‘Structural changes a must for smooth federal system’

Karachi
Addressing a gathering of the academia and media folk at Karachi University’s Area Study Centre for Europe a day earlier, Dr Yaqub Khan Bangash of the Forman Christian College University, Lahore, said that structural changes were a must for the smooth functioning of the federal system.
He was addressing the gathering on the implementation of the 18th constitutional amendment as part of the seminar titled, “Issues of good governance in South Asia under the federal system: devolution, development, and democratisation”.
Dr Bangash said that, currently, the provinces were empowered to collect revenues but were not empowered to effect their distribution. They collected the revenue and handed it over to the Centre, which then gave it back to them with instructions about distribution.
This rigmarole, he said, caused financial losses and doubled the labour, adding that the federal government’s control over distribution threw federalism into doubt.
In his crisp, fluent Oxford accent, Dr Bangash asserted that provinces had received 40 departments, but did not have the requisite funds.
On the other hand, he said, there were provincial organisations with a lot of funds, such as the provincial higher education commissions. He said the first NFC Award was highly equitable, while in the fifth, money remained with the Centre which has complicated matters.
In her highly erudite and analytical discourse, Dr Uzma Shajaat, director of the Area Study Centre for Europe, said that units should not be carved out on the basis of administrative convenience as that would aggravate the national, ethnic, linguistic, and natural resources in question.
“If the operations at the Centre are riddled with anomalies, just replicating them at the provincial or the local government level will just compound the problems.”
Author Muhammad Reza Kazimi traced the history of federalism in South Asia to the pre-Christian era. Federalism, he said, could be helpful to fight off invasions, quoting ancient personalities like Arthashastra of Kautilya.
Noted national planner and architect, and pioneer of the Orangi Pilot Project, Arif Hassan, dwelt on the importance of local bodies and devolution.
The nexus between the ‘biradaries’ was to be seen not only in the political parties but also in the local government.
“Political parties make sure that their clout dominates at the local bodies too,” he said, and in his context, cited the office of the nazim, whereby, the person appointed to this post felt he was not answerable or accountable to anybody and acted in a manner that would just benefit him and his party.
Sarah Syed Kazmi of the ASCE highlighted the role of the European Union in good governance in Pakistan. In this context, she cited the EU’s growing concern with social indicators in South Asia and the insistence by the body that Pakistan brush up its human rights record.
She also mentioned the grant of the GSP-Plus status to Pakistan which would be a massive incentive to Pakistani exporters.
Asif Iqbal, principal economist at the Social Policy Development Centre, dwelt upon countering authoritarianism through decentralisation. While upholding decentralisation, he all the same, said that reforms were needed to make the electoral process such that the elite could not capture power and rule according to their whims.
Former ambassador Aneesuddin Ahmed, chairing the session, said that till such time as a worthwhile fundamental change was brought about in the system, devolution would just entail replication of anomalies and irregularities.
The seminar was held in collaboration with the Hans Siddel Foundation, Islamabad. Mr Kristoff said that the larger the number of federating units, the greater the chances of meeting the challenges of diversity.