Civil society activists from all provinces on Wednesday raised concerns against “hurdles in the smooth transferring of powers to the provinces” despite the passage of the landmark 18th Amendment bill.
Addressing a press conference held here, Khadim Hussain, an activist from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) said, “The colonial mindset, vested interests and political influences have always been instilled in the policies of the federation.” He said, “We want to remind the people that it was the obsession of keeping a centralised system that eventually resulted in Bangladesh and the resentful state of [Pakistan’s] provinces in the current scenario.”
Hussain said that the government’s decision regarding the devolution of powers to the provinces is “the true face of real democracy” and “indeed a good step” being taken by the present government. He said the role of Senator Raza Rubbani cannot be overlooked in framing the 18th amendment bill and presenting it to the National Assembly.
However, it seems that the June 30 deadline for completion of the devolution process might not be met. The resignation of Rabbani as a minister, he said, has created serious concerns among citizens about the compromises that might be made in the devolution process. For example, the government might roll back on its decision to devolve the Higher Education Commission (HEC), he said.
He said that the people of K-P consider the devolution of powers under the 18th amendment “a ray of hope” and were appalled when the devolution of HEC was resisted at the federal level and in Punjab on the pretext of interpretation, lack of capacity and resources. Although, the K-P government formed a committee for an alternative body for higher education in the province, “but the unwarranted delay of devolving HEC for political expediency has dampened spirits of the people,” he added.
Regarding devolution of HEC, Ishaq Baloch, a civil society member from Balochistan said, “If the commission is performing its role with honesty and transparency, then why is it that in the last 10 years less than 170 students of Balochistan have been given foreign scholarships?” He said that in the last 60 years, the federal ministry of education provided only one university and a medical college to the province. “Balochistan has sacrificed a lot in strengthening the country.” He said that Pakistan allowed China to extract copper and gold from mines in the province, of which only one percent of the extracted resource is being given to the country, and the rest is being taken by the Chinese, he added.
Wajahat Masood, a writer and intellectual from Punjab said that the devolution of powers to the provinces is “a step to uproot dictatorship”. He said that the people, political leadership, civil society and intelligentsia of K-P are determined to struggle for their democratic rights and shall never allow colonial, centrist and exploitative mindset to resist devolution of power, resources and institutions to provinces. Masood also stressed that the educational curriculum should be issued from the provinces and not the federation.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2011.
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