June 6, 2004

As wrangling over NFC continues, the army chief may have to intervene on the side of the overbearing centre, because the provinces appear to be in no mood to listen to the prime minister

The four provinces and the federal government are in the midst of budget preparations for the next fiscal year. But the NFC Award which would determine the resources available to each province is yet to be announced. Therefore, the very basis of budget-making is missing.

According to newspaper reports, the four provinces have presented a united front to the federal government on the extent of resources that should be transferred to the provinces. The demand is for 50 per cent of the total, but the federal government appears to have inched up to 47pc by making 2.5pc GST as part of the pool. It is offering to give with one hand what it has withdrawn with the other. It will give subventions to deficit provinces no more.

If the next budget of the five governments is to be governed by the fresh NFC Award then there is not much time left, and not much scope for hope either. The agreement seems nowhere in sight unless the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) intervenes on the side of the overbearing federal government, as the provinces are not likely to listen to the Prime Minister.

The lineup is Punjab against the rest. All the other three provinces are agreed on one thing — population should not be the sole basis for distribution of resources but other factors including level of under development, etc, may be taken into consideration.

The three smaller provinces do not have a joint stand against Punjab because they have their own peculiar circumstances impacting on the outcome. Sindh, which contributes almost 75pc to the total revenues to the national pie, which is to be shared with the federal government and the provinces, insists on source of generation to be an important ingredient of the formula for distribution. Each province is trying to put forward an argument that best suits it.

Punjab, after the separation of East Pakistan, suddenly acquired fanatical faith in population as the sole basis for distribution. Although when East Pakistan was a part of Pakistan, it had opposed the distribution of resources on the basis of population. Once East Pakistan was forced out of the federation, Punjab immediately adopted East Pakistan’s proposal for population as a basis. What should be the fair formulae? There is no easy answer. It has to be conceded that neither the source of revenue nor population should constitute the sole basis for distribution of resources. The issue is not technical as much as political. If there were a representative government, politicians would enter into serious give and take, and arrive at a formula which would be fair and acceptable to all. After all, India with 28 provinces does not have a problem.

The federal government has always acted as if we were a unitary government. We are a federation and units cannot be treated as mere zeros. The Constitution clearly lays down the spheres of responsibilities for each unit. But, in this country, who cares for the Constitution? All productive expenditure that impacts on the people takes place at the local level, some at the provincial level and almost none at the federal level. But the federal government has been encroaching on all taxes, so much so that even octroi tax, which had been the preserve of the local councils for almost two centuries, was also taken over by the last elected government. Besides, the federal government does not keep good faith and whatever it commits in the NFC Award it rarely transfers to the provinces. The reasons assigned for such short change is low collection by federal agencies. The provinces receive the punishment for the incompetence of the federal agencies which either overestimate the income to begin with, or fall far short in their effort to make good on the collection.

In the absence of an agreement on NFC before the budget, it is more than likely that the previous ad hoc NFC Award of 1996 concluded by the undemocratic interim government comprising World Bankers might be extended. This will be a clear breach of Article 160 of the Constitution, which mandates appointment of NFC at intervals not exceeding five years. The Constitution, which itself has received severe battering at the hands of obsessive interventionists, lies comatose at the moment.

NFC presupposes a democratic dispensation and is divined to have proper representation both at the provincial and the federal level. As constituted, the present NFC does not represent anybody because all the five governments are an outgrow of subversion of the political process and massive rigging of elections, where two main political parties that enjoy widespread support among the people have been forcibly kept out of the arena. This has robbed the sham exercise in democracy of the last veneer of legitimacy. The NFC Award may appear as the result of a consensus amongst the four provinces as well as the federal government, but it would lack wider support because of the unrepresentative character of the participants in the charade. It may surprise some to know that two naturalized Sindhis represent Sindh, the largest province in terms of resource generation, on the NFC. Even the US, which prides itself in adherence to the principles of equality, bars a naturalized citizen from becoming the President of the United States.

India and Pakistan gained independence on the same day under an act of the British Parliament. It is a different matter that we pretend to have achieved independence a day ahead of India. We don’t believe in “shubh ghari.” They do. But the contrast between the two countries in their political development could not be starker. In the recent elections, before the mandatory five-year period, the electorate in India has rejected the previous government and voted a new one. We are still struggling with our road map that only an agreed constitution could provide. We are stuck in non-issues such as coaxing a coalition of unwilling and unrepresentative political parties into PML (Q). It does not require much imagination to realize that even a united PML (Q) would be no more than a goose egg the moment patronage of the COAS is withdrawn.

Pakistan has been consistent in its journey downhill thanks to self-appointed masihas. If there were a truly representative government in Pakistan, it would set the priorities right to accord with the wishes of the people. Defence and security apparatus would not receive such high priority at the expense of all else, particularly education, health, infrastructure, etc. The democratic interludes we have had the good fortune of enjoying were not of much help because the security apparatus continued to dominate the decision-making, allowing no elbowroom to the politicians. The growth of political process implies continuity. It is a tribute to the intelligence of the Pakistani nation that, against such serious odds where the military is bent on regulating the civic life of the nation to the last detail, they allowed two political parties to emerge on the political landscape within a matter of 10 years after the fortuitous C-130 crash. The present military government is doing its best to demolish the fragile two-party structure.

The Constitution is the fountainhead of all institutions. With it struggling to survive in the ICU, the growth of all other institutions has been stunted. Whatever institutions were in existence at the time of independence and until 1958 have either been weakened or destroyed. Bureaucracy, which before the first martial law was reasonably efficient and honest, has become totally subservient to the rulers. In a democratic dispensation, an upright civil servant has the hope of seeing another day if he defies the wrong orders of his minister, because the electorate may vote the minister out in the next election. Under military rule, the hope of change completely disappears and a civil servant has to choose between keeping his job or adhering to the principle. No wonder that this important institution of the State is in the worst possible straits. It is a different matter that NAB law has focused on corruption after 1985 — the year Ziaul Haq reluctantly restored partial democracy.

Can we look to the Parliament to force adherence to the Constitution and ensure a fair and equitable Award through the NFC? The answer is no because the Parliament is a joke and no serious issues are debated or decided there. Even routine answers to inconvenient questions are withheld. Parliaments in our country normally do not exist and whenever they do, all precautions are taken to see that Parliamentarians are pliant and sufficiently subservient. In the absence of a strong assertive Parliament, the voice of the people is stifled.

Another important pillar of stability in a society is the judiciary. Independent judiciary is the only guarantee for stability both of the State and the government. The faith that people once had in that institution unfortunately exists no more. It was routine for people to demand the appointment of a High Court judge for inquiry after some big incident took place. Then they started demanding appointment of a judge of the Supreme Court. Now, no more. People have no faith left in the institution.

What makes an institution great is the quality of the people running it. Unfortunately, all the governments — military or otherwise — love to appoint people to the higher judiciary that are likely to be bereft of merit and would do their bidding. Such people have to be incompetent or dishonest, or preferably both. Upright judges are not made after the honour of appointment has been conferred on them. It is the convictions that one has imbibed in the family that reflect on his conduct. Pakistan is not short of honest and competent people. But the government only seeks people lacking both in integrity and competence. One cannot blame the courts.

Every time a legal government is dismissed, the same is granted legitimacy by the Supreme Court. The solitary exception was the restoration of the government of Nawaz Sharif. That, too, should not be credited to the principles the Supreme Court decided to uphold. The then Chief Justice who had bragged in an open court that he will deliver a historic judgment that would please the people is reported to have asked for an interview with the Chief of Army Staff before pronouncing his judgment. The COAS refused an interview on the ground that a meeting at such a crucial point in time might be misunderstood. When the CJ insisted, the COAS asked his staff to know from him the purpose of the proposed visit. When told, the COAS sent the CJ the message that he could not see him during the pendency of an important trial and as far as he was concerned, the CJ was free to decide the issue on merit, without worrying the COAS. Only then did the Chief Justice act independently.

To put the exercise of the NFC in its constitutional context, recourse to either the Parliament or the higher judiciary will be of no avail. The powers that be will ensure that not much comes out of it. Even if one files a public interest petition before the Supreme Court, it is doubtful if a directive will be issued to the government to adhere to the letter of the Constitution by scrapping the unconstitutional Award extended from time to time without observing the mandatory requirement of five years for a fresh Award.

Even if a judicial edict is given, will the government find ways of not implementing it by being technically compliant but factually in contempt?

After all, Shabaz Sharif’s deportation in the face of clear orders of the Supreme Court is fresh in everybody’s mind.

Is there a hope then? None whatsoever, unless the military genie is put firmly back into the bottle. Easier said then done. Only a cataclysmic event might loosen their reins of power and restore power to the people to whom it rightfully belongs.

“By force of will and threat of gun the generals have controlled the politics of Pakistan, but they do so without full training, experience or legitimacy,” to quote American author Stephen P. Cohen in The Pakistan Army. According to him, Pakistan faces the unenviable prospect of becoming a later-day Poland, partitioned out of existence. God forbid!

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