History
The administrative units as of 2010 derived from the administrative units inherited from British India. From independence in 1947 to 1971, Pakistan comprised two "wings" separated by 1600 kilometres of Indian territory. The eastern wing comprised the single province of East Bengal which included the Sylhet District from the former Indian province of Assam. The western wing was formed from three full provinces (North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), West Punjab, and Sind), one Chief Commissioner's Province (Baluchistan), thirteen princely states, and parts of Kashmir. In 1948, the area around Karachi was separated from Sind province to form the Federal Capital Territory. In 1950, NWFP was expanded to include the small states of Amb and Phulra and the name of West Punjab was changed to Punjab. The four princely states of southwest Pakistan formed the Baluchistan States Union in 1952.
The One Unit policy was enforced in 1955, whereby the all the provinces and princely states of the western wing were merged to form the new single province of West Pakistan, with Lahore as the provincial capital. Simultaneously, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan, with Dhaka as the provincial capital. In 1960, the federal capital was moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi and, later, Islamabad (when construction was finished). In 1961, the Federal Capital Territory was merged into West Pakistan.
The One Unit policy was intended to reduce expenditure and eliminate provincial prejudices, but the military coup of 1958 signaled difficulties when the first military President, Ayub Khan, abolished the office of Chief Minister of West Pakistan in favour of Governor's rule. West Pakistan was dissolved in 1970 by the second military President, Yahya Khan, and four new provinces were created. East Pakistan became independent in December 1971 as the new country of Bangladesh. In 1974, the last of the princely states (Hunza and Nagar) were finally abolished and their territory merged with the Gilgit Agency to form the Northern Areas (now known as Gilgit–Baltistan). The Federally Administered Tribal Areas were formed from parts of Hazara, districts of Peshawar, and Dera Ismail Khan in 1975. The status of the Islamabad area was changed to a capital territory in 1981.
In August 2000, the "divisions" were abolished as part of a plan to restructure local government, followed by elections in 2001. Many of the functions previously handled by the provinces have been transferred to the districts and tehsils. In 2008, the new civilian government restored the former tier of "divisions" and appointed commissioners for each one.
Read more about this topic: Administrative Units Of Pakistan
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