Once again the debate is on in the media as to how many provinces there should be in the country in general, and Punjab in particular. Logically speaking, there is a strong case for more self-governed administrative units than we have at present in our country. There are several examples of countries, which have way more provinces for the same area and population as Pakistan and which are not shy of increasing that number in accordance to their needs of the future. But unfortunately, our political elite having vested a lot in the bigger and more concentrated power structure is loathes to let go. If one were to go by their reasoning, provinces smaller in size and larger in number are not good for the country. But if that be so, the reverse must be logically true i.e. provinces larger than the present or fewer than the present must be good. But haven't we lived and suffered through exactly such an arrangement in our history before this? Remember the One Unit, an arrangement in place in 1971 wherein a single, huge One Unit was created by amalgamating all smaller units of the West Pakistan - primarily to counter and usurp the democratic rights of the largest province of East Pakistan. The result? We lost the other half of the country and were left with just the One Unit. -ZAFAR AHMED KHAN, Lahore, via e-mail, July 14.