Daily Times

The primary objective of a fair and free democratic election has to be the creation of truly representative institutions at all levels — federal, provincial and local government — and a truly representative and sovereign parliament, capable of giving expression to the genuine aspirations of each and every segment and section of the citizens of Pakistan in the domains of legislation, policy making and democratic governance.

First, Pakistan being a multinational federal state, the parliament ought to be so constituted as to ensure fair and adequate representation to the people of all the federating units, including especially the marginalised and disadvantaged sections and groups — women, workers, peasants and those labelled as ‘minorities or non-Muslims’. Second, considering the glaring imbalances in social, economic and political power existing along class, community, gender, religious and ethnic lines, the electoral mechanism must also aim at correcting such imbalances, which have been the root cause of the distrust and disharmony at various levels of the national polity.

The real issue facing Pakistan continues to be the need to ensure the top-to-bottom democratisation of both the state and society. Unfortunately, the politically and economically dominant elites, who happen to be the beneficiaries of the prevailing lop-sided political, social and economic structures and systems, believe that holding elections by the state and casting votes by the people is all that is required to achieve this objective. The vast majority of the people of Pakistan, however, are looking forward to seeing the next elections usher in an era of the emergence and consolidation of truly representative institutions and responsible and accountable governments, committed to protecting their fundamental social, political, economic and cultural rights as equal citizens without any discrimination whatsoever.

On the one hand, the steadily deepening crisis in Balochistan calls for a radical change in attitudes and priorities on the part of our ruling classes. On the other, the entire Pakistani society seems to be passing through a self-destroying process of social decay — rampant corruption at all levels, fast-growing number of target killings, kidnappings for ransom, crimes against women and children and an utter contempt for the basic social values that regulate a modern civilised society. In such a situation, the coming election assumes extraordinary importance. The parliament and provincial assemblies that will emerge out of the next elections must reflect a serious and firm national commitment to address the above issues. In order to ensure this will happen, the political parties who will participate in the coming elections ought to give top priority in their election manifestos to these issues. They ought to pledge before the nation that they will fulfil their commitments in this regard after they get elected, unlike in the past when pre-election promises were invariably left abandoned outside the assembly buildings, to wait for the next elections to happen!

Here are some glaring facts and imperatives.

Given the vast differences between the federating units, in terms of size, population, level of literacy, economic development and respective share in overall political and economic power, it is patently erroneous to consider the size of population alone as the basis for determining the percentage of seats allocated to each federating unit. In this context, one should not overlook certain peculiar features of the distribution of population across the country. Take for instance, two provinces — Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Their populations in their entirety do not reside within their geographical boundaries. For example, according to the 1981 census, Punjabis and Pakhtuns formed seven and four percent respectively of the population of Sindh. The 1998 census notes that in Karachi, which is an integral part of Sindh, Punjabis and Pakhtuns constituted 13.94 percent and 11.42 percent respectively of the population of the metropolis. This fact is clearly reflected in the election of a couple of Punjabi and Pakhtun representatives to the National and provincial Assembly.

Census figures only reflect those migrants who have for the time being or permanently decided to enlist as residents of Sindh. There is likely to be an equal or even larger number of those who do not enlist but will continue to migrate and/or reside in these provinces. This population shift cannot be ignored.

Distribution of population and seats by provinces:

Province Population % of total General Women Total% of total

Punjab 73,621,290 55.63 148 35 183 53.40

KP 17,735,912 13.38 35 8 43 12.40

FATA 3,176,331 2.42 12 0 12 3.60

Sindh 30,439,893 22.98 61 14 75 22.30

Baloch 6,565,885 4.98 14 3 17 5.00

Islamabad 805,235 0.61 2 0 2 0.60

Non-Muslims 10 10 2.70

Total 132,344,546 100 282 60 342 100

As shown in the above table, according to the last (1998) census, Punjab has 55.63 percent of Pakistan’s population and has been allotted 53.4 percent of total seats in the National Assembly (183 out of 342). Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with 13.38 percent population, has 12.4 percent (43 out of 342) seats. FATA, an inexplicable political and administrative anomaly, has 2.42 percent of population but has 3.6 percent (12 out of 342) seats. Thus, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA together have 15.8 percent population and 16 percent (55 out of 342) seats. Sindh, with 22.98 percent population and hosting around 15 percent of it hailing from Punjab and Khyber Pakahtunkhwa, has 22.3 percent (75 out of 342) seats, whereas Balochistan, with 4.98 percent population but comprising 45 percent of Pakistan’s land mass, has only five percent (17 of 342) seats.

(To be continued)

The writers are veteran political and labour activists
associated with PILER, Karachi