Civil society recommendations: Punjab prepared for devolved responsibilities
Civil society organizations (CSOs) have welcomed the devolution of powers from federal to provincial level and described it a positive step.
They also supported the “principled stance” taken by civil society and the people of the provinces on the issue.
In a joint statement issued by Mohammad Wassem of IRC, Dr Fauzia Saeed of Aasha, Muhammad Tehseen of SAP-PK, Amjad Saleem Minhas of Sanjh and Bushra Khaliq of Women Workers Helpline on Wednesday, they recommended that the implementation of devolution as per the 18th Amendment should continue as planned while being fair to all institutions that are not within the domain of the province, and that “skewed campaigns of bureaucrats who are not willing to let go of power or their titles should not affect this process.”
Moreover, they called for the inclusion of a PML-N member in the implementation committee, the establishment of a provincial implementation committee in Punjab to delegate new responsibilities and iron out procedural issues, and that the chief minister call a meeting of vice chancellors to address issues related to higher education.
They condemned the statements made by several responsible people about the low capacities of the provinces, stating that, “Local intellectuals, civil society and technical experts...are also a part of the capacity of a province.”
The release closed by stating their belief that Punjab has the capacity and willingness to deal with the additional responsibilities being transferred to it from the “highly centralised” federal government.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2011.
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