EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT AND ITS IMPACTS ON THE DEMAND OF THE CREATION OF NEW PROVINCES IN PAKISTAN: A CASE OF HAZARA PROVINCE MOVEMENT

Abstract

The Eighteenth Amendment was inserted in the Constitution of 1973 in April 2010. The Amendment contains various democratic and constitutional versions to upgrade and strengthen democratic values. After this Amendment, the sub-nationalist movements of various provinces began to demand separate provinces in their respective territories. Similarly, the Hazarawal, an ethnic group living in eastern zone of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also demanded for a separate province in Hazara region. The demand for a separate province in this region was not new. The people of the Hazara region have been demanding separate identities, political recognition, and separate province since the 1950s. The study is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the Eighteenth Amendment and the constitutional mechanism for the creation of new provinces in Pakistan. The second part discusses the impact of the Eighteenth Amendment on Hazara ethnonationalist movement. An effort has been made in this paper to highlight the factors and current status of Hazara province movement after the Eighteenth Amendment.