The were previously the third tier of government in
Pakistan until they were abolished in
2000 . The
Four Provinces of Pakistan had been subdivided into administrative "Divisions", which were further subdivided into
Districts and
Tehsil s. The divisions did not include the
Islamabad Capital Territory or the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas , which are counted at the same level as provinces.
Administrative divisions had formed an integral tier of government from colonial times. The Governor's provinces of
British India were subdivided into divisions, which were themselves subdivided into districts. At independence in
1947 , the new nation of Pakistan comprised two wings - East and West Pakistan. Three of the Governor's provinces of Pakistan were subdivided into ten administrative divisions. The province of
East Bengal had four divisions - Chittagong, Dacca (Dhaka), Khulna and Rajshahi. The province of
West Punjab had four divisions - Lahore, Multan,
Rawalpindi and Sargodha. The
North-West Frontier Province had two divisions - Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar. Most of the divisions were named after the divisional capitals, with some exceptions.
From 1955 to 1970, the
One Unit policy meant that there were only two provinces -
East Pakistan and
West Pakistan . East Pakistan had the same divisions as East Bengal had previously, but West Pakistan gradually gained seven new divisions to add to the original six. The
Baluchistan States Union became Kalat division, while the former
Baluchistan Chief Commissioner's Province became Quetta division. Most of the former province of
Sind became Hyderabad division, with some parts joining the princely state of
Khairpur to form Khairpur division. The former princely state of
Bahawalpur became the Bahawalpur division. The
Federal Capital Territory was absorbed into West Pakistan in 1961 and merged with the princely state of
Las Bela to form the new Karachi-Bela division. In 1969, the princely states of
Chitral ,
Dir and
Swat were incorporated into West Pakistan as the new division of
Malakand with Saidu as its capital.
When West Pakistan was dissolved, the divisions were regrouped into four new provinces. Gradually over the late 1970's, new divisions were formed;
Hazara and Kohat divisions were split from Peshawar division; Gujranwala division was formed from parts of Lahore and Rawalpindi divisions; Dera Ghazi Khan division was split from Multan division; Faisalabad division was split from Sarghodha; Sibi division was formed from parts of Kalat and Quetta divisions; Las Bela district was transferred from Karachi division to Kalat division; Makran division split from Kalat division. The name of Khairpur division was changed to Sukkur.
During the military rule of General
Zia-ul-Haq , the Advisory Council of Islamic Ideology (headed by Justice Tanzihur Rahman) was tasked with finding ways to Islamicise the country. One of it's recommendations was that the existing four provinces should be dissolved and the twenty administrative divisions should become new provinces in a federal structure with greater devolution of power, but this proposal was never implemented.
In the early 1990's, Nasirabad division was split from Sibi division; Zhob division was split from Quetta division; Bannu division was split from Dera Ismail Khan division; Mardan division was split from Peshawar division; Larkana division was split from Sukkur division; Mirpur Khas division was split from Hyderabad division. The capital of Kalat division was moved from Kalat to Khuzdar.
In August 2000, local government reforms abolished the "Division" as an administrative tier and introduced a system of local government councils, with the first elections held in 2001. Since then, there has been radical restructuring of the local government system to implement "the principle of
Subsidiarity , whereby all functions that can be effectively performed at the local level are transferred to that level". This has meant devolution of many functions to districts and tehsils, which were handled at the provincial and divisional levels. At abolition, there were twenty-six divisions in Pakistan proper - five in
Sindh , six in
Balochistan , seven in
North-West Frontier Province and eight in
Punjab . Abolition did not affect the two divisions of
Azad Kashmir , which form the second tier of government. At independence in 1971, Bangladesh inherited four divisions, which have now become six. The Dacca division was renamed to
Dhaka in 1983 whilst in 1993, Barisal division was split from Khulna division and in 1998 Sylhet division was split from Chittagong division.
The following tables show the divisions by province as they stood at abolition in 2000.
This table shows the divisions of East Pakistan as they stood at the time of Bangladeshi independence in 1971.
