Bureaucratic reforms ‘must for tangible change in power structure of governance’

Islamabad
Without carrying out the bureaucratic reforms, 18th Amendment will not bring any tangible change in the power structure of the governance of the country.
This was stated by Professor of Political Science at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Dr Mohammad Waseem on Friday while speaking at a seminar titled 'The 18th Constitutional Amendment and Civil-Military Relations' organised by Pakistan Study Group on Federalism at the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Quaid-i-Azam University.
He said that 18th Amendment requires strengthening of the provincial civil services. "This amendment demands capacity building of all the provincial institutions and it would not be possible without carrying out due reforms in the structure of civil services," he said.
Dr Waseem opined that Pakistan Senate represents all the provinces but cannot affect any concrete policy making as it does not have the authority to pass money bill. "Senates in the USA and Brazil are powerful enough in debating and passing the money bills. There is asymmetrical policy scope of the two houses -- Senate and National Assembly," he said.
The speaker observed that federalism in Pakistan is the case of ethnic federalism where minorities and ethnic communities are excluded from the mainstream politics. "The 18th Amendment has given the provinces a viable autonomy yet the limited infrastructural capacity of provinces hampers the dispensation of power at the grassroots level," he deplored.
Dr Waseem said that 7th NFC Award gives fiscal autonomy to the provinces but centre still controls the strings of purse. "This is the reason it still dominates the policy making in the Centre. Certain elements in the establishment do not want devolution of the resources to the grassroots level. If resources are devolved to the provinces then there will be fewer resources available to the establishment," he pointed out.
Highlighting the weaknesses of the 18th Amendment, the speaker opined that Fata has not been integrated into KPK. "There are no provisions in the 18th Amendment for the accountability of the security agencies and setting up of a Federal Constitutional Court."
Responding to a question, Dr Waseem replied that provinces are reluctant to hold local bodies' elections and this is an epic case of "centralized decentralisation". "Local bodies system is important for the true democratisation of the country," he said.
Replying another question, he said that Gilgit-Baltistan is still lurking in the constitutional vacuum as it has no effective representation in the parliament. "People of the GB want reintegration into the political system of Pakistan," he said.
Later, Dr Zarina Salamat, vice-president of Council of Social Sciences deplored that we are still stuck with the administrative and financial centralization. "Putting the local bodies system in its place is the only way out for the strengthening of the inclusive democracy. She said that we need to believe in unity in diversity."