The concept of federalism

 

It has been almost nine years since the historic 18^th constitutional amendment was passed by parliament. But so far the provinces are said to have succeeded in achieving no more than five per cent of what the amendment guaranteed. The provinces still seem trapped in the colonial clutches of Islamabad. The biggest hurdle in the way seems to be the federal bureaucracy, which appears to have not yet reconciled to the idea of losing its colonial powers over the provinces.

Also, some influential elements in the political parties which seem to be still suffering from the colonial mindset have been openly expressing their apprehension that ‘bestowing’ autonomy on the people who they believe are not yet capable of shouldering increased responsibilities would lead to financial chaos, economic instability and wastage of shrinking resources. These elements perhaps fear that the smaller provinces would use the 18^th amendment to drift away from the federation, not realising that it was because they were being ruled all these years as colonies from Islamabad, negating the spirit of federalism that the three smaller provinces today seem to be suffering from a massive dose of disillusionment with the federation itself. And that is also why East Pakistan is Bangladesh today.

The reluctance of these elements and the apprehensions of influential political elements have made it almost impossible to draft and pass in time, relevant subordinate legislations both in parliament and the respective provincial assemblies. The federalist elements among the public at large and within the mainstream political parties seem greatly disappointed with the progress of implementation of the amendment largely because the Council of Common Interests (CCI), in their opinion, has been consigned to the limbo.

The federal bureaucracy does not know that it has continued to remain the main obstacle in the way of the CCI coming into its constitutional being. It has rendered the CCI into a spineless entity not able to regulate, supervise and control vital functions accorded by the Constitution. This has jeopardised the basic concept and essence of the 18^th amendment that aimed at striking a balance of power between the Centre and the federating units.Article 154 of the Constitution is unambiguous: “The Council shall formulate and regulate policies in relation to matters in part II of the Federal Legislative List and shall exercise supervision and control over related institutions.” The subjects in question include water and power, petroleum and natural resources, railways, ports, industries and production and inter-provincial coordination.


Another big hurdle in the way is the extension given to Article 143, which empowers the federal legislature to overturn with a simple majority any law passed by any provincial assembly. The 18^th amendment renders redundant a number of federal ministries while increasing the administrative responsibilities of the provinces in equal measure. But the federal government is yet to abolish the redundant ministries, and the provinces are yet to receive the powers that the amendment has mandated. In fact, instead the government has created a dozen new federal portfolios without the approval of the CCI.

On the other hand, questions are increasingly being raised by responsible elements in decision-making positions on the resource distribution formula which the 18^th amendment had formulated for the National Finance Commission Award. To be sure, the increase in the responsibilities of the provinces, especially their responsibilities concerning social and physical infrastructure demand enormous amounts of resources to meet the huge bill adequately. And unless the provinces tap the real potential of the agricultural income tax and the urban immoveable property tax, it would be well-nigh impossible for them to deliver on this front with any degree of success.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2018.