Subdivisions of Pakistan
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Currently, the internationally recognized territory of Pakistan is subdivided into four provinces and two territories. In addition, the portion of Kashmir that is administered by the Pakistani government is divided into two separate administrative units.
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[edit] Local Governments
The provinces are divided into a total of 105 Zillahs (Urdu: ضلع ) (districts). A zillah is further subdivided into tehsils (Urdu: تحصیل ) (roughly equivalent to counties). Tehsils are used in all provinces except in Sindh province where the term taluka (Urdu: تعلقه ) predominates. Tehsils may contain villages or municipalities. There are over five thousand local governments in Pakistan. Since 2001, these have been led by democratically elected local councils, each headed by a Nazim (the word means "supervisor" in Urdu, but is sometimes translated as mayor). Women have been allotted a minimum of 33% seats in these councils; there is no upper limit to the number of women in these councils.
Some districts, incorporating large metropolitan areas, are called City District. A City District may contain subdivisions called Towns and Union Councils.
[edit] History
In the 1960s, Pakistan was simply divided into two "units" of East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Shortly before East Pakistan became independent as Bangladesh, West Pakistan reverted to a system with four provinces. The provinces consisted of subunits called "divisions", which were further subdivided into districts, tehsils, and villages or municipalities.
In August 2000, Pervez Musharraf's local government reforms abolished the "division" as an administrative tier. A system of local government councils was established, with the first elections being held in 2001. Since the 2001 Local Government Ordinances, Pakistan has embarked on a radical restructuring of the local government system. The government is implementing a devolution plan which, in its words, "follows the principle of subsidiarity, whereby all functions that can be effectively performed at the local level are transferred to that level. This has meant the decentralization to the districts and tehsils of many functions previously handled by the provincial governments."
[edit] Territorial issues
Kashmir remains one of the largest and mostly highly militarized zones in the modern world, with portions under administration of the Peoples' Republic of China (Aksai Chin) of the Ladakh plateau; India Jammu and Kashmir (the Vale of Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh regions) and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir, and the Baltistan regions). But recent discussions and confidence-building measures among the groups and major parties are beginning to defuse tensions; New Delhi does not recognize Pakistan's ceding lands to China in the 1963 Agreement; disputes with Islamabad over the Indus river water sharing and the terminus of the Sir Creek Estuary at the mouth of the Indus Delta which is part of Rann of Kutch (Kachchh) as well as the issues of the Radcliffe line of the Punjab region of Ferozepur district on the banks of the Sutlej and Pathankot tehsil within Gurdaspur area on the banks of the Ravi, that prevents maritime boundary delimitation; Pakistani maps continue to show Junagadh (Junagarh) and Manavadar territories in the Kathiawar peninsula as part of the country, whilst Indian maps show vice versa concerning the Kashmir boundaries of Pakistan, despite largely successful UN efforts at voluntary repatriation, thousands of Afghan refugees continue to reside in Pakistan's tribal areas to control and secure the international border with Afghanistan to stem organized terrorist and other illegal cross-border activities; regular meetings with Afghan coalition allies aim to resolve periodic claims of boundary encroachments.
[edit] Provinces and territories
Provinces:
Territories:
Pakistani-administered portions of Kashmir region:
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Government of Azad Kashmir
- Government of Balochistan
- Government of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
- Government of the Islamabad Capital Territory
- Government of the Northern Areas
- Government of the North-West Frontier Province
- Government of the Punjab
- Government of the Sindh
- Decentralization Support Program
- National Reconstruction Bureau
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