Pakistan Political Science Review Vol. 1 No. 1 (2019) 9 MAKING OF NEW PROVINCES IN PUNJAB AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON FEDERAL STRUCTURE OF PAKISTAN Muhammad Faisal University of the Punjab, Lahore Abstract:- Pakistan is a federal state having four provinces. Punjab is the largest province of the country with regard to population diversity. The ethno-regional, socio-economic, linguistic and institutional diversity in this region is bifurcated. The province is ethno-regionally and linguistically divided; socio-economically gulfed and institutionally marginalized. This unequal and marginalized development in the past led to the spectrum of intra-regional movement for making of new provinces in Punjab. The intra-regional movements are based on ethnic lines supported by the regional political parties. Political elites in the mainstream political parties advocate/advocating administrative, institutional, bureaucratic as well as ethnic baseline for making of new provinces in the province of Punjab. Based on the historical trends, this paper will address the constitutional, administrative, political, socio-economic, ethno-linguistic and institutional baselines for making of new provinces in Punjab. This restructuring will affect the federation of Pakistan in constitutional, administrative and institutional way. It will also study the implications of restructuring of Punjab on federal structure of Pakistan. This paper will be an important document for further policymaking in this realm. Keywords: Pakistan, Punjab, Federation, Political Parties and Elites, Ethno-regionalism Introduction Pakistan incorporated a federal form of government from its very beginning. After attaining independence from the British colonial masters; the leadership of the state and its territorial units, political parties and the state institutions hailed to adopt the federal form of government. The constitutional structure under the 1956, 1962 (previous constitutions) and the 1973 (current constitution) find the basis of federalism. In a federation, sovereignty is shared between the federal government and its territorial units (Adeney, 2007).This sovereignty is shared on the basis of constitutionalism, administrative provinces and political commitment. Since the last two decades, the debate was heated up to restructure the federation in Pakistan. The political parties, regional ethnic groups in different provincial units and the administrative segments demanded for creation of more provinces. In Punjab, the elites asked for Bahawalpur and South Punjab or Seraikistan, In Sindh, urban centres demanded a separate provincial territory, In Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pashtun and Hazara groups also have similar demands. On the other hand, it is also an important demand by the people of Gilgit-Baltistan to