MQM-P announces nationwide push for new provinces, with a 29 November march on Shahrah-e-Faisal

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has announced a nationwide movement for new provinces, with a march towards Karachi's Shahrah-e-Faisal on Sunday 29 November 2026, The Express Tribune reported. Party chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui announced it on Sunday at a workers' meeting in PIB Colony, and Dawn also reported the party's plan for a street movement.

What MQM-P wants

• New provinces wherever there is demand: "New provinces should be created wherever there is a demand and a need based on population," Siddiqui said.
• Urban Sindh first: he said urban Sindh had the strongest case for a separate province and that the MQM-P would lead the campaign.
• Street power: he said the time had come for people to take to the streets for their rights.

Senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar said the campaign was about the 260 million people of Pakistan and argued that the 18th Amendment, which handed more powers to the provinces in 2010, had not improved growth, schools, hospitals, roads or basic services such as rubbish collection. Wasim Akhtar said Sunday's meeting drew workers from District East alone, and said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari should come and see that these were only District East workers, not the whole city.

The demand sets the MQM-P against the PPP, which governs Sindh and has opposed dividing the province in the past.

What it means for Karachi on 29 November

Shahrah-e-Faisal is the city's main artery, linking the airport with Saddar and the business district. Siddiqui said that once the procession sets off, all routes leading to Shahrah-e-Faisal would be blocked. If you have a flight or travel plans that day:

1. Leave for Jinnah International Airport well ahead of time and check for traffic police diversions on the morning of the march.
2. Plan another route if you live or work along the road, and expect side streets to be crowded.
3. Watch for the start time, which the party had not announced.

Can a new province be made?

Only by amending the Constitution. Article 239 requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament and, for a change to a province's limits, a two-thirds vote in that province's own assembly. That makes a new province in Sindh impossible without the PPP, which holds a majority in the Sindh Assembly.

Planning a move across Karachi that day? Our fuel cost calculator shows what a detour adds at today's petrol price.