Divisions of Pakistan

second-level administrative subdivision unit of Pakistan

Pakistan, including the disputed territory of Kashmir, originally had 37 political divisions during the United Pakistan period, that was inherited by British India, then from 1971-2000 it was reduced to 33 since four were lost to the independence of Bangladesh

The Divisions of Pakistan (Urdu: ڈیویسیونس وف پاکستان) used to be a subdivision of Pakistan's provinces. Pakistan's four provinces were split into divisions and the divisions were split into districts. However after the year 2000, the government of Pakistan abolished divisions.

Abolition change

 
New divisions of Pakistan

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. Following that there was 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 meant devolution of many functions, to districts and tehsils, which were previously 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 Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and eight in Punjab. Abolition did not affect the two divisions of Azad Kashmir, which form the second tier of government.