Daily Times

COVID 19 can be called ‘the transformer’ as the whole world’s state of affairs seems to be in revival, be it socially, culturally, economically or politically. With an unexpected crisis being global has lead to extraordinary measures by the states whether Democratic Dictatorial, or monarchies. In the wake of this pandemic where the economies seemed in shambles with unemployment escalating, around 71 million people are expected to be under the poverty line around the globe. New analysis from UNICEF reveals that number of children living in poor households across low and middle income countries could increase by 15 percent to reach 672 million. In Pakistan, as the fifth most populous country, the pandemic can have far reaching impacts as the number around 50 to 60 million people under poverty line may get doubled surging up to 125 million. Looking at the political systems around the globe a few emerging challenges for Democracy can also be witnessed in the wake of this pandemic; such as a tendency of centralization of power in many states. Though the powers vested in the executive authority were to cope with the emergency as the unprecedented emergency asked for the quick decision-making and implementation, however more powers may leave the political systems with both positive and negative impacts. For instance Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister, was granted powers to rule by Decree to handle the COVID crisis; however the political opposition did have concerns that these powers were used to expand his political influence targeting the next election campaign. Similar examples were quoted from Philippines and Cambodia. On the 3rd of January, two days after informing the World Health Organization of the Pandemic, China centralized its testing services under the National Health Commission while it took almost a whole month for Trump to be convinced enough of the gravity of the situation to assign a task force under Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. This approach added with the complex and hefty system of its Federation is what has resulted in the US being the worst of states in handling the COVID Crisis. China, on the other hand, has made its mark by majorly confining the virus to just the source city-Wuhan. We could see a similar tendency in Pakistan though it was quite surprising initially for the masses in Pakistan when amidst the fear of pandemic a debate took off over the 18th amendment its implications and some amendments in this regard. The masses find it an unsettling scenario played out in front of them as they are faced with innumerable challenges of socio-politico and economic nature. The financial disparity between the classes of society is at radical levels where they expect the government, ruling and opposition parties to come together and lead the nation towards prosperity. They were a bit disillusioned when they came to the bitter realization that the antagonism amongst the political parties could still take the lead resulting in an ongoing conflict between the province and central Government. In pretext, the negation of identities and participation, as per those cultural identities, ignited alienation among the smaller provinces which in turn gave rise to separatist tendencies resulting in the separation of East Pakistan.

Demonstrating through the most contemporary comparative analysis, it is often considered more rational and realistic to have a single and strong train of leadership to wade a nation through a crisis

The 1973 Constitution, based upon the consensus of all stakeholders, tried to resolve the thorny issue of distributing legislative powers between the Centre and provinces with the help of Federal, Concurrent and Residual List While framing the Constitution, the then prime minister of Pakistan had given an assurance that with the passage of time the concurrent list would be abolished.

The 18th Amendment to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan was passed by the National Assembly on April 8th, 2010, supported by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). PPP came into power in 2008 general elections. First time in the history of constitution the 18th amendment was introduced, and more than 102 Articles were amended in the constitution. The major changes of the amendment were to augment the provinces’ powers to give control on demanded subject, to remove 17th amendment changes and reshaped the 7th NFC award of the country. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, this amendment resolved the chronic issue of provincial autonomy empowering the provinces to legislate and administer the subjects falling within their purview, develop their capacities and expend their resources judicially to ameliorate the socio-economic conditions of their people. Almost all the subjects under the Concurrent List with the administrative paraphernalia were transferred to the provinces leaving the Federal Government with 7-8 Ministries. This changed the political, legislative and administrative structures of the country from the quasi presidential (with all the executive powers vested in the President) and quasi federal (with the separate lists of federal, concurrent and provincial subjects) to the fully federal system.

While it primarily turned Pakistan into a parliamentary republic and removed the power of the president to dissolve the parliament, the amendment also devolved 18 federal ministries to the provinces. It also removed a ban on the prime minister serving more than two terms. Recently, the Foreign Minister voiced his concern over PPP using the “Sindh Card” with regards to its iteration over the 18th amendment. Nonetheless he agreed on revisiting and reviewing the 18th amendment. This garnered opposition’s criticism of the minister as the opposition laid claim that the present government’s COVID strategy is insufficient and inefficient. Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz said on Friday (May 1st, 2020) that the 18th Amendment was a hurdle in preparing a uniform policy to fight the corona virus across the country as after the amendment the federal government’s role in various spheres had been limited to issuing policy guidelines.

Unanimity of policies and implementation was needed and still needed between the centre and provinces at this crucial point in the national fight against Covid-19. But the 18th Amendment has delegated the regulatory powers even over industries to the provinces and the federal government can only issue policy guidelines. In Sindh initially a complete lock down was under Section 144, baring people from getting out of their houses and gathering at places in greater numbers. In the federal capital Islamabad, a partial lockdown has been imposed, applying section 144 for at least 15 days. Punjab province has also imposed a partial lockdown with restrictions being imposed and calling on citizens to ensure they remain in their homes and practise social distancing. Balochistan province has also imposed movement restrictions and imposed closure of markets after cases of coronavirus reached to over 104.” KP again with a variation of lock downs and strategies till date Independent experts, however, argue that federal concerns over revenue distribution could be genuine as the center is left with little resources to meet its expenses. Provinces get their share from taxes collected by the government by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). In the fiscal year 2011-12, it was increased from 46.5 percent to 57.5 percent, affecting federal development and defense expenditure. “There is no harm in reviewing the amendment through a democratic process,” Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), told Arab News. “Constitution is a living document and can be amended anytime, but this should be after thorough debate in the parliament.”

Additionally the ruling party lacks the necessary two-third majority in both the National Assembly and Senate to amend the 18th amendment on its own. Therefore, the need to review the 18th amendment through judicial and legislative process is one alternative to disband the contention and implement an effective policy to fight through a pandemic and ensure the fiscal survival of state machinery. Since the provinces are functioning as separate federating units with their healthcare systems working under different provisions and regulations which apart from causing delays in decision-making, are also leading to competition, point-scoring, squabbling and heavy politicizing of the situation. In addition to the above argument, Pakistan has not reached the satiating point of provincial adequacy to attain independence and thus run a federal system. The basis of governance is “established institutions” and that is where there is a lot of room for improvement. An example is the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) which holds annual examinations unaltered, whereas the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (KPPSC), held exams in 2018 with undeclared results currently. In case of Sindh, it was 2013 then 2017. Demonstrating through the most contemporary comparative analysis, it is often considered more rational and realistic to have a single and strong train of leadership to wade a nation through a crisis. The case study of China and USA reinforces this argument. The prime examples of US and Chinaand Hungary are of importance in evaluating how a unified and centralized government can be of greater utility compared to having a distributed form of power. Under such crises, provisions of centralizing health, education and security has always proven to be of more efficacy. In case of the 18th Amendment, the need to review and reform it, especially in the wake of this Pandemic is indispensable.

The writer has experience in the field of education and is currently working as a resource person in the development sector