asad Rahim Khan An attack on the bar: The re-imprisonment of Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha https://indiannews20.store/trump-extends-push-for-100000-h-1b-visa-fee-by-another-year.html President Donald Trump has extended an executive order that would impose a fee of $100,000 for H-1B non-immigrant visas by another year, the White House said on Friday.

  US employers seeking to hire skilled foreign workers can use the federal government’s H-1B visa programme for a fee, allowing tech and other professionals from abroad to work in the United States for a few years.

  Trump, who has pursued an aggressive immigration crackdown, has criticised the programme and wants to permanently raise the fee from between $2,000 and $5,000 to at least $100,000, though the attempt has faced legal challenges.

  A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing a June decision by a federal judge who deemed the higher fee imposed by the Trump administration illegal and blocked the government from collecting it.

  Another court is considering whether a judge properly rejected a challenge to the fee by the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business lobbying group.

  Trump’s initial order for a fee hike, first released in September 2025, was set to expire this month.

  It did not apply to visas granted to foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas, who make up a large share of new H-1B recipients, or to renewals of current visas.

  Despite criticism that some companies use the visas to hire lower-paid foreign workers instead of Americans, business groups and companies say they help recruit highly skilled professionals and address a lack of qualified US workers in some industries.

  The visas, established by Congress in 1990, are especially critical for tech companies seeking to recruit from India and China.

  Changes to how potential visa holders are scrutinised and processed have impacted companies’ hiring and expansion plans, with some top H-1B users, such as Google parent company Alphabet, moving to increase operations in India.

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