October 23, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 29, 1427

THE good news is by the next budget the provinces will hopefully start enjoying enhanced autonomy. But the not- so -good news is the Waseem Sajjad Committee which has been tasked to prepare draft proposals for the required amendments is still a long way from the goal. In fact, the committee as of now is almost dysfunctional.

In any case, it was constituted in an emergency situation and that too for the specific purpose of resolving a centre-Balochistan conflict which had degenerated into an armed confrontation between the federal security forces and the Bugti tribe led by late Sardar Akber Khan Bugti.

What the federal minister for inter-provincial coordination has promised is something much wider and comprehensive proposing to take into consideration all the four provinces. It would, therefore, indeed be a miracle if the committee could complete its job by February-March to enable parliament to pass by two-third majority the needed for Constitutional amendments before the next budget.

And for that, the ruling party would require the help of a large number of opposition votes. And why would the opposition go along with the ruling party right on the eve of elections and that too on a subject which they would very much like to use in their electioneering?

So, while the promise that by the next budget the provinces will start enjoying enhanced autonomy sounds more like political rhetoric at this point in time, there is no denying the fact that the subject needs urgent attention of the law makers.

A host of factors have contributed to keeping Pakistan in the bottomless pit of socio-economic backwardness all these years. But the one single factor that has contributed the most to this sorry state of affairs is the total financial subjugation of the four federating units by the federation itself. These units have been treated like colonial fiefdoms of the federation so far.

Although each of the provinces has the potential to contribute significantly to the federal treasury, each one of them is beholden to the federal government for its socio-economic upkeep and welfare which the later doles out or loans from the pool of resources contributed by the provinces themselves.

Over the years, this hijacking of the provincial resources by the federation and the subsequent spoon-feeding by Islamabad has killed the entrepreneurial spirit and the economic initiative of the people who administer these provinces. This in turn has kept their revenue generating capacity abysmally low and their contribution to the federation much less than what they are capable of.

A beginning could be made towards enabling the provinces to make the full use of their comparative advantages in the matters of economy and finances by getting the parliament to do away with the concurrent list forthwith which in any case would have disappeared by 1983 if the Constitution had not been suspended by President General Ziaul Haq in 1977.

For deleting the concurrent list from the Constitution and letting the provinces take over the legislation on the 47 subjects mentioned in this list, parliament does not need any committee to advise it because the Constitution itself had given a life of ten years to this list.

But of course, there are many subjects mentioned in the 67-item federal legislative list (in two parts) which could also be handed over to the provinces without much difficulty or without causing any serious federal dislocation. For example negotiating foreign loans and foreign aid, port quarantine, major ports and all items from items No.44 to 53 concerning duties and taxation in part I and all the eight items mentioned in the part II of the federal legislative list could be considered for transferring to the provincial legislative list.

A number of studies have been prepared recommending reduction in the responsibility of the federation to the minimum essential and transferring most of these except defence, currency, foreign affairs and communication to the provinces. This is expected to facilitate a significant reduction in the revenue requirement of the federation from the divisible pool leaving the bulk to be shared among the four the provinces.

And with so much available for the provinces, they would certainly feel more inclined to accommodate each other in sharing the residual resources and agree to a formula that would not be based solely on population criteria.

But in order to accomplish all this, the federation would have to give up first its colonial style of governing that has been the hallmark of our rulers since the inception of the federation.

The history of the new Pakistan, a truncated country having no resemblance to the one that was created by the founding fathers starts with the promulgation of the 1973 constitution. Though democratic in character, a large part of it, especially the part that related to the provincial autonomy was curtailed with federal and concurrent legislative lists. The concurrent list had a life of ten years.

But before the country could traverse the decade it went under another martial law lasting over 11 years to be followed by a decade of pseudo democracy and then seven years of military-led government which is still continuing. So all in all, since 1973 Pakistan has weathered 15 years of shaky democratically elected governments and 18 years of solid army rule.

Military-led governments normally give rise to one-man rule. This one man arrogates to himself the powers of parliament, the federal cabinet, the chief executive of the country and that of the superior courts. He holds absolute powers over all the institutions of governance.

In such a situation where even the parliament is subservient to the man in uniform, it becomes very difficult to comprehend a system in which the provinces could enjoy their legitimate constitutional powers flowing from federal principles.

As of today under the Constitution even the subject of local bodies is under the direct control of the uniformed president. So let us keep our fingers crossed and see how the government proposes to enhance the autonomy (and to what extent) of the provinces by the next budget.