Since independence, the Pakistani state has unsuccessfully grappled with the issue of provincial autonomy, in the process sparking armed conflagration on two occasions in Balochistan, war with India and the session of East Pakistan, the imprisonment of the entire NAP leadership in the 1970s, rising ethnic tension and bloody conflict in Sindh and the continuing drama between Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto over the last year. No province has been spared its quota of legal and political anguish by the Pakistani state. Over the years, it has ruthlessly crushed the aspirations of the small provinces, one by one. Bengal in the 1950s and ’60s, Balochistan and the NWFP in the 1960s and ’70s, and Sindh in the 1980s.
Now, for the first time in 41 years, the central government in Islamabad finds itself at odds with a provincial government in the Punjab. Past Punjab governments have consistently refused to acknowledge provincial rights, let along fight for these because these governments have always been an extension and appendage of the central government in Islamabad, which in turn has been an unequivocal extension of the centralised military-bureaucratic Pakistani state.
The Pakistan state’s most favoured son — Punjab — for once finds itself in the same position in which the other provinces have been for forty years. Suddenly, Punjab has woken up to the fact that provinces have rights and that these ought to be protected against the encroachments of the centre. Backed by the Punjabi bureaucracy and military, Mr Nawaz Sharif is now talking of ‘rights’ and ‘autonomy’, and threatening to go to the courts and to the streets in order to ‘protect Punjab’s provincial rights’.
The origins of this centre-province conflict lie in the inability of the political parties and the state apparatuses to agree to a constitution that adequately represents the aspirations of all the nationalities in Pakistan which live in clearly demarcated geographical boundaries. The 1973 constitution has, unfortunately, lost so much credibility after its various amendments that few are prepared to abide by its diluted provisions any more. The spirit with which the constitution was enacted in 1973 has since evaporated and it now reflects the personalities rather than the issues of the last decade.
This conflict between the centre and the provinces is not going to be resolved without a radical restructuring of the Pakistani state itself. Power must devolve down to the lowest political structures, and the centre must relinquish budgetary, financial and other controls in favour of the provinces. In the absence of a radical overhaul of the present state structure and drastic amendments to the constitution of 1973 which reflect the present-day demands of the provinces, there will be no end to ethnic and nationalist strife in this country. The law of the constitution is good and effective only to the extent that it reflects the de facto aspirations and rights of the people it is supposed to protect.
The MRD, in its heyday, had already agreed to open up the constitution for a thorough overhaul, including a detailed scrutiny of the clauses which relate to the autonomy of the provinces. The PPP, then in opposition, had concurred in the collective decision to give more power to the provinces.
Regrettably, once in government, the PPP seems only interested in repealing the 8th amendment. This will never do. Mr Bhutto’s amendments were controversial just as much as Zia ul Haq’s. All the present amendments need to be overthrown and a fresh start has to be made with the cooperation of the entire opposition and the different provincial governments. We need to enlarge the scope of the provinces so that nationalism and ethnicity can be channeled for productive purposes rather than for strife and conflict in the years ahead.
Many people have long talked of the necessity of devolution of power in Pakistan. The first step in this direction is to call a round table conference of all the politicians so that everyone can put their cards on the table. A lot of give and take will be needed and this should be forthcoming without hesitation. Pakistan is in dire straits; if the present opportunity for democratic consensus and compromise is wasted, we may all be the poorer for it.
In the background, there is a grumbling noise that we should start afresh, but without the politicians who are held responsible for the mess. In these quarters, the constitution has never been held in any great regard and the politicians are viewed with contempt. Now is the time for the politicians of different provinces to agree to share power before they are all deprived of it for years to come again.