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Reimagining Pakistan's Federation: Why Smaller Units Keep Pakistan Strong
Proposing a three-tiered Union of Pakistan with four autonomous republics subdivided into smaller administrative units to fulfill the original promise of the
www.thefridaytimes.com
About 16 years ago, writing in another newspaper, I proposed the idea of 20 geographic provinces for Pakistan. I have since reconsidered my position and it has to do with having read the Lahore Resolution in its true spirit as a foundational constitutional document for Pakistan. What the Lahore Resolution does is to establish the blueprint for a federation in which provinces are autonomous and sovereign, meaning that they are more than mere provinces but countries akin to Great Britain’s four constituent countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Just as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland cannot be carved up into smaller provinces, so can’t Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and KPK without renouncing the Lahore Resolution and doing that I strongly caution against.
To put it simply Sindh, Balochistan, West Punjab, KPK (then NWFP) along with East Bengal created the Pakistani federation in 1947 and not the other way around. The very acronym Pakistan is ultimately derived from and a recognition of this basic reality. Secondly suppose Punjab divides itself, which it will, and smaller provinces don’t, that would mean that erstwhile Punjab’s representation in the Senate would go up thus further entrenching the Punjabi majority in the country. So there is no scenario where smaller provinces win short of smaller provinces insisting on dividing themselves and resisting Punjab’s division, which is fait accompli at this point. So this is an explosive idea and the Indian example is not an adequate example, because unlike India, residuary powers vest in provinces in Pakistan.
That said there is actual need for administrative units beyond mere Divisions/Districts/Tehsils etc and we have to some how find a solution that creates new administrative units while retaining the constituent units of the Federation. Fortunately, the history of the subcontinent readily provides the perfect solution i.e. The very horizontal Indus Valley Civilisation as well as the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 which could have saved the British fiction of united India had it been given a chance by the Congress leaders. Of course, it has to be tailored to Pakistani conditions and reality, namely that there can be no reconsideration or opt out clause after 10 years i.e. So the Cabinet Mission Plan without the right of secession.
One of the anxieties of the Congress’s centralising leaders was that the Federation would only have powers limited to defence, foreign affairs and communications with the power to tax. Now don’t be fooled by the long Federal Legislative List in the Pakistani constitution but all items on the Federal Legislative List can neatly fit into defence, foreign affairs, currency, major infrastructure and federal taxes. Therefore we already have a watered down federation. Hence this anxiety does not apply to Islamabad, Pakistan’s majority politicians and even to the power establishment. So what would a Cabinet Mission Plan like solution look like for Pakistan?
Sitting atop the structure could be the Union of Pakistan with a National Assembly directly elected on the principle of one man one vote and a Senate with equal representation for all constituent units as is presently the case. There is no need to undo the Federal Legislative List and the powers of the center. Next divide existing provinces into smaller units i.e. Northern Punjab, Central Punjab, Southern Punjab, Upper Sindh, Lower Sindh and Southern Sindh, and so on and so forth for Balochistan and KPK. These smaller units can then be reorganised into four constituent Republics (Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK) with the present provincial assemblies retaining the provincial legislative lists and residuary powers. The new provincial Republics would deem to have acceded to the Union of Pakistan and the Federal/Union legislature/parliament the five broad heads mentioned above i.e.
Essentially the powers that the current parliament has. Whether the Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK want to be Islamic Republics, People’s Republics, or simply Republics should be left up to them. It is not unprecedented – the Russian Federation contains 21 Republics each with its own anthem and language and yet Russia is a united country. I, therefore, propose a three tiered Union of Pakistan with four republics (Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK) further subdivided into three or four provinces with no right of secession for any of the Republics or their provinces and present constitutional structure of Pakistan largely in place. The issue here is a psychological one and not a geographic or physical one. What has kept Pakistan together so far is neither Islam nor nomenclature but the Pakistan’s Armed Forces and the primordial existence of this region as a horizontal civilisation. I propose to recreate that horizontal civilisation.
It is now time to have a more organic union which complements the sword arm of the country. It is a nuclear state and changing the nomenclature would not dissolve it. A change in nomenclature would however recognise the diversity of the Pakistani people and bring national cohesion, once the primordial ethnic identities of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK have homelands to call their own. It also clears the way for Republics of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir to join the Union of Pakistan as its fifth and sixth constituent units. Such a solution would fully meet the promise of the Lahore Resolution of having constituent units that are autonomous and sovereign. Russia and Great Britain are the obvious examples that I have cited above.
Curiously in the Jinnah Papers, there is a document sent to Mr Jinnah by left leaning Muslim Leaguer which purports to be the constitution of Union of Islamic Socialist Republics of Pakistan. The visionary that he was, Chaudhry Rehmat Ali had imagined Pakistan as a conglomerate of Muslim states. Future Pakistan can be that – a Federal Union of Republics which seeks its inspiration from the Indus Valley Civilisation which was horizontal not vertical, Rehmat Ali’s original idea, the Lahore Resolution, the Cabinet Mission Plan which Jinnah accepted, the United Kingdom (and mind you Great Britain’s constituent countries have the right to secession which I propose should not exist in this proposed Union of Pakistan) and the Russian Federation. Such a Pakistan would be organic and flexible, cognisant of its multicultural and multiethnic diversity ending once and for all the ethnic strife that has become so commonplace in Pakistan. Pakistan’s powerful armed forces and the nuclear umbrella would ensure that flexible as the Union is, it would also be unbreakable and a united whole.
Regards
PS: The author Mr Yasser Latif Hamdani is a dear friend and my Qaid and I am his Sole Spokesman
@Meengla @M. Sarmad @peagle @Master Chief @Owaiz @r3alist
Source:
The Friday Times
The Friday Times
