Subdivisions of Pakistan

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Pakistan
This article is part of the series: Politics and government 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.

A map of Pakistan with District and Agency boundaries

1 Local Governments
2 History
3 Provinces and territories
4 See also
5 External links
- 5.1 Provincial government websites
- 5.2 Federal government websites relating to local governments

[edit] Local Governments

The provinces are divided into a total of 105 zillas (districts.) A zilla is further subdivided into tehsils (roughly equivalent to counties.) 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 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. After 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] Provinces and territories

Provinces:

Territories:

Islamabad Capital Territory
Federally Administered Tribal Areas, including the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan

Pakistani-administered portions of Kashmir region:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Provincial government websites

Punjab: http://www.punjab.gov.pk
Sindh: http://www.sindh.gov.pk/
NWFP: http://www.nwfp.gov.pk
Balochistan http://www.balochistan.gov.pk/

[edit] Federal government websites relating to local governments

Decentralization Support Program: http://www.decentralization.org.pk/
National Reconstruction Bureau: http://www.nrb.gov.pk/

Political divisions of Pakistan
Provinces	Balochistan \| North-West Frontier Province \| Punjab \| Sindh
Territories	Islamabad Capital Territory \| Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Pakistan-administered Kashmir	Azad Kashmir \| Northern Areas