Asfandiyar Wali on provincial autonomy

In a message on the completion of one decade of 18th Amendment to the Constitution of 1973, Central President of Awami National Party, Asfandiyar Wali has described it an important achievement in the political history of Pakistan. According to him, the legislation is reflective of the realization of the dream of the true democrat and courageous Pukhtun Leaders Bacha Khan and Abdul Wali Khan; for which they made persistent struggle. The ANP Central President claimed that the amendment granted federating units control over their resources and it has ended sense of deprivation among the people of small provinces. He demanded early convening of the meeting of 9th National Finance Commission and announce new   award to ensure allocation of 3 percent share of financial resources for the merged tribal districts from the federal divisible pool of revenues.

The federal legislature that came into being as result of 1970 general elections passed unanimously 1973 Constitution, which enshrined that concurrent list of legislation after 14 years. But the issue lingered on and 18th Amendment was passed by the parliament, which not only transferred the subjects on the concurrent list but eliminated the powers of federal government to enforce Governor’s Rule in a federating unit, which is either confronted with political and constitutional crisis or is plagued by worsened law and order situation. That is why, some legal experts and political analysts do not hesitate to express the opinion that 18th Amendment has altered the federal structure of the Constitution and they don’t agree with argument with the authors of this legislation of restoring the 1973 Constitution in its original shape. In the Constitution of world’s biggest democracy, India, approval from a provincial legislature is not mandatory for the imposition of inevitable Governor’s rule in a federating unit, nor deployment of federal Civil Armed Forces in a province require approval of a summary by the Chief Minister of a federating unit.

The people of Karachi had paid a very high price in the shape of daily carnage because the PPP provincial government and it ally, MQM, were not interested in stopping mass killing of innocent people and hands of the federal government were tied by certain provisions of 18th Amendment. Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had to take Sou Motu on the unending Karachi violence. After a number of hearings, the Supreme Court announced a detailed judgment on Karachi lawlessness case on October 6, 2011, binding the federal government and government of Sindh to implement several recommendations contained in the Apex Court judgment one year.

Apparently, there is greater rationale in the demand for convening 9th NFC meeting and announcement of a financial award agreed by the center and federating units. But it is also a bitter reality that provincial government miserably failed to honestly and judiciously utilise the 57 percent financial resources, which are being transferred to them every year under 7th NFC Award of 2010. Hence, Asfandiyar Wali’s claim that 18th Amendment has ended the sense of deprivation is not correct, if tested on the touchstone of plight of people in the interior Sindh and Baluchistan. Gross embezzlement in spending of development funds and capacity issues of line departments deprived the masses from even negligible trickledown effect. The legislation devolved certain legislative, administrative powers to provinces. But provincial governments did not devolve the required administrative and financial powers to district governments for executing development schemes of people’s uplift.

Great damage was done to higher education by devolving it to the provinces under 18th Amendment. The central government has stopped funding of Public Sector Universities and provincial governments refuse to bail out them of prevailing financial crisis. Acquisition of higher education has now become the right and privilege of upper class people. Perhaps the oligarch leadership of political parties wanted to deprive the youth from middle and lower classes to avail the facility of higher education.