Daily Times

The main objective of the 18th Amendment was to secure the Constitution from subversion by adventurist Generals strengthening the treason clause restraining the superior courts to validate any extra constitutional step; trim the governmental and administrative size of the federal authority reducing it to a small and responsive cabinet; empower the federating units to manage the subjects within their jurisdiction in accordance with their resources and development requirements. All the federations in the world share such constitutionally and legally demarcated responsibilities with their federating units or states. Pakistan wasted long years in political experiments and finally made an attempt to take the federal and parliamentary path determined by the Pakistan Resolution 1940.

After the enactment of the 18th Amendment, the federal and the provincial governments were constitutionally bound to complete the process of the devolution of the responsibilities and liabilities. According to the federal list of subjects, the federal regime should have trimmed its size to 7-8 Ministries including the defence, foreign affairs, trade and commerce, currency, finance, economic affairs, planning etc drastically reducing its overhead expenses and budget deficits. This did not happen in the two previous federal administrations of PPP and PML (n) nor did the current PTI regime think of implementing it. All the post amendment federal governments maintained large cabinets of over 40 Ministers and an army of Special Assistants and Advisors without any regard for the ever expanding budget deficits.

The problem of the federal regime is scarcity of financial resources which could only be temporarily addressed by changes in the relevant clauses of the amendment

The federal governments knew that under the amendment a large number of subjects have been transferred to the provinces. They would establish several new Ministries that would tremendously boost their overhead expenditures. That expenditure would keep increasing year on year. That is why it was made compulsory that the share of the provinces from the central pool of resources would have corresponding yearly increase or it would be maintained at the level determined by the 7th NFC Award (57.5%). Nevertheless, there would be no reduction in that share in any subsequent NFC Award. The provinces would not let these subjects go back. Even the federal authority would be reluctant to accept these liabilities. The federal authority as was seen in the previous two administrations and in the current PTI regime, will not trim its size. The point to ponder is how long the people of this country will be taxed to meet the growing unproductive expenditures of federal and provincial administrations.

The provinces grabbed the opportunity of having more Ministries and enlarged their cabinets – for the amendment had ensured a steady flow of funds – without any regard for clean, efficient and responsive administrations. Whenever the PTI regime has talked of bringing changes in the amendment, the province of Sindh, considering it as the legacy of Asif Ali Zardari, has come out with its political force to defend it. Therefore, I shall concentrate on what the people of Sindh expected from the amendment; how they have been disappointed to see the provincial autonomy yielding no dividends during the past 12 years and how they have witnessed the consecutive provincial administrations indulge in blatant corruption and brazen violation of their constitutional rights to education, healthcare, sanitation, safety of life and an honorable living.

Undoubtedly, the provincial autonomy as achieved through the 18th Amendment was a remarkable political deed but it has not brought about any improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the people or has helped achieve a clean, efficient, sensitive and responsive political administration in Sindh. There has been no change in the lives of the Bhuttos living in their desolate and straw-thatched dwellings in the rural Sindh or cramping under the cracked roofs of their small and narrow houses in Dickensian squalid in the semi-urban centers and slums. They attend dilapidated schools devoid of basic facilities of electricity, clean drinking water, toilets and sanitation, sitting on rugs or bricks braving the scorching summers and the biting winters and suffering the indignities of poverty, misery, malnutrition.

The corruption knows no bounds and evokes no shame, no effrontery and no remorse. Within two years, wheat worth Rs.15billion disappears from the provincial godowns. NAB receives Rs.12billion in plea bargain. The culprits are not proceeded against nor shunted out of service. The Sindh High Court has been seeking the list of the officers involved in plea bargain with NAB for the last two years. The list is still being compiled. Reportedly, it has over 500 officers. Some got their promotion, lucrative postings and honorably retired. A fresh case of wheat theft was reported only a week ago. Some 114,000 metric tons of wheat worth Rs.4billions from the godowns of Sukkur and Ghotki disappeared on the way to Karachi. The elite – the ruling class, the political feudal, the landed gentry, bureaucrat and their accomplices – have strengthened their capture of the provincial power and resources to the benefit of their dynasties, families, dependents and even clans leaving the common people powerless and helpless.

The PTI regime should not contemplate to reduce the provincial autonomy which the smaller provinces consider, and rightly so, a safety valve against the excessive dominance of Punjab and the establishment. The problem of the federal regime is scarcity of financial resources which could only be temporarily addressed by changes in the relevant clauses of the amendment. The permanent solution lies in trimming the federal authority in conformity with the constitutional clauses to reduce the unproductive expenses; to streamline the collection of revenues; to expand the tax network; to review our defence budget shelving the unnecessary projects. It is high time that the foreign and security policy of the country is also reviewed in line with the new economic and financial constraints the country is confronted with or the federal government may seek a consensus through dialogue with the provinces to take the defence budget from the central pool of resources before the NFC Award and try to get back some of the 5% charged out of central pool for the collection of taxes by the federal authority before the amendment.

The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books