KARACHI: Speakers at a webinar organised by the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) on the protection of provincial autonomy expressed concerns over what they described as a systematic erosion of the gains made through the 18th Amendment.

The Karachi chapter of the WAF convened the event in which senior politician and former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Afrasiab Khattak, federal general secretary of the Women Democratic Front Alya Bakhshal; former Senator from Balochistan National Party (Mengal) Sanaullah Baloch and journalist Mazhar Abbas shared their views.

The session, moderated by Dr Iram Hashmi, continued for over two hours and at times moved into sharp disagreement, particularly over how much responsibility lies with the political parties themselves, as distinct from the military establishment.

Speaking on the occasion, Khattak, who was a member of the parliamentary committee that drafted the 18th Amendment, said the process of undoing it had begun almost immediately after it was passed in 2010.

Afrasiab Khattak claims fresh NFC award has not been issued for 15 years because it would see Punjab’s share reduced

“The establishment never accepted the 1973 Constitution for a single day, and they have never accepted the 18th Amendment either,” he said.

He noted that the seventh National Finance Commission Award (NFC), which raised the provinces’ share of the federal divisible pool to 57.5 per cent, was issued in 2010 and has not been renewed since.

“No NFC Award has been issued for 15 years,” he said. “And the reason is simple: a new award, using current census data, would significantly reduce Punjab’s share.”

Khattak also pointed to the Council of Common Interests, which the 18th Amendment required to meet at least once every 90 days. “It goes a full year without meeting, and no one is held accountable,” he said.

The sharpest exchange of the session concerned the PPP government in Sindh and the Rs260 billion transferred to the federal government at the National Economic Council meeting of June 2024.

Mazhar Abbas, who raised the issue, said: “Pakistan’s major political parties are completely compromised and surrendered. The 26th and 27th amendments — who passed these? No one else but them. The 18th Amendment, the Charter of Democracy, the 1973 Constitution —political parties violated them all.”

Alya Bakhshal and Sanaullah Baloch rejected any proposal to bring Karachi or Gwadar under federal administration.

“Sindh will never accept it. Balochistan will never accept it,” Bakhshal said. “And the people will not allow it.”

Sanaullah Baloch framed what he called Pakistan’s federal failure around three principles: political power sharing, fiscal federalism and the federalisation of the security sector. He said all three had failed.

On the census, he said Balochistan’s population had been reduced by seven million in the 2023 exercise. This is the first time in Pakistani census history that a province’s recorded population had gone down.

He attributed this to political calculation: a higher Balochistan population would increase its NFC entitlement and weaken Punjab’s dominance of the divisible pool.

He warned that if the three structural fault lines he identified were not addressed, Pakistan was moving gradually towards Balkanisation.

In his concluding remarks, Khattak called for a roundtable process and named three minimum demands — restoration of democracy under the 1973 Constitution with free and fair elections, guaranteed provincial autonomy as per the letter and spirit of the 18th Amendment, and the complete removal of the military establishment from any political role.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2026